If you’re looking to or have been chasing winter steelhead on the North Coast, chances are high it’s been on the Smith, or will be. With all the rain we’ve had, it’s really been the only option for the past couple weeks. And it looks like that will continue to be the case. More rain is in the forecast at least through next Tuesday morning, which will keep all other coastal rivers, including the Chetco, at levels and colors that aren’t fit to drift. The timing is unfortunate too. The Smith and Chetco both saw good pushes of fish enter the river earlier this week as plunkers did well on both rivers. So as the rain continues to pile on, it will be a Smith show for the foreseeable future.
Weather outlook
According to Doug Boushey of Eureka’s National Weather Service office, we’re looking at quite a bit of rain falling on the North Coast between Friday and Tuesday morning. “Thursday is looking mostly dry, but light rain is predicted for the Smith basin,” said Boushey. “On Friday, we’re looking at up to a half inch in the Smith area and a half to an inch in the Eel basin. Another inch is forecast for Saturday on the Smith and up to an inch and a half down on the Eel. Sunday and Monday are looking wet as well, with the chance for a couple inches or rain each day.”
The Rivers
As of Thursday morning, all North Coast rivers subjected to low-flow fishing closures were open to fishing. This includes the main stem Eel, South Fork Eel, Van Duzen, Mad, Redwood Creek and Smith rivers. The Department of Fish and Game will make the information available to the public by a telephone recorded message updated, as necessary, no later than 1 p.m. each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as to whether any stream will be closed to fishing. The rivers can be opened at any time. The low flow closure hotline for North Coast rivers is 707-822-3164. More information can be found here.
Mad
After reaching historical heights last Saturday, the Mad has been dropping quickly, but is not close to turning green. More rain is forecast for the weekend, pushing flows back up to monitor level (15 feet) by Monday afternoon. The river fishes best between 7 and 8 feet and it will take at least a week of dry weather to get there.
Main stem Eel
The main stem is dropping, but is still big and muddy flowing at roughly 22,000 cfs at Scotia Thursday. It’s predicted for another rise following a lot of rain over the weekend. Projections have it peaking at just over 100,000 cfs Monday evening. Will need a couple weeks of dry weather before it’s green.
South Fork Eel
The South Fork is forecast to drop through Friday, but won’t get down to a fishable level prior to the next round of storms. As of Thursday, it was right around 5,000 cfs at Miranda. It’s predicted to peak at over 24,000 cfs Monday.
Van Duzen
The Van Duzen remains off color, with a couple additional rises starting Saturday. Flows on Thursday were down to 1,800 cfs, but it’s predicted to hit 7,400 cfs by Monday morning.
Smith River
The Smith has been teetering between driftable and plunkable flows since Monday. Tuesday saw the first real good push of fish enter the river, and the scores were really good. Boats sitting on the anchor from Ruby down reported multiple fish landed. A few were caught drifting as well from the Forks down. The rain on Wednesday was substantially more than what was predicted, and blew the river out mid-morning. It was down to a plunkable level by Thursday morning, though it was off color. Boats should be able to drift Friday and Saturday as conditions are shaping up nicely. Flows are predicted to rise slightly Sunday through Tuesday, but the water color should be good.
Chetco
“After reaching minor flood stage over the weekend, the Chetco was fishable again for plunkers Monday,” said Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing. “Catch rates jumped on Tuesday with nearly 20 steelhead landed at Social Security Bar. A dozen steelhead were donated to the hatchery brood stock program. Rain Tuesday will likely have the river blown out again by Wednesday, but plunkers should be back on the water before the end of the week. Drift boaters could be fishing by the weekend. Flows hit 40,000 cfs last Saturday, the highest levels since 2021.”
Brookings ocean update
According to Martin, the ocean was calm enough – rough but fishable – for boats to get out of Brookings Monday for the first time this year. “Anglers caught limits of rockfish north of Bird Island, with lots of lingcod in the mix. Rough weather returned Tuesday.”
Kenny Priest operates Fishing the North Coast, a fishing guide service out of Humboldt specializing in salmon and steelhead. Find it on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and www.fishingthenorthcoast.com. For up-to-date fishing reports and North Coast river information, email kenny@fishingthenorthcoast.com
Fishing the North Coast with Kenny Priest 