Month: June 2019

After sitting on the sidelines watching the wind blow for more than a week, it finally relented, allowing our saltwater fishing season to resume. Salmon, rockfish, and halibut were all attainable the last couple days. And that should be the case through the weekend as the weather looks to remain fishable. Early in the week, the salmon bite was decent despite the influx of cold water. “The most striking development following a windy week was the frigid water that moved in, ranging from 47 to 51 degrees,” said skipper Tony Sepulveda of Shellback Sport Fishing. “I don’t recall ever seeing temperature in the 40s this time of year, or ever really. But the salmon bit surprisingly well.” And they bit even better on Wednesday. According to Sepulveda, some bigger fish are moving in on the beach. “A few miles either north or south of the entrance in 80 to 150 feet of water produced on Wednesday. We put in six limits before 11:00 a.m. and the fish were all 10 to 20 pounds,” added Sepulveda. Calm seas also made for a smooth ride south to Cape Mendocino, where anglers enjoyed lights out lingcod and rockfish action. No new news there. With all the salmon excitement, Pacific halibut fishing took a backseat this week. That probably won’t last for long as anglers will soon get their fill of salmon and will look towards filling the freezer with white meat. The weather looks good for the next few days, and there’s plenty of room left in the quota. As of June 16, 6,032 net pounds have been harvested toward the 39,000-pound quota.

Important reminder:
When fishing for halibut, rockfish and salmon, or any combination of the three, the more restrictive gear and depth restrictions apply. When targeting salmon, or once salmon are aboard and in possession, anglers are limited to using barbless hooks (barbless circle hooks if fishing south of Horse Mountain) when fishing for other species.

When targeting rockfish, cabezon, greenling and lingcod, or once any of these species are aboard and in possession, anglers are limited to fishing in waters shallower than 180 feet when fishing for other species.

Weekend Marine Forecast
Light winds and small seas are expected through Friday as low pressure off the Oregon coast gradually fills and moves northward. Northerly winds will increase slightly over the weekend. As of Thursdayafternoon, Friday’s forecast is calling for N winds up to 10 knots and waves NW 3 feet at 8 seconds. Saturday’s forecast is calling for N winds 5 to 10 knots and waves NW 3 feet at 4 seconds. Sunday’s forecast will be similar, with N winds 5 to 10 knots and waves NW 4 feet at 5 seconds forecasted. These conditions can and will change by the weekend. For an up-to-date weather forecast, visit www.weather.gov/eureka/ or https://www.windy.com. To monitor the latest Humboldt bar conditions, visit www.wrh.noaa.gov/eka/swan. You can also call the National Weather Service at (707) 443-7062 or the office on Woodley Island at (707) 443-6484.

July 6 is statewide free fishing day
On Saturday July 6, people may fish California’s waters without a sport fishing license. All regulations, such as bag and size limits, gear restrictions, report card requirements, fishing hours and stream closures remain in effect. On Free Fishing Days, every angler must have the appropriate report card if they are fishing for steelhead, sturgeon, spiny lobster, or salmon in the Smith and Klamath-Trinity River Systems. For more information visit, https://cdfgnews.wordpress.com/2019/06/24/july-6-is-free-fishing-day-in-california/

The Oceans:
Eureka
Monday out of Eureka started slow, with a small fleet of boats looking around for salmon in marginal seas. With not much happening where they left them biting, Tim Klassen of Reel Steel Sport Fishing pointed the bow west and didn’t stop until he ran across some really good signs in 300 feet of water. The fishing was good, and the rest of fleet soon joined the party. Limits were had by just about all, but the fish were on the small side. On Tuesday, the fleet got a little bigger and fish showed up at a couple of the usual locations – Table Bluff to the South and the dumpsite northwest of the entrance. Better fishing, and a better grade of fish, transpired at Table Bluff. Having that information, the majority of the boats made the turn south on Wednesday and again found some pretty good fishing between the 45 and 40 lines. Not only are the fish moving into shallower water, they are getting bigger as well. Taking advantage of the nice weather, quite a few boats ran all the way south for rockfish at the Cape. “The lingcod bite was fantastic, and we were just a couple rockfish short of limits for everyone on Tuesday,” said Klassen. “We even managed to catch a 50-pound halibut, which was a nice little bonus.”

Trinidad
“We were finally able to get back on the water on Monday, and the salmon are still here,” said Curt Wilson of Wind Rose Charters. “We ran north up to Patrick’s Point and found a pretty good bite. However, everything changed on Tuesday as the fish had moved south five to 10 miles. Some of the boats did well from straight out down to the Mad River fishing in 100 to 200 feet of water. The grade of fish is also picking up. On Wednesday, the south wind came up pretty good and cut our rockfish trip short. We were able to boat a few lings near Reading Rock before we were forced in. The rockfish bite has been good everywhere, with plenty of blacks and blues to fill your 10-fish limit. There has been a handful of halibut caught this week, but there hasn’t been a whole lot of effort,” Wilson added.

