To all the Pacific halibut and rockfish swimming off the North Coast, you can rest easy for a while. The weather window has busted open and tuna fanatics are all over it, as to be expected. The ocean is and will be flat for quite a few days, the warm water is close and getting closer, and there’s a huge swath of fish. Boats fishing out of ports from Eureka to Brookings are reporting some really good scores since Tuesday, ranging from 20 to 50 fish. Or in other words, you can catch as many as you can handle. Most of the Humboldt boats are finding the fish northwest of Eureka towards Trinidad. Fish are as close 11 miles straight off of Trinidad, and within 20 miles from the entrance of Humboldt Bay. The warm water appears to be pushing slightly in and north towards Crescent City. With excellent weather in the forecast going into next week, everyone who wants in on the tuna should have plenty of opportunity.

Weekend marine forecast
Nearshore conditions, out 10 nautical miles, look excellent for the weekend. But since most anglers will be further offshore, we’ll post conditions out 10 to 60 nautical miles. Friday’s forecast is calling for north winds 5 to 10 knots and north waves 3 feet at four seconds and northwest 3 feet at nine seconds. Saturday is calling for similar winds and waves. Sunday winds will be out of the southwest 5 to 10 knots and northwest waves 3 feet at eight seconds and south 2 feet at 13 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.

Klamath River water release
The Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) began releasing water from Upper Klamath Lake via Keno dam Tuesday morning for the Yurok Tribe’s Boat Dance ceremony. No less than 7,000 acre-feet will be released until the flows begin to ramp down on Monday, Aug. 19. As always, the public is urged to exercise caution when recreating in or around the Klamath River.

The Oceans:
Eureka
According to Tim Klassen of