Month: February 2019

Last fall produced some of the best king salmon fishing on both the Klamath and Trinity Rivers in recent memory, and the preliminary number of returning kings seem to reflect just that. While we’re still not back up to average runs sizes, we’re headed in the right direction. The CDFW predicted a river run size of 91,873 in 2018, and they were nearly spot on. According to the “Review of 2018 Ocean Salmon Fisheries” document, recently released by the PFMC, preliminary postseason river returns showed 92,293 adults returned. Considering where we were in 2016 when just 27,353 adults returned, prompting a full fall-run closure in 2017, I’d say the numbers are going the right way. On an average year, we’ll see right around 122,000 adult kings return to the basin. So, we’ve got a little ways to go before the stocks are rebuilt completely.

“The 2018 Klamath fall chinook returns were slightly below average and the number of jacks returning also fell below long-term average,” said Wade Sinnen, Senior Environmental Scientist on the Klamath/Trinity Rivers. In 2018, only 11,114 jacks, or two-year-old salmon, returned. During the previous ten years, the average number of returning jacks was roughly 22,600. The real bright spot according to Sinnen was the number of returning three-year-old fish. “These fish are part of the 2015 brood year, which made a good showing last year as two-year-old. This brood will translate to a decent preseason abundance forecast of age four fish this year.”

The bottom line of low jack counts is next year’s adult return may not be as robust, and therefore a smaller recreational quota for the whole basin. “In terms of fishing opportunity this coming year, it’s too early to say for sure,” said Sinnen. “We will know more after the Ocean Salmon Information meeting in Santa Rosa. However, I do not expect a large in-river quota based on past runs of the magnitude we experienced this past year.”

While the jack count was low, most of the information coming out of the report was positive for the basin. The number of natural area spawners was 53,624 adults, which exceeded the preseason expectation of 40,700. However, the stock is still in “overfished” status as escapement was not met the previous three seasons. The estimated hatchery return was 18,564 adults for the basin.

Spawning escapement to the upper Klamath River tributaries (Salmon, Scott, and Shasta Rivers), where spawning was only minimally affected by hatchery strays, totaled 21,109 adults. The Shasta River has historically been the most important Chinook salmon spawning stream in the upper Klamath River, supporting a spawning escapement of 27,600 adults as recently as 2012 and 63,700 in 1935. The escapement in 2018 to the Shasta River was 18,673 adults. Escapement to the Salmon and Scott Rivers was 1,228 and 1,208 adults, respectively.

According to the report, the Yurok and Hoopa Valley tribes shared a federally-reserved right of 50 percent (18,122) of the available harvest surplus of adult Klamath fall Chinook. Tribal adult harvest was 14,769 (Yurok: 12,444 adults; Hoopa Valley: 2,325 adults), which was 81 percent of the tribal allocation.

Next up is the annual Ocean Salmon Information meeting, which will be held February 27 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Sonoma County Water Agency office located at 404 Aviation Blvd. in Santa Rosa. Ocean abundance will be discussed, which will then trickle down to river quotas. For more information on the meeting, contact Chenchen Shen at 707-576-2885 or Chenchen.Shen@wildlife.ca.gov

The weather ahead
“The next couple days will be dry, but the rain will return over the weekend,” said Kathleen Zontos of Eureka’s National Weather Service. “Del Norte will be the first area hit with the rain beginning on Saturday morning before it moves south on Sunday. Right now, it’s looking like widespread and heavy rain will fall on Monday and potentially on Tuesday. Through Tuesday evening, the Smith basin can expect four to five inches of rain. There’s a little uncertainty about the rainfall totals hitting Humboldt. Both the Mad and Eel basins could see up to five inches, but it will probably be a little less. Several inches are definitely possible. Next Wednesday and Thursday are looking dry, but another storm is forecasted for the weekend,” said Zontos.

HSU Fishery Seminar
John ‘Carlos’ Garza, of NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center and UC Santa Cruz will be giving a presentation titled “The origins of ecotypic differentiation in Pacific salmonids” on Wednesday February 27 at 4:00 p.m. in WDFS 258 on the HSU Campus. This is a timely topic given the potential listing of the Upper Klamath-Trinity River spring Chinook salmon as endangered.