Shelter Cove
Captain Jake Mitchell of Sea Hawk Sport Fishing spent most last week running rockfish trips due to the ocean conditions. “The weather was pretty bad for most of last week but the rockfish bit pretty good at the Old Man,” said Mitchell “The lingcod bite has been much tougher and they’re really making you work for them. The salmon bite has been getting better every day and boats are starting to get limits inside the Old Man. The grade seems to be getting better as well with lots of fish over 10-pounds. The weather looks really good this week so we should see some better salmon scores.”

Crescent City
According to Leonard Carter of Crescent City’s Englund Marine, Pacific halibut has been the big story the last couple days. “Monday and Tuesday were really good; 14 halibut came in on Tuesday alone. They’re all coming from the backside of the South Reef. There’s been a few salmon caught out deep, but not many are trying. I heard that there’s mostly silvers out front. The rock fishing has been excellent at all the usual spots, and the lings are biting too,” Carter said.

Brookings
“Anglers fishing out of Brookings found good numbers of hatchery Coho and a few kings this week as ocean conditions settled down and boats could get offshore,” said Andy Martin of Brookings Fishing Charters. “The best fishing is still five to 10 miles offshore. Big numbers of kings have still not arrived, but Coho are plentiful with lots of wild fish and enough hatchery silvers to get a keeper or more a rod. Calm weather is expected into the weekend.”

The Rivers:
Lower Rogue
According to Martin, the Rogue Bay remains slow, but fish are being caught. “The water is starting to warm again, which should begin to hold fish again in the bay,” said Martin.

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

North winds – typical for June – are flexing their muscles all along the North Coast. Since Saturday, the high pressure offshore combined with a thermal trough inland has generated some strong northerly winds and hazardous seas. And it looks like those conditions will stick around through at least Sunday. There’s been very little offshore activity, though a few boats snuck out last Saturday in tough conditions and found a pretty good salmon bite slightly north of Eureka. The salmon are definitely here, and they’re moving closer to shore likely following schools of bait. The other thing for certain is after all this wind, it will be a whole different world out there.

But just as one fishery is put on hold, another has taken off. As luck would have it, just as the ocean was getting rough, the California halibut started moving into Humboldt Bay in pretty big numbers. Sport boats, charters, and the kayakers have all gotten in on the action. And it should only get better as the bay is filling with bait and smaller tidal exchanges begin next week. The daily bag and possession limit in Humboldt Bay is three fish with a minimum size limit of 22-inches total length.

California halibut carcasses wanted
California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife would like to remind Humboldt Bay anglers to donate their California halibut carcasses to research. You can donate your carcass by giving it directly to CDFW Halibut staff who will be periodically present at Woodley Island and/or public boat launches; you can schedule a drop off at the CDFW field office, 619 2nd St; or pickup by contacting Kathryn Meyer at 707-445-5306. CDFW asks that you remove the fil­lets, but leave the skeleton and guts intact and on ice and record the date and location of capture.
Each donation will receive an entry to win a custom fishing rod at the end of the season, courtesy of Bassman Dan’s Custom Rods.

Weekend marine forecast
The ocean will still be pretty big through the weekend, but it does start to come down on Sunday. As of Wednesday afternoon, Friday’s forecast is calling for N winds 15 to 25 knots and waves NW 11 feet at 10 seconds. Saturday’s forecast is calling for N winds 15 to 20 knots and waves NW 10 feet at 9 seconds. The wind and seas will start to come down on Sunday, with N winds 10 to 20 knots and waves NW 8 feet at 7 seconds forecasted. These conditions can and will change by the weekend. For an up-to-date weather forecast, visit www.weather.gov/eureka/ or https://www.windy.com. To monitor the latest Humboldt bar conditions, visit www.wrh.noaa.gov/eka/swan. You can also call the National Weather Service at (707) 443-7062 or the office on Woodley Island at (707) 443-6484.

