Around this time the past couple years, our Pacific halibut seasons were coming to a close as good fishing made quick work of the quotas. The same cannot be said of this year. Though we’ve had some pretty good flurries, the bite remains fairly inconsistent. Boats have been covering a lot of ground, searching from Trinidad south to the Eel River Canyon in looking for schools, but have to yet to locate any spots that will offer consistent fishing for multiple days. As of Thursday, our projected catch rate still stood at 8,024 net pounds harvested against the 38,220 quota. But we know we’ve caught quite a few since the catch estimate was last updated on July 14. There is one silver lining to the slow fishing – halibut, rockfish, and Dungeness crab combo trips are a real possibility come November.

Weekend marine forecast
Much like last weekend, the nearshore conditions look excellent but offshore looks a little iffy for the tuna chasers. For coastal waters out 10 nautical miles, Friday’s forecast is calling for northwest winds 5 to 10 knots and northwest waves 4 feet at six seconds and west 2 feet at 10 seconds. Saturday is calling for north winds 5 to 10 knots and waves out of the northwest 3 feet at six seconds. Sunday looks similar, with winds out of the northwest 5 to 10 knots and waves northwest 4 feet at seven 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.

California halibut update
The CA halibut bite picked up this past week according to Justin Kelly of RMI Outdoors. He said, “There seems to be more bait in the bay now. From what I’m hearing, fishing has been best in the second channel. Guys tossing 4 to 5 inch swimbaits with 1 to 2 ounce Underspin jig heads are doing well. The California halibut bag and total possession limit is two in California waters north of Point Sur, Monterey County. The minimum size limit is 22 inches total length.

The Oceans:
Eureka
According to Tim Klassen of Reel Steel Sport Fishing, the Pacific halibut bite has been really inconsistent as of late. “We’ve been fishing all over the place, and each day has been different,” said Klassen. “One day we’ll get limits, the next day is a struggle to get a couple. We’ve been covering a lot of ground as well, all the way from Trinidad south to the Eel River Canyon. It’s possible we just haven’t found where the fish have landed. The one consistent has been the black cod. They’ve eaten a year’s supply worth of bait in just a few months. The rockfish bite at the Cape hasn’t been spectacular all year, but that changed when we were there on Monday. It was the best fishing I’ve seen down there in a while. We got a pretty good picture Tuesday of the tuna water. It’s still sitting straight off of Trinidad, hopefully we’ll get a break in the weather next week so we can run up there.

Shelter Cove
Spending most of this week fishing close to home due to weather, Jake Mitchell, of Sea Hawk Sport Fishing reports a slow rockfish bite. “We managed limits every day, but we had to work really hard to get them,” said Mitchell. The lingcod bite was pretty slow as well with the exception of Monday when we got our limits fairly quickly. It doesn’t look like we’ll have the weather for tuna anytime soon.”

Crescent City
According to Britt Carson of Crescent City’s Englund Marine, the California halibut bite continues to be excellent, with plenty of limits being caught along South Beach. Anglers trolling Rogue River setups with anchovies or swimbaits are finding success. The rockfish and lingcod bite are still going strong, with both reefs and the lighthouse giving up plenty of nice limits. The Pacific halibut remains really slow.”

Brookings
“The coho salmon season closed Sunday, while king salmon remains open through the end of the month,” said Andy Martin of Brookings Fishing Charters. “A few kings are being caught, with wild and even hatchery coho outnumbering them in catches around 10-to-1. Pacific halibut fishing is good offshore, while California halibut are biting along the beaches at the mouth of the Chetco. Fishing is good for lingcod and rockfish. Tuna were 30 miles offshore, but windy conditions limited effort to just two days late last week.”

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. More information can be found here.

Lower Rogue
According to Martin, salmon fishing picked up in the Rogue Bay, with Tuesday producing perhaps the best fishing of the year. “Most of the action has been in the deeper trench between the sand spit and north jetty. Some kings also are being caught in the ocean just offshore of the jetties.”

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.