Excellent Ocean Conditions on Tap for the Coast

In what has been a rarity on the North Coast this summer, we’re looking at a weeklong stretch of calm ocean conditions that will continue at least through the weekend. The ocean began to lie down late Sunday, and by Monday boats were well offshore targeting tuna. This time, the Eureka boats didn’t do quite as well as the last go around. Scores were in the zero to 15-fish range, with the top boat landing 22. The Crescent City fleet had further to go, but put more fish in the box. Boats that ran straight west 48 to 50 miles did well. The top boat put in 35 albacore. Conditions on the tuna grounds, out to 60 nautical miles, look a little dicey the rest of the week, but they can change. Pacific Halibut and rockfish will likely get the majority of the effort this week. Whatever your fish of choice may be, you’ll want to take advantage of these conditions as they’ve been few and far between this season.

Weekend Marine Forecast
Within 10 nautical miles, ocean conditions look excellent through the weekend. As of Wednesday afternoon, Friday’s conditions are calling for winds 5 to 10 knots out of the northwest and northwest waves 3 feet at eight seconds. Saturday is calling for winds 5 to 10 knots from the north and waves from the north 3 feet at five seconds and northwest 2 feet at nine seconds. Sunday, winds will be from the northwest 5 to 10 knots with waves northwest 4 feet at eight seconds. These conditions can and will change by the weekend. For an up-to-date weather forecast, visit www.weather.gov/eureka/ or www.windy.com. You can also call the National Weather Service at 443-7062 or the office on Woodley Island at 443-6484.

Cal Poly Humboldt Green sturgeon studies
Graduate student Olivia Boeberitz is documenting the presence and activity of green sturgeon in Humboldt County. If you see sturgeon (live or dead) in the local area, please submit your observations to iNaturalist project or send them by email to greensturgeon@humboldt.edu. They are looking for date, time, detailed location, and activity observed.

Eel River Pikeminnow fishing derby ongoing
The Eel River Pikeminnow fishing derby is in full swing to try and suppress the spread of the invasive predator. A cash prize of up to $400 is being offered  to anglers who catch the most or biggest fish, during a derby that started July 20 and continues through the end of August.

To enter into the contest you must provide a valid (google) email address and upload a photo of your fish here. Prize categories are as follows:

1. Most pikeminnow (greater than 6 inches) removed over the duration of the contest. (1st-$150/2nd-$100/3rd-$50)
2. Most pikeminnow (greater than 12 inches) removed over the duration of the contest. MUST include tape measure in photo. (1st-$400/2nd-$200/3rd-$100)
3. Biggest fish (length). MUST include tape measure in photo. (1st-$350/2nd-$150/3rd-$100)
4. Drawing for anyone that entered a pikeminnow in the contest. (8 winners at $50/each)

Contest rules are as follows:

• Submit entries using one email address. All entries at the end of the contest for the “most pikeminnow…” will be tallied by participant name.
• Individual contestants can win no more than one prize category
• Cheating or falsification of entries will result in automatic disqualification
• Contestants must follow all CDFW fishing regulations, including no bait, barbless artificial lures only. Single barbless hooks are recommended for all manners of effort including, fly, and artificial lures.
• This derby includes all waters open to angling on the South Fork Eel River downstream of Humboldt County line to the confluence with the mainstem and the mainstem Eel from the confluence with the South Fork Eel to the mouth of the Van Duzen.

The derby is being put on by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, CalTrout, TRIB Research, Wiyot Tribe, Bureau of Land Management, and Stillwater Sciences. The fishing derby will run from July 20 through Aug. 31. For additional information, visit https://tribresearch.org/pikeminnow/

The Oceans:
Eureka
With a stretch of nice weather that began Monday, tuna, halibut, and rockfish have all been on the table the last few days. According to Tim Klassen of Reel Steel Sport Fishing, the tuna bite wasn’t great for the boats that ran southwest Monday and Tuesday. “It wasn’t wide-open like it was the previous week,” said Klassen.  “A lot of boats had 5 to 10 fish and the top scores were in the 20’s. The Pacific halibut bite has been good, with quite a few limits being caught. A lot of the action has shifted south off the canyon. The rockfish bite at False Cape has been a little tougher, likely due to the dirty water. A little further south was much better and we boated quick limits Tuesday. The lingcod bite has been good down there as well, it’s really improved the last couple years.”

Shelter Cove
Rock fishing was really good this past week according to Jake Mitchell of Sea Hawk Sport Fishing. “The lingcod bite was a little tougher, but still pretty good,” said Mitchell. “We fished around Bear Harbor a couple days and up around Rodgers Break a couple days. The Pacific halibut bite improved a little this week as well, with scattered effort from the canyon up to Punta Gorda. There hasn’t been any effort on the tuna this week. Tuesday was probably doable, but it was windy in the morning.”

Crescent City
According to Ben Ferguson of Crescent City’s Englund Marine, Albacore were caught Monday straight out roughly 48 miles. He said, “The boats that made the run caught anywhere from 20 to 30 tuna. The Pacific halibut bite continues to be slow, but the California halibut bite has been good. Guys fishing off the rock wall and boats trolling South Beach with anchovies are doing well. We’ve the good ocean conditions we’ve had this week, the rockfish and lingcod action has been excellent.”

Brookings
“Salmon fishing has been decent out of Brookings, with kings and hatchery coho showing up in the catch, along with big numbers of wild coho,” said Andy Martin of Brookings Fishing Charters. “Non-stop action once anglers find the fish 4 to 5 miles offshore. Pacific halibut fishing also is good during calm weather days. A few boats had good tuna action out of Brookings 45 miles out. Lingcod and rockfish action is very good.”

The Rivers:
Lower Klamath
As of the weekend there weren’t any big concentrations of steelhead, but reportedly there are some adults around. Fishing should only get better as we head into the first few weeks of August. The daily bag limit is two hatchery steelhead or hatchery trout per day on both the Klamath and Trinity rivers, with a possession limit of four. Anglers must have a Steelhead Fishing Report and Restoration Card in their possession while fishing for steelhead trout in anadromous waters. More information can be found here.

Lower Rogue
According to Martin, the Rogue Bay improved over the weekend, with fair action, but bigger crowds. “Warm water and lots of moss are slowing action at low tide. High tide has been a better bet. Be extremely careful near the tips of the jetties, as two boats capsized last week, with one fatality. One boat was hit by a wave at the south jetty. The other was a drift boat that crossed the bar and then capsized offshore of the beach.”

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 fishingthenorthcoast.com. For up-to-date fishing reports and North Coast river information, email kenny@fishingthenorthcoast.com.