Humboldt Steelhead Days Awards Party and Pints for Nonprofits Event Humboldt Steelhead Days # 6 concludes with an awards ceremony for the fishing and photo contest winners on Saturday evening from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Mad River Brewing Co in Blue Lake. Registered anglers who submitted photos of the three biggest hatchery steelhead from the Mad river will receive their prizes donated by HSD sponsors and partners. The leaderboard for the Mad River has Tyrone Bachus in the lead with a 32.5-inch fish, Julie Jewell in second place with a 32i inch fish, and Wyatt McBroom in third with a 31-inch fish. A 37-inch hatchery steelhead caught by Gary Fogle won the Mad River contest last year. No entries qualified for the Trinity river portion of the contest this year. In addition, ten entries were submitted for the best fishing photo contest that can be viewed on the HSD Facebook page. Winners will be announced at 6 p.m.

During this pints for nonprofits event, HSD will also host a silent auction fundraiser that includes wines from Fieldbrook Winery, framed art from Michael Zontos and John Freidenback, a guided river fishing trip from Rivers Edge Adventures, gift cards from Pierson Building Center and NHS, oil changes from Lithia of Eureka, a photo book of the Eel River with “A River Last Chance” documentary DVD and posters donated by Jason Hartwick and much more. The silent auction will conclude at 7p.m. 

HSD #6 hosted several events during the steelhead winter run enabling them to raise more than $8,000 that will go toward Mad River Alliance’s (the founder of the HSD contest) science and monitoring, education and conservation programs in the watershed. The clean ups to remove river pollution and garbage dumping will be able to occur every other month thanks to the efforts of HSD. 

The Rivers:
Chetco/Rogue
The Chetco has its biggest numbers of steelhead so far this season spread throughout the river reports Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing. He said, “The past few days most guides are getting two to six steelhead a day, with a mix of fresh wild and hatchery fish and spawned out fish heading back toward the ocean. The river dropped to fishable levels on Monday and was in prime shape Tuesday after being blown out for a week. Expect a crowd this weekend because of the derby,” added Martin.

“After a week of high water, the lower Rogue was fishable again Monday,” said Martin. “Plunkers are catching good numbers of steelhead on Spin-N-Glows, while jet boaters also are starting to catch fish again. Conditions should be prime all week.”

Smith River
Last weekend saw some of the best steelhead fishing to date on the Smith River. Guides and sport anglers were back on the water Sunday and the scores were good. Most boats landed fish during the high water, and Monday and Tuesday were even better. Conditions should be excellent the rest of the week, but flows are predicted to rise quickly beginning Sunday morning. If the rains come as predicted, the river could be blown out on Monday.

Eel River (main stem)
The main stem was running at 18,000 cfs on Wednesday and nowhere near fishable. The rain coming on Saturday is forecasted to bump the flows back up to 35,000 cfs. Will need a couple solid weeks of dry weather before it will fish.

Eel River (South Fork)
Hovering around 4,500 cfs on the Miranda gauge as of Wednesday, the South Fork was still quite a few days away from being fishable. The storms coming this weekend will put us back a square one. It’s predicted to hit 10,000 cfs by early Monday.

Van Duzen
The Van Duzen was right around 1,200 cfs as of Wednesday. According to Paul Grundman of Rio Dell’s Grundmans Sporting Goods, there’s a chance it’s fishable above Yager Creek. “It was still a little dirty on the lower end, but it would be worth looking at above Yager,” Grundman added. Flows are predicted to drop to 850 cfs on Friday and Saturday, which should be good. It’s predicted to blow back out on Sunday.

Mad River
The river is still high and muddy, but a few fish were caught just below the hatchery this week reports Justin Kelly of Eureka’s RMI Outdoors. “The color is still way off, but guys are catching a few right at the hatchery. With more rain coming this weekend, it doesn’t look like it will be green anytime soon,” added Kelly.