Fish Lake Kid’s fishing derby this Saturday
The 45th annual Kid’s Fish Lake Fishing Derby is taking place on Saturday, June 22 in Orleans. The derby starts promptly at 8 a.m. and runs until noon. It’s open to kids from Pre-K to the 8th grade. Poles and tackle will not be provided and an adult must accompany all children. Hot dogs and lemonade will be provided; adults are encouraged to bring a side dish or salad to share. For more information, visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/srnf/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD638443.
You can also contact LeRoy Cyr at 530-627-3262 or leroy.cyr@usda.gov

The Oceans:
Eureka
Tough ocean conditions since last weekend has kept the Eureka fleet tied to the dock. Prior to the blow, the salmon bite had moved to the north a couple miles where the boats were working on a new school of salmon around the 49.5 line. “The fish have moved in a little closer and they’re not as deep. And we’re starting to see a little better grade as well,” said Tim Klassen of Reel Steel Sport Fishing. “I don’t think anyone has been out since Saturday, so it will be interesting to see how it looks out there after all of the wind. I’m sure the fish are still here, we’ll just need to find them again. Right now, it’s looking like we may be able to get back out on Sunday, but it looks marginal. The California halibut bite in the bay has really picked up as we’re starting to see a lot more bait. There’s definitely enough fish around to make a day of it. And it should get a lot better once we get through these big tide swings.”

Trinidad
Prior to the windy conditions, the salmon fishing was pretty good reports Curt Wilson of Wind Rose Charters. He said, “The last day we fished salmon was Saturday, and we were able to boat limits. Most of the fish are being caught a couple miles north of Cone Rock around the 06-07 lines, and that’s where we’ll head back to once the ocean calms down. We’ve been running rockfish trips when the weather has allowed, and there’s plenty of them around. We’ve spent most of our time inside of the Turtles at Patrick’s Point where limits of black and blue rockfish are coming easily. The crabbing remains excellent and we’re also catching a few Coonstripe shrimp.”

Shelter Cove
Like everywhere else along the coast, the weather out of the Cove has been less than ideal this week reports Jake Mitchell of Sea Hawk Sport Fishing. He said, “We spent most of the last week doing salmon and rockfish trips. The rockfish bite has been fairly consistent, but the lingcod bite has been slow. The salmon bite was pretty good up in the Canyon last Friday and Saturday, but has died off since. I did find a few fish outside the whistle on Sunday but the weather hasn’t let me get back out there since then.”

Crescent City
“Not much happening right now due to the wind and rough ocean,” said Chris Hegnes of Crescent City’s Englund Marine “Before the wind picked up, there were a few salmon caught 13 to 14 miles out in 250 feet of water. There’s also been a few caught right out front – I think the fish are really scattered. I’ve seen a lot more bait show up this week, both on the beach and inside the harbor. We’re also seeing a lot more bird activity, hopefully they’ll be some good signs once the seas come down.”

Brookings
The windy weather has kept us close to shore the past week out of Brookings reports Andy Martin of Brookings Fishing Charters. He said, “Bottom fishing has been good in the mornings before the wind picks up. There are plenty of fish close to port. Salmon fishing is slow with most of the fish still offshore. Coho season opens Saturday.”

The Rivers:
Lower Rogue
The Rogue Bay has started to pick up, with decent fishing Monday and Tuesday according to Martin. “A few salmon were caught over the weekend before catch rates picked up this week. Windy weather is keeping many anglers away, so pressure is still light. Fishing should continue to improve daily this month before catch rates jump up in July,” added Martin.

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

The temperature isn’t the only thing heating up on the North Coast. The salmon bite out of Eureka and Trinidad sizzled this week. Tuesday was good, but it went wide-open on Wednesday. The Eureka charters had full limits by 10 a.m. and the Trinidad boats did equally as well, if not better. And for the first time since the season opened, a decent bite developed out of Brookings. Some of the credit should go to the weather. The ocean has been like a lake since Tuesday, putting more boats on the water and allowing anglers to venture out to new areas. And what they found was our little slice of heaven is holding a lot of salmon. But typical of June, the north winds are set to return. Seas are expected to come up starting Friday and winds 15 to 20 knots are expected to stick around through at least Monday. While the weather may not cooperate, we can all sleep a little sounder knowing the salmon are here and better days are coming.

Weekend marine forecast
Beginning Friday, the seas will begin to build through the weekend and into next week. On Friday, N winds are predicted at 5 to 15 knots and NW waves 7 feet at 7 seconds. Saturday’s forecast is calling for NW winds to 15 knots and NW swells 8 feet at 8 seconds. The winds will increase slightly on Sunday and swells will be from the NW 9 feet at 8 seconds and W 2 feet at 13 seconds. These conditions can and will change by the weekend. For an up-to-date weather forecast, visit www.weather.gov/eureka/ or https://www.windy.com. To monitor the latest Humboldt bar conditions, visit www.wrh.noaa.gov/eka/swan. You can also call the National Weather Service at (707) 443-7062 or the office on Woodley Island at (707) 443-6484.

