tuna

Pacific Halibut Season Closes, Tuna and Rockfish on Deck

Customers of Brookings Fishing Charters hold tuna caught aboard the Papa B on Aug. 3. Photo courtesy of Brookings Fishing Charters

One of the better Pacific halibut seasons came to a close last Friday, with boats catching limits right up until the end. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced Friday’s closure late last week with the expectation that quota would be exceeded if the season remained open. And I don’t think they were wrong.

But as the halibut season fades in the rearview mirror, albacore tuna season is dead ahead. The warm water that tuna seek isn’t too far offshore of Eureka, and coupled with south winds starting early next week, it won’t be long. Wednesday’s calm seas provided a window for boats out of Crescent City and Brookings. And we know there’s fish out there. Ports from Charleston to Ilwaco have been hammering the longfins all week. Soon, it will be our turn.

Weekend marine forecast
Winds slowly increase in speed through the end of the week with moderate breezes across the waters by Friday. Friday’s forecast is calling for north winds 5 to 15 knots and north waves 5 feet at six seconds. Saturday is calling for north winds 5 to 15 knots and waves out of the north 6 feet at seven seconds. Sunday gets a little rougher, with winds out of the north 5 to 15 knots and waves northwest 8 feet at nine seconds and southwest 3 feet at 15 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.

CDFW offshore fishing closures/openings

Pacific halibut season closed
The recreational Pacific halibut fishery closed statewide on Friday, Aug. 4 at 11:59 p.m., CDFW announced August 2. Based on the latest catch projections, CDFW expects the 2023 California recreational quota of 39,520 net pounds will be reached by this date. For more information, visit https://wildlife.ca.gov/News/Archive/recreational-pacific-halibut-fishery-closure-2023#gsc.tab=0

Quillback rockfish closed for retention
Retention of quillback rockfish is prohibited statewide in both the recreational and commercial fisheries effective Aug. 7, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced July 28. For more info, visit https://wildlife.ca.gov/News/Archive/quillback-rockfish-retention-prohibited#gsc.tab=0

Razor clam fishery reopens
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has reopened Humboldt County beaches to sport clammers seeking tasty North Coast razor clams, effective August 7, 2023. CDFW reopened the fishery following a recommendation from state health agencies that eating razor clams from this area no longer poses a significant public health threat. In odd-numbered years, between Moonstone Beach and north of the boundary line due west from the Clam Beach south parking lot trailhead (40° 59.67′ N. lat.) is open. The limit is 20 and the first 20 clams dug must be retained as the bag limit regardless of size or broken condition. For more information, visit https://cdfwmarine.wordpress.com/2023/08/07/cdfw-reopens-humboldt-county-razor-clam-fishery/

The Oceans:
Eureka
According to Tim Klassen of Reel Steel Sport Fishing, the halibut season ended on a high note. “The last four days of the season was pretty wide-open action,” said Klassen. “The ocean was too rough over the weekend to head south for rockfish, but excellent conditions look to begin Wednesday. I’m sure there will be plenty of boats headed to the Cape for rockfish. The tuna water is still a little too far out there for us, but we have some southerly winds starting early next week which should bring the warm water closer.”

Shelter Cove
Spending most of this week fishing off the Ranch House, Jake Mitchell, of Sea Hawk Sport Fishing reports a pretty good rockfish bite. “We had easy limits every day, but the lingcod are still hit and miss,” said Mitchell. “A couple of days we had limits while others were a struggle.”

Crescent City
According to Britt Carson of Crescent City’s Englund Marine, one boat did well last Thursday on tuna, landing 16. “If the weather holds, boats will be headed out Wednesday as the warm water looks to be only 25 miles out,” said Carson. “The California halibut bite exploded over the weekend, with plenty of limits being caught along South Beach. They were really thick, and anglers trolling anchovies did really well. The rockfish and lingcod bite are still going strong, with both reefs and the lighthouse giving up plenty of nice limits.”

Brookings
Charter boats out of Brookings found big schools of tuna last week, but had to venture well offshore to get them,” said Andy Martin of Brookings Fishing Charters “The five boats fishing out of the Brookings Fishing Charters office averaged 50 fish a boat last Thursday, fishing halfway between Brookings and Gold Beach, 30 miles offshore. Pockets of warmer water along the border didn’t produce for private boaters from Brookings that headed south instead of turning north. A break in the weather Wednesday and Thursday will give anglers another shot at tuna. Pacific halibut fishing has been good, with the best action in 180 to 240 feet of water. Combinations of herring and squid are working best.”

The Rivers:
Lower Klamath
Steelhead fishing has improved on the lower Klamath, but it’s still not red hot. Fishing pressure has been light, and the few boats out are catching a handful of adults each day. Some more half-pounders are finally starting to show up. 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. For more information, visit nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=202686&inline

Lower Rogue
According to Martin, the Rogue Bay is fishing well, but is crowded. “Most fish are coming on 360 flashers and anchovies. Lots of big fish are being caught, with salmon topping 40 pounds showing up daily at Jots or Lex’s Landing.”

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.

Epic tuna bite off coast of Eureka

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Photo Caption: Kayla from Roseville, CA had her hands full landing this 25-pound Chinook on Tuesday while fishing with John Klar’s Guide Service on the Klamath River. 

Fishing the North Coast
Kenny Priest/For the Times-Standard
Published 9/5/2013

Free fishing day this Saturday

Calm seas and 60-degree water — the two ideal conditions that make any fanatical tuna angler go nuts — or call in sick to work. North Coast fishermen had been targeting salmon all summer, but now, tuna has become the new holy grail and catch of the day. For the last couple of weeks, conditions have provided a few opportunities for boats willing to run 50 to 60 miles out, but Wednesday, with warm water inching closer towards shore, seemed to be THE day. The word was out!

Close to 30 boats launched out of Eureka area and made the trek out to the spot where the boats left them biting days prior. Tim Klassen of Reel Steel Sport fishing was part of the fleet and reported the bite was pretty unbelievable. According to Klassen, they ended up 43 miles out on the 46-line and found lots of fish on the surface as well as “jumpers” where the water temps were in the mid-60s. “We probably caught about a third of our fish on live bait, caught a few on the troll and a few on dead bait. They were biting everything we threw at them. The fish were big too — all of our fish were in the 20-pound class,” Klassen added. Though I didn’t get any totals for the day, I’m assuming when Klassen says they “plugged the boat”, they got all they needed.

Marine forecast

It doesn’t appear Mother Nature will be too kind to the salmon anglers looking to get on the water for the final weekend of salmon season. Out 10 nautical miles, Friday’s forecast is calling for winds out of the north 10 to 20 knots and waves NW 9 feet at 9 seconds. Saturday is calling for north winds 5 to 15 knots and waves NW 8 feet at 8 seconds. Sunday is looking very similar with north winds 10 to 20 knots and waves NW to 8 feet at 9 seconds. These conditions can and will change by the weekend. For up-to-date weather forecast, visit http://www.weather.gov/eureka. You can also call the National Weather Service at (707) 443-7062 or the office on Woodley Island at (707) 443-6484.

 Klamath River salmon

The Labor Day weekend saw a huge push of salmon enter the river according to Sara Borok, an Environmental Scientist on the Klamath River. “As of Monday, 7,030 adult Chinook have been harvested out of the lower river quota of 20,003. Of those, 6,561 were harvested at the mouth. Because we don’t anticipate hitting the basin quota of 40,006 the mouth will not close,” Borok added. With the water temperatures again on the rise, the DFW is encouraging anglers to catch their three adult salmon and not catch and release attempting to harvest a jack to fill their limits.

Free Fishing Day on Saturday

This Saturday, September 7 is the second of California’s two 2013 Free Fishing Days, when people can try their hand at fishing without having to buy a sport fishing license. All fishing regulations, such as bag and size limits, gear restrictions, report card requirements, fishing hours and stream closures remain in effect. For more information on Free Fishing Days, please visit www.dfg.ca.gov/licensing/fishing/freefishdays.html

Rockfish and Halibut seasons

Though sport salmon season closes on September 8, both rockfish and Pacific Halibut seasons are open until October 31 in the Northern Management Zone.

The Oceans:

Eureka

The finish line is in sight for the ocean sport salmon season, and may not end up quite like it started. For the better part of four months, we’ve had great weather and phenomenal fishing. If the rough seas don’t materialize for the weekend, you’ll more than likely find the fleet working south off Centerville beach anywhere from the 32 to the 37-line. That’s where Captains Gary Blasi of Full Throttle Sport Fishing, Tim Klassen of Reel Steel Sport Fishing, and Tony Sepulveda of Shellback Sport Fishing have been doing there time. Limits, or close to it have been the norm since the weekend, and the fish have been a real nice grade. The boats have been working in tight from 100 feet of water out to 190 and all the fish have been coming right off the bottom. The area has been one of the few spots holding cold water, but that may change this weekend as the warm water is once again pushing right into the beach.

Trinidad

Phil Pritting of Eureka’s Englund Marine reports the salmon has slowed and not many are still trying. ‘I did see one of the charter boats come in on Tuesday with a bunch of salmon, so I know there’s still some around. The halibut fishing has been pretty good for the guys willing to put in some time. Best action has been off of Patrick’s Point in 270 to 310 feet of water. The rockfish bite has also been decent, but now and then they just won’t bite,” Pritting said.

Crescent City

Warm water has pushed the salmon far and deep reports Chris Hegnes of Crescent City’s Englund Marine. “I heard of a few caught, but they were out in deep water by guys targeting halibut. The water was 64 degrees to the beach on Wednesday, which is good for the tuna fishermen, but not salmon. The halibut bite is still going strong, we weighed a 98-pounder on Sunday that was caught near the South Reef,” Hegnes added.

The Rivers:

Lower Klamath

Not many adult salmon are making their way upriver reports Mike Coopman of Mike Coopman’s Guide Service. “The mouth is full of fish and could bust wide-open open any time, but as of today, we are only seeing a few make their way upriver. We are seeing a good amount of steelhead however, both half-pounders and adults,” Coopman added. Alan Borges of Alan’s Guide Service has also been working the Klamath and reports the fishing over the last week has been up and down. “Some days we are catching quite a few, with the majority being half-pounders and adult steelhead with a nice king in the mix here and there. It seems like the fish are coming in spurts and water temps still need to drop a little more for things to really take off. It’s keeping the kings from really pushing in the mouth in good numbers,” Borges added.

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

Ocean conditions slow North Coast salmon bite

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Kenny Priest/For the Times-Standard

August 22, 2013

Ceremonial water coming Sunday from the Trinity

We all knew this was coming — the out-of-this-world salmon action that we’ve enjoyed since May has finally started to taper off — at least for the last couple of days. After a not so hot bite this past weekend, the action really slowed to a crawl Tuesday and Wednesday. Charter boat scores ranged from nine fish to one fish kept, and everywhere in between. That doesn’t sound horrible on paper, but compared to the salmon fishing we’ve grown accustomed to over the last three months, this rates as headline news. This begs the question — where did the fish go? Well, no one really knows. The reports I heard from Wednesday is there were quite a few biters that just didn’t stick, so maybe the fish are still there. The water temperatures surely played a role in the slowdown. The warm water, which reached 62 degrees out front, pushed all the way to the beach. When this happens, the salmon typically head straight down in search of the cool water they crave. And that’s where the majority of the fish have been coming the last couple days, anywhere between 100 to 200 feet on the wire. With calm seas predicted through the weekend, maybe the large sport fleet can do a little searching and find the schools again.

Marine forecast

Calm seas are predicted through the weekend. Friday’s forecast is calling for winds 5 to 10 knots with 4-foot swells at 8 seconds. The forecast for Saturday is calling for winds 5 to 10 knots, with swells to 3-feet at 7 seconds. Sunday is looking very similar, with winds 5 to 10 knots and seas to 4-feet at 8 seconds. These conditions can and will change by the weekend. For up-to-date weather forecast, visit http://www.weather.gov/eureka. You can also call the National Weather Service at (707) 443-7062 or the office on Woodley Island at (707) 443-6484.

Ceremonial water release from the Trinity

Beginning this Sunday at 8 a.m., flows out of the Trinity will increase from 450 cfs to 2,650 cfs. After peaking at midnight Sunday, they will be reduced slowly until reaching 450 cfs on Thursday, August 29 at 8 p.m. The flow increase is due to the Hoopa Valley Tribe’s Boat Dance Ceremony. Hopefully, the 62,000 acre-feet of water that’s currently in the hands of the court will follow closely behind. If it doesn’t, a fish kill could be on the horizon.

Klamath River quota update

According to Sara Borok, an Environmental Scientist on the Klamath River Project,

407 adult Chinook salmon have been harvested on the Lower Klamath as of Tuesday. The quota is 20,003. Of those, 395 were caught below the Hwy. 101 bridge. The trigger number to close the spit fishery is 3,000 adult Chinook salmon.

Klamath salmon health being closely monitored

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is seeking help from the public in monitoring the health of Chinook salmon in the Klamath River and its tributaries. Drought conditions mixed with a larger than normal return of salmon elevate concerns of fish die offs. Small numbers of dead fish are expected this year as an estimated 272,000 fall-run Chinook salmon return. CDFW, in conjunction with The Klamath Fish Health Assessment Team (KFHAT) is asking the public to report any unusual numbers of dead fish they see by contacting Sara Borok at 707-822-0330.

The Oceans:

Eureka

Slow but steady fishing best describes the salmon action out of Eureka this past weekend. Most of the charter boats were able to grind out limits, but they didn’t necessarily come easy. Captain Tim Klassen on the Reel Steel had limits both days before the bite tanked on Monday. “There’s still a wide variety of fish out there, anywhere from 10-inches to 40-pounds. With the ocean calming down over the weekend, we’ll be able to take a look around and see if we can find some colder water. I know there’s some down at the Cape and up closer to Trinidad,” Klassen added. After having the weekend off, Captain Gary Blasi of Full Throttle Sportfishing was back on the water Monday and was able to get a box full before noon. “We found a pretty good school of fish and were able to land five over 20-pounds. The fish were coming deep, about 130-feet down. We definitely need some wind to blow the warm water out of here,” Blasi said. After a weekend in which Phil Glenn skippered the Shellback, Captain Tony Sepulveda was back at it this week. With all the Eureka boats tied up at the dock, he ventured out into pretty rough seas on Tuesday and was able to land six keepers. “The fishing definitely slowed on Tuesday. The water is warm, but I think it will cool itself in the next few days. I don’t think the fish are gone, they’ll show up again,” Sepulveda added.

 

Trinidad

The salmon bite was wide-open over the weekend, but slowed Monday as the ocean got rough reports Curt Wilson, who runs the Wind Rose Charter out of Trinidad. “We tried to go on Monday, but it got real nasty so we turned around with all the other charter boats. The action on Tuesday and Wednesday was spotty at best. The halibut and rockfish were biting over the weekend, but not much effort over the last few days on either. The weather is suppose to lay down real nice over the weekend, so maybe we can go look around for some salmon,” Wilson added.

 

Shelter Cove

Fishing in general has slowed out of Shelter Cover reports Russ Thomas of Mario’s Marina in Shelter Cove. “We’re launching maybe three or four boats per day and most are targeting rockfish. The salmon action has slowed way down; not very many are still trying. The few that are being caught are nice ones however,” Thomas added.

 

Crescent City

Leonard Carter of Crescent City’s Englund Marine reports the Pacific halibut bite has been steady, with fish being landed daily. “Most of the boats are fishing the back side of the South Reef in 190 to 210 feet of water. The Big Reef is also producing a few as well. The salmon has slowed out front, with not many anglers still trying. The best action has been coming around the mouth of the Smith. There have been some real big ones landed the last few days, with a few in the 40-pound class and some 30’s. The lingcod is still red hot and the snapper bite has been sporadic,” Carter added.

The Rivers:

Lower Klamath

Guide Mike Coopman reports the Lower Klamath is fishing decent, with most of the fish landed being steelhead. “There’s not many kings in the river due to the water temps, and that probably won’t change until it cools. The morning bite has been best, and if you choose the right spot first thing, it can make your day,” Coopman added.

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