Find “Fishing the North Coast” on Facebook and fishingthenorthcoast.com for up-to-date fishing reports and North Coast river information. Questions, comments and photos can be emailed to kenny@fishingthenorthcoast.com

At last week’s meeting in Sacramento, the California Fish and Game Commission accepted a petition to list Upper Klamath-Trinity River Spring Chinook Salmon as endangered, starting the process of a status review to be completed by the CDFW. The one-year review will determine if a CESA listing by the Commission may be warranted. After reviewing the best scientific data available, CDFW will either make a recommendation to the Commission to list the springers as either endangered or threatened. Determining the listing is not warranted is also an option.

Information was submitted by the Karuk Tribe and Salmon River Restoration Council suggesting declining population trends and a low abundance, making the spring-run salmon vulnerable to extinction. The Commission’s action results in spring Chinook salmon being designated as a Candidate Species under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA), which provides the same protections as species listed as endangered and threatened under CESA.

The following emergency fishing regulations were adopted by the commission at the urging of the CDFW to reconcile them with the CESA protections.

• Klamath River main stem from the mouth of the river to Iron Gate dam. Closed to salmon fishing from the anticipated effective date of February 22 (subject to approval from the Office of Administrative Law (OAL)) to August 14.
• Trinity River main stem from its confluence to the Highway 299 Bridge at Cedar Flat. Closed to salmon fishing from the anticipated effective date of February 22 (subject to OAL approval) to August 31.
• Trinity River main stem from upstream of the Highway 299 Bridge at Cedar Flat to Old Lewiston Bridge. Closed to salmon fishing from the anticipated effective date of February 22 (subject to OAL approval) to October 15.

Fishing for Upper Klamath-Trinity River fall Chinook salmon will be allowed in these areas after the closure dates listed above. Quotas, bag and possession limits for fall Chinook salmon will be adopted by the Commission in May of this year. Steelhead fishing will be allowed year-round with normal bag and possession limits.

CDFW will also be working with federal regulatory bodies regarding ocean fishing regulations. Providing a little glimmer of hope for anglers, the Commission asked the CDFW to work with affected counties, fishing organizations, Tribes and conservation groups, to investigate options to allow some recreational spring Chinook salmon fishing in 2019. Under Section of 2084 of Fish and Game Code, the Commission can consider hook-and-line recreational fishing on a Candidate Species. CDFW will present the results of that stakeholder collaboration and potential options at the Commission’s next public meeting, which will be held April 17 in Santa Monica. For more information, visit https://cdfgnews.wordpress.com/2019/02/07/commission-accepts-listing-petition-requires-closure-of-some-recreational-fishing-in-klamath-basin/

The weather ahead
“Widespread rain is in the forecast for the next few days,” said Kathleen Zontos of Eureka’s National Weather Service. “It looks like we’ll see rain into the weekend, with little breaks between systems before we start to dry out on Monday. From Wednesday through Saturday evening, the Smith basin can expect two to four inches of rain. The Mad basin can expect two to four inches, with potentially five inches falling in the hills.  The Eel basin could see two to three inches in the lower river, while higher in the watershed in Southern Humboldt could see up to six inches. A weak front is forecasted for Wednesday, followed by the next round of storms expected to hit by the weekend,” said Zontos.

Shelter Cove forms fishing organization
With the Humboldt Bay Harbor District potentially relinquishing the boat launching services in Shelter Cove in 2019, a group of locals have decided to form a local fishing organization. The Shelter Cove Fishing Preservation Inc. was formed to be a collective voice for the fishing community and help deal with the many issues Shelter Cove faces, the most immediate issue being a lack of a boat launching operation in 2019. “Shelter Cove’s ability to grow or survive as a fishing community and point of destination depends almost entirely on the boat launch service,” said Jake Mitchell, president of the SCFPI. “It quickly became evident that the group would need to be able to run the boat launch service moving forward. In addition to providing permanent public access to the ocean, the group will also be working on establishing feature infrastructure to support the recreational and commercial fishing fleets,” added Mitchell.

The group is a publicly supported non-profit corporation dedicated to preserving the fishing heritage of Shelter Cove. It’s the goal and mission to help build a viable, sustainable fishing venue for Shelter Cove. The group is incorporated as a California Public Benefit nonprofit corporation and have submitted an IRS Exemption letter. Donations are currently being accepted at Umpqua Bank in SCFPI’s account or mailed  to Shelter Cove Fishing Preservation Inc., PO Box 87 Whitethorn, CA 95589. For more information, you can visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/scfpinc or email them at scfpinc@gmail.com.