Emergency regulations to allow the take of Klamath/Trinity springers
In a notice dated June 7, the CA Fish and Game Commission is proposing emergency regulations amending the closure to the Klamath River basin spring Chinook fishing regulations from the Feb 2019 emergency action to allow limited fishing opportunity on the Upper Klamath-Trinity Spring Chinook salmon. The Commission anticipates it will submit the rulemaking to the Office of Administrative Law between June 14 and June 18. Any interested person may present statements, arguments or contentions, in writing, submitted via U.S. mail or e-mail, relevant to the proposed emergency regulatory action. Written comments submitted via U.S. mail or e-mail must be received at OAL within five days after the Commission submits the emergency regulations to OAL for review. For more information and how to comment, visit https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=169712&inline.

If the proposed emergency regulation is adopted by the OAL, fishing will be allowed in the following areas on July 1. The daily bag limit will be one and the possession limit will be two.

• The Lower Klamath, from the Highway 96 bridge at Weitchpec to the mouth
• The Trinity downstream of the Old Lewiston Bridge to the Highway 299 West bridge at Cedar Flat
• The Trinity downstream of the Highway 299 Bridge at Cedar Flat to the Denny Road Bridge in Hawkins Bar
• The Trinity from Denny Road Bridge in Hawkins Bar to the mouth of the South Fork
• New River main stem downstream of the confluence of the East Fork to the confluence with the Trinity River

Under these emergency regulations, these areas will open to fishing on July 1 and remain open until their regularly scheduled spring season closes. After which, fall regulations will apply.

The Klamath from Iron Gate to Weitchpec will be closed to salmon fishing through Aug. 14. The Trinity from the mouth of the South Fork to the confluence with the Klamath will remain closed to salmon fishing through Aug. 31.

The Oceans:
Eureka
Limits have been the rule this week for the Eureka salmon fleet. “There’s lots of salmon, and they’re spread out,” said Tim Klassen of Reel Steel Sport Fishing. “The last few days the fish have been between the 46 and 50-lines in 35 to 50 fathoms. The fish are finally starting to come closer to the surface as we’re catching a few on Deep Sixes. The grade hasn’t changed much since the beginning, most are running five to 10 pounds with the occasional fish in the teens. Conditions are starting to look really good right out front. More bait is beginning to show up, it shouldn’t be long before the fish move in closer. We ran to the Cape on Monday in some decent swells, and the fishing was tougher than usual. The water was really dirty on the inside making it tough to catch the blacks. The fishing was definitely better in deeper water,” Klassen said.

Trinidad
With big swells and bad tides looming out of Eureka, Skipper Tony Sepulveda of Shellback Sport Fishing, temporarily moved his operations to Trinidad. “The salmon bite was really good in Eureka, but big swells and tidal exchange made the Humboldt Bar a no go for the weekend,” said Sepulveda. “I brought Shellback to Trinidad to keep us fishing. By Monday the weather had settled and the salmon fishing got easy for everyone. Quick limits were the norm for the fleet and we had plenty of time to make the run to Reading Rock for limits of lingcod and amazing rockfish. The positive from all this wind is the water rolled over and is loaded with bait from 35 to 60 fathoms. Our fish on Tuesday were stuffed with krill, squid and sardines and the meter was lit up everywhere we went.”

Shelter Cove
“Due to the rough conditions, we stayed close to port most of last week and enjoyed some really good rock fishing,” said Jake Mitchell of Sea Hawk Sport Fishing. “We spent most of our time fishing around the Old Man and got limits of rockfish and lings every day we fished. We even had a bonus 56-pound halibut on Monday. Tuesday, we ran to Gorda for rockfish and halibut. We ended up with three halibut to 68 pounds, limits of blacks, and half-limits of lings. The salmon bite remains very slow, but there is some more bait starting to show so hopefully they’ll be here soon.”

Crescent City
“A few salmon have been caught this week, but there isn’t much in the way of effort,” said Chris Hegnes of Crescent City’s Englund Marine “Most of the salmon were caught straight out, but it was only a handful. I did hear of one 20-pounder landed. With the flat ocean conditions, quite a few boats have been targeting halibut outside of the South Reef. We weighed in an 82 and 60 pounder this week. The rockfish bite is wide-open, and there biting at all the spots. Some nice lings coming over the rails too, we weighed in a 29.5 pounder on Wednesday.”

Brookings
Windy weather has kept most Brookings boats from chasing salmon, but conditions are much better the middle of this week reports Andy Martin of Brookings Fishing Charters. He said, “There are giant bait balls just outside of the harbor, and 50-degree water temperatures, so salmon fishing should improve anytime. Last week we encountered big numbers of shakers and Coho salmon, but not many keeper kings. Bottom fishing has been good.”

The Rivers:
Lower Rogue “A few salmon were caught in the Rogue Bay early last week as water temperatures hit 70 degrees, forcing fish to hold up in the cooler water along the jetties,” said Martin. “The water temperature dropped to 60 degrees over the weekend, and there was a fair bite upriver. It was back to 68 degrees Tuesday, so the bay could take off again later this week.”

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