Fishing the North Coast: Kings Tough to Come by on Smith, Chetco

Kings Tough to Come by on Smith, Chetco

By Kenny Priest

after being open for just over a week, salmon fishing on both the Smith and Chetco has proven to be challenging. By the sound of things, the end is likely near for the run of late-fall kings on the coast. Only a couple small storms hit the coast and dropped enough rain to open the two rivers to fi shing. While the fi shing window was very small, that doesn’t necessarily mean the number of returning salmon was small. Even during the low water conditions, salmon were seen making their way upriver on all of our coastal streams. Typically, the season’s

Minda Lawrence and Grant Vallier, of Lakeview, Oregon, hold one of the two kings they caught to limit out Saturday on the Chetco River while shing with guide Michael McGahan of Wild Rivers Fishing. Photo courtesy of Wild Rivers Fishing

fi rst big rains come in October, leaving us a good four-to-fi ve-week window to fi sh. That hasn’t been the case the last few years as the salmon didn’t bother to wait for us or the strong fl ows to get them to their end destinations.

On the other hand, as we inch closer to December, it’s time to start thinking about winter steelhead. There are some half-pounders around, and the adults typically start showing up in December. But don’t give up entirely on salmon just yet. The Smith, Chetco and even the Eel could each see another spurt or two of fresh kings move in on the next substantial river rise.

Sport crab shing update

Tim Klassen of Reel Steel Sportfi shing reports the crabbing is a little on the

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Kings

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slow side out of Eureka. “We’re still getting limits but it’s getting a little tougher,” said Klassen. “We’ve only had one trip where we didn’t get full limits. On an overnight soak, we’re averaging between four to six keepers per pot. Longer soaks are defi nitely producing better results. There are a lot of small crabs that are chewing up the bait pretty quickly. Fresh bait, like tuna scraps or rockfi sh carcasses, will improve the number of keepers as well. The crabs are in great shape, but we aren’t seeing very many jumbos.”

The Rivers: Smith

Since it opened to fishing Nov. 14, salmon fishing has steadily gotten tougher. There are some fish around but most of the boats are having a hard time getting one per trip. Flows were down to 1,200 cubic feet per second on Monday and the river is low and clear. Roe under a fl oat or back-bouncing the deeper holes are your best bets until we get some signifi cant rainfall.

Chetco/Elk/Sixes

The Chetco opened to salmon fishing last Tuesday but quickly blew out, reports Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing. He said, “A er cresting at 12,000 cfs, flows dropped below 5,000 cfs on Friday and were down to 2,200 cfs on Sunday. Overall, fishing has been slow but a few nice kings are being caught. The best action is on the lower end. The Elk is now low and clear, while the Sixes is low but fi shable. The Sixes has been fi shing the best of the Southern Oregon rivers.”

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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. 3990 BROADWAY, EUREKA 707.269.0991 3990 BROADWAY • EUREKA 707.269.0991