Free fishing days Feb. 16-17 in Oregon
It’s free to fish, crab or clam on the Saturday and Sunday of President’s Day Weekend, Feb. 16-17. During these two days, no fishing licenses or tags (including a Combined Angling Tag and a Columbia River Basin Endorsement) are required to fish, crab or clam anywhere in Oregon. Although no licenses or tags are required, all other regulations apply including closures, bag limits and size restrictions. For more information, visit https://www.dfw.state.or.us/news/2019/02_Feb/020819.asp

The Rivers:
Chetco/Rogue
“After a solid week of fishing, despite cold water temperatures, the Chetco blew out on Tuesday and will likely remain high through the weekend,” said Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing. “Heavy rain combined with melting snow will leave the river too high to fish at least through Friday and probably through Sunday. Last week, lots of fish were spread throughout the river. Most guides were getting two to four a day. Fishing should be good for next week’s Rowdy Creek Derby.”

According to Martin, the Rogue blew out Wednesday after fishing well for the past week. “The Rogue is seeing a good return of hatchery steelhead so far this winter. It is expected to be high through the weekend, especially with lots of runoff from the Illinois River,” added Martin.

Smith River
Fishing on the Smith has been off and on over the past week reports Crescent City guide Mike Coopman. “There’s definitely some fish around, we went two for five on Tuesday with very few boats on the water. With some pretty big storms coming the next couple days, we’ll likely be off the water until at least Saturday. There’s a lot of snow on the ground, so that could change the river predictions. I’m expecting the conditions to be really good by late weekend and into early next week.” Coopman added.

Eel River (main stem)
The main stem Eel is a long way from being fishable, and it’s about to get longer. With heavy rain predicted in the headwaters, the man Eel is forecasted to hit 183,000 cfs at Scotia by Thursday evening. It’s also predicted to rise to 22-feet late Thursday or early Friday morning at Fernbridge. Monitor stage at this location is 14-feet and flood stage is 22-feet. It will take a couple weeks of dry weather before it’s even close to fishable.

Eel River (South Fork)The South Fork was running at nearly 9,000 cfs as of Wednesday and is predicted to go much higher. With heavy rain predicted through Saturday, flows are expected to reach 34,000 cfs by Thursday afternoon. It will take roughly a week of dry weather to drop back into fishable shape.

Van Duzen
The Van Duzen had been running at only 1,000 cfs last weekend and into this week due to most of the precipitation falling as snow in the upper watershed. That changed on Tuesday evening, and it’s on a pretty steep rise as of Wednesday. It’s predicted to peak at just over 17,000 cfs on Thursday afternoon. It’s predicted to drop quickly, and with dry weather could fish late next week.

Mad River
A few fish were caught by the liners earlier in the week, but the river has since risen and turned muddy reports Justin Kelly of Eureka’s RMI Outdoors. “Fishing was really good late last week and the weekend before it really blew out. With a few more storms lined up, it will be a couple weeks before it’s green again,” added Kelly. As of Wednesday, the Mad was running at 4,600 cfs and was predicted to peak at nearly 11,000 cfs late Thursday night.

Find “Fishing the North Coast” on Facebook and fishingthenorthcoast.com for up-to-date fishing reports and North Coast river information. Questions, comments and photos can be emailed to kenny@fishingthenorthcoast.com

Some good news coming out of the fishing world – finally. During the ninety-fifth annual meeting of the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC), it was announced that our Pacific halibut allocation for California will be set for the next four years at 39,000 pounds. This is approximately 8,000 net pounds greater than our 2018 quota. According to Tom Marking, who sits on the PFMC Groundfish Advisory Panel, the commission was finally able to work out a compromise between Canada and Alaska on a blended allocation. “The Makah and WA Treaty tribes played a large role in achieving this as well, both politically and economically. “They spent all last year working with federal managers and politicians to make this happen. We all supported their efforts,” said Marking.

