Fishing the North Coast

Rivers Dropping, Green Water Headed Our Way

By Kenny Priest

fishing@northcoastjournal.com

Following last week’s deluge, all the coastal rivers other than the Smith are now on the verge of turning green. After reaching nearly 39,000 cubic feet per second on the Jed Smith gauge Jan. 4, the quick-clearing Smith rebounded quickly and was driftable Sunday. Plunkers were out in force Monday on the Chetco and boats were drifting by Tuesday. Locally, all of the rivers are on the cusp of green water. The South Fork Eel will be fi shable later this week with Redwood Creek and the Mad right behind it. The main stem Eel should come around sometime next week. With the North Coast gripped by an extended dry pattern that could last a couple more weeks, steelhead anglers will have no problem fi nding fi shable water. And from the reports I’m hearing, there are plenty of steelhead to be had. Sacramento resident Casey Eklund landed a monster hatchery steelhead Monday while fishing the Smith River.

Photo courtesy of Redwood Coast Fishing with Mike Stratman.

Weather ahead

For at least the next seven days, it’s looking like we’ll remain dry with no significant rainfall. According to James White of Eureka’s National Weather Service o ce, we could see light rainfall Wednesday evening, but it won’t a ect river levels. “We’re looking at less than a tenth of an inch,” White said. “After that, we’re looking dry through the weekend and into early next week.”

The Rivers:

Smith

During Saturday’s highwater, plunkers did well, with some getting multiple hookups. The river dropped into driftable shape Sunday and the handful of boats drifting the Forks to Ruby did well, averaging two to three fresh steelhead. Monday the bite slowed slightly, with boats getting anywhere from zero to three opportunities. The river is clearing and dropping quickly, but should be in good shape the rest of the week.

Main stem Eel

The Eel is dropping slowly but dipped under 12,000 cfs Tuesday. It’s predicted to be around 6,500 cfs by the end of the weekend and should start to turn green sometime next week.

South Fork Eel

The South Fork is dropping into shape and should be fi shable by the end of the week down to the confl uence. Above Benbow will clear fi rst and should be green by mid-week. Flows are predicted right around 1,600 cfs on the Miranda gauge Friday morning.

Mad

The Mad is still high and brown, but there are plenty of fi sh in the river. Most of the fi sh are holding right below the hatchery and people are getting quite a few hookups a day. It was right around 10 feet Tuesday and is predicted to be down to 9 feet by Saturday morning. It will likely start to turn green early next week.

Chetco

“Plunkers did very well over the weekend and on Monday on the Chetco, which dropped back into shape after hitting 20,000 cfs a week ago,” said Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing. “Big numbers of hatchery fi sh were caught at Loeb Park. Flows were below 4,000 cfs Tuesday morning, the stage where side-drifting starts to improve. Boaters fi shing plugs in the slower water did well on Monday, and success for those drifting bait or beads is expected to dramatically improve this week with lower fl ows. Steelhead fi shing has been better than the last several years so for this season.”

Rogue/Elk/Sixes

The lower Rogue fi shed well for steelhead before last week’s blowout and should fi sh even better as it drops into shape the next few days, reports Martin. “Flows at Agness peaked at 30,000 cfs last week and were down to 7,700 on Tuesday. Around 5,000 cfs is ideal for running MagLip plugs on anchor. The Elk River also is in good shape and the Sixes will fi sh before the weekend.” ●

Read the complete fi shing report at www.northcoastjournal.com

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

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