Storms Will Kick O Late Run of Fall Kings

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Big, late-fall kings will be making their way into the coastal rivers this weekend following the rst real storms of the year. Pictured is Jeremy Baker, of Santa Cruz, with a nice king taken on the Chetco in 2018. Photo courtesy of Mike Stratman/Redwood Coast Fishing

By Kenny Priest

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the season’s first sizeable storms are bearing down on the North Coast. And that means hard-charging, fresh-fromthe-salt king salmon — big and bright — will be making their way up all of our coastal rivers starting this weekend. So, if you see a steady stream of dri boats heading north on U.S. Highway 101, you’ll know why. The Smith and Chetco rivers should be fi shable on Saturday, but both will be on a pretty decent rise. Both rivers should have fresh kings moving through, and expect plenty of debris and leaves, as well.

As of Wednesday, the Smith is predicted to peak at just over 1,100 cubic feet per second on the Jed Smith gauge on Saturday evening. With the rain tapering off over the weekend, the river will drop slightly on Sunday. The next big weather system arriving Monday will put the river on an even steeper rise the fi rst half of next week. The Chetco fl ows should mirror the Smith. Following a decent rise on Saturday, it will drop on Sunday. As the rain ramps up on Monday, expect a steady rise all week and reaching roughly 5,500 cfs on Friday.

According to Kathleen Zontos of Eureka’s National Weather Service, the North Coast will see pulses of rain Thursday through Sunday. “The bulk of the rain will fall on Thursday and Friday, with lighter rain in the forecast for the weekend,” said Zontos. “The fi rst half of next week is looking wet as well before letting up late next week. For the sevenday period ending next Tuesday morning, the Smith basin could see 5 inches of rain. Here in Humboldt, 3 to 5 inches are likely and the lower Eel basin could see 3 to 4 inches.

The Mad, Eel and Van Duzen rivers are all expected to rise slightly this weekend, but it doesn’t look like it’ll be enough to open them to fi shing. With more rain coming early next week, they should open to

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Fishing

← CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11 fishing next week, but don’t expect green water. Call the low-flow hotline (822-3164) before you head out to determine if your favorite river is open or closed to fishing.

Sport Dungeness crab update

Conditions made for some tough crabbing over the weekend. Boats weren’t able to head offshore until Monday to set their gear due to extremely rough seas. Tim Klassen of Reel Steel Sport Fishing was pulling pots on Tuesday morning for clients and reported a solid 10-keeper-perpot average. Inside Humboldt Bay and some of the local estuaries reported some decent fishing with a few keepers per trap along with plenty of small ones. The keeper crabs are full and clean.

The Rivers: Smith

Fishing at the mouth and the Sand Hole was dead over the weekend, according to Britt Carson of Crescent City’s Englund Marine. “Up river, every hole is full of salmon but they are mostly dark,” said Carson. “Once the rain hits this weekend, those fish will be moving quickly to the spawning grounds. The hope is that there’s lots of new ones in the ocean that will come in with the increased flows.”

Chetco

“The Chetco is full of salmon, with fish spread throughout the river, and should fish well if it opens this weekend,” said Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing in Brookings. “It could blow out by Sunday if the forecast is correct. Anything above 4,000 cfs this time of year will be muddy. Chetco kings will still bite in high flows on the so er edges of the long flats, like the Willow Run below Loeb Park and Moffett Rock. ODFW will make a decision to open based on the arrival of the storm, probably on Thursday or Friday.”F

Kenny Priest (he/him) operates Fishing the North Coast, a shing guide service out of Humboldt specializing in salmon and steelhead. Find it on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and www. shingthenorthcoast.com. For up-to-date shing reports and North Coast river information, email kenny@ shingthenorthcoast.com.

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