Also on the halibut front, the CDFW is seeking input on the 2019 recreational Pacific halibut season dates. California anglers interested in the recreational Pacific halibut fishery are invited to participate in an online survey. The data gathered through this survey will help inform the CDFW about angler preferences for open fishing dates during the upcoming 2019 season, and will be used to develop recommended season dates that will be provided to the National Marine Fisheries Service. The survey can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/L3YG86Q, through Friday, Feb. 15. The Pacific halibut fishery takes place off northern California. In 2018, the fishery was open May 1-June 15, July 1-15, Aug. 1-15, and Sept. 1-21. The fishery closed Sept. 21 at 11:59 p.m. due to projected attainment of the 30,940 net pound quota. For more info, visit https://cdfgnews.wordpress.com/2019/02/04/cdfw-seeks-input-on-2019-recreational-pacific-halibut-season-dates/

Weather ahead
“It looks like we’ll be in an active weather pattern through early next week,” said Kathleen Zontos of Eureka’s National Weather Service. “A series of storms will be moving across the area through next Tuesday. Snow is in the forecast as well over the weekend. On Saturday, the snow level will be around 3,000 feet in Mendocino/Southern Humboldt and could drop under 2,000 feet by Sunday. For the period of Thursday through Tuesday, the Smith basin can expect from two to three inches of rain. The Mad basin can expect one and a half to two and a half while the Eel basin could see one to two inches falling. The Van Duzen watershed will likely see more snow than precipitation over the weekend. Showers are diminishing on Tuesday but another front is forecasted for Wednesday night into Thursday. The timing and amounts of this system are a little uncertain at this point,” said Zontos.

The Rivers:
Chetco/Rogue/Elk/Sixes
“The Chetco fished well over the weekend, with good catches on the lower end as well as in the Forest Service section,” said Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing. “The cold weather to begin this week seems to slow the bite, especially on Tuesday when only a handful of fish were caught. There are fish around, but they are sluggish because of the freezing weather. The river also is beginning to get low and clear.”

The Rogue River fished well early last week and then after a slow period, took off again on Monday according to Martin. “Just a few guides are sitting on anchor and running plugs, but they are catching limits or near limits. Bank anglers plunking Spin-N-Glos also are doing well. The Elk and Sixes are on the low side, but there are steelhead around. Some guides are doing better with plugs than bait. The rivers likely will be pretty low for drift boats by the weekend,” added Martin.

Smith River
The Smith is low and clear and in need of rain. The bite has been tough, with quite a few zero’s this week due to the conditions. Flows were 8-feet on the Jed Smith gauge on Wednesday and dropping. It’s predicted to get down to 7-feet by Saturday afternoon. Friday’s rain is predicted to push the river to almost 9 feet by early Sunday morning.

Eel River (main stem)The main stem is still big and dirty, and it doesn’t look to be fishable any time soon. Flows were right around 12,000 cfs on Wednesday and expected to rise following the weekend storms.

Eel River (South Fork)
The South Fork was running at 2,000 cfs as of Wednesday and should be fishable on Thursday and Friday. The river is predicted to rise late Friday afternoon and will likely be blown out for the weekend and into early next week. Depending on how much and where the storms hit next week, it could drop back in to fishable shape by late next week or the weekend.

Van Duzen
The Van Duzen was under 1,000 cfs as of Wednesday, and isn’t predicted to rise as much as the other coastal streams. According to the National Weather Service, the majority of precipitation in the Duzen watershed will fall as snow over the weekend. Flows are predicted to be down to 575 cfs by Friday afternoon.

Mad River
According to Justin Kelly of Eureka’s RMI Outdoors, the Mad was still off-color as of Wednesday. He said, “The liners have been getting a few around the hatchery the last few days. Prior to the last blowout, the fishing was really good. There were good numbers of fish from the hatchery all the way to the pump stations. The river is dropping and could be somewhat green by Friday. With rain returning over the weekend, it looks like it will be high and muddy by Sunday,” Kelly said.

Find “Fishing the North Coast” on Facebook and fishingthenorthcoast.com for up-to-date fishing reports and North Coast river information. Questions, comments and photos can be emailed to kenny@fishingthenorthcoast.com