North Coast fishing, Feb. 4 -- A steelheaders story: Feast or Famine
 By Kenny Priest [Kenny Priest, Eureka-based writer who loves to fish fresh and saltwater along the northwest coast has agreed to share a few of his timely north coast reports with MyOutdoorBuddy.]
More rain for Humboldt rivers
I’m not sure when or where this trend started, but when I’m fishing for winter steelhead from a drift boat, I will either catch all of the fish or none at all. It’s become an emotional rollercoaster that I really don’t enjoy riding. Just once I’d like to be part of a team and catch two of the four or one of the three fish. There seems to be no middle ground for me, and the frustrating part is that I’m not doing anything different from one trip to the next. This phenomenon reared its ugly head two weekends ago when I spent two and a half days side-drifting the Smith River and never got so much as a bite. That’s not an easy thing to do, especially with all the steelhead in the river. Talk about questioning your fishing skills?
So when guide Mike Coopman called and invited me to fish with his client last Thursday, I jumped at the chance. I was either going to redeem myself or fall further into a funk.
By now you can probably predict the outcome. Four beautiful steelhead were caught and all on my rod. This is in no way meant as a slight to my fishing partner on this day, he’s a solid angler who cut his winter steelhead chops while attending HSU. He was just no match for my all-or-nothing-at-all spell I’m under.
The weekend weather is looking a little on the wet side, at least through Saturday. The area surrounding the Mad River is predicted to get about 3/4 of an inch from Thursday afternoon to early Friday morning. That’s going to push the already muddy river up to 10.5 ft. Down south near Miranda, 3/4 of an inch is expected to fall on Thursday night, which will keep the South Fork Eel at a non-driftable height and color. To the north, the Crescent City area should receive about an inch of rain in the 12-hr period beginning Thursday afternoon. The Smith River will be on the rise Thursday, but conditions for the weekend look good.
The Rivers:
Chetco River
The Chetco took a significant rise on Wednesday, nearing 7,000 cfs. However, it looks like it will peak on Friday morning and will be on the drop all weekend. Val Early of Early Fishing Guide Service reports that the weekend was crowded, with both boats and bank fishermen. “There was a good mix of hatchery and wild fish and success rates seemed fair to good among most anglers,” Early said. Guide Brice Dusi of Dusi Guide Service has been on the Chetco all week and was getting three to five hookups a day, with a mix of wild and hatchery fish. Though the fish are scattered, Dusi has been getting most of his fish from the Ice Box down while side-drifting roe.
Smith River
The Smith will remain fishable all weekend, but will be on the rise Thursday night and is predicted to peak sometime Friday morning at around 11.7 ft on the Jed Park gauge. Mike Coopman of Coopman’s Guide Service reported that he saw more fish moving and rolling on Tuesday alone than he’s seen all season. “The front edge of the weather system that’s coming in really made the fish active on Tuesday and my guess is that most of these fish will move up when the river rises — with the hope that fresh fish are right behind them,” Coopman said. Most boats are averaging between three and four hookups a day, with one guide boat landing five on Tuesday.
Upper Trinity River
Guide Steve Huber of Huber’s Guide Service is landing fish just about every day in his home waters of the Upper Trinity. He’s currently fishing the Lewiston to Douglas City stretch and reports there are still fresh fish moving in and some downers are now starting to show. He’s getting all his fish on plugs, mostly Brad’s and Hot Shots. As of Tuesday, the river was low and clear, but rain and snow showers are forecasted off and on through the weekend, which should put some color back in the river.
Mad
Was just starting to turn slightly olive green above Lindsay Creek, that according to Justin Kelly of Eureka’s Redwood Marine. “With a pretty good amount of rain expected to fall on Thursday night, we’ll be back at square one. Without anymore rain, I’d bet it will be at least a week before the river will start to clear,” Kelly said. The river is still full of steelhead as the liners are having a field day below the hatchery.
Eel
The main stem still has way too much water and color, with more of both coming with Thursday’s storm, according to Paul Grundman of Grundman’s Sporting Goods in Rio Dell. It’s currently running around 16 ft, on the Scotia gauge, but is predicted to jump to 22 ft by Friday night. In other words, were still two weeks away from anything close to green water. Up on the south fork, the river is in beautiful shape south of Benbow according to Darren Brown of Brown’s Sporting Goods in Garberville. “There’s not a lot of people fishing this section, but I did hear of one angler who landed a couple on Tuesday. You’ll want to keep an eye on the Leggett gauge http://cdec.water.ca.gov/river/eelStages.html. On Wednesday, it was at 9 ft, which is a very fishable level. Questions, comments, tips, and photos can be emailed to kenny@fishingthenorthcoast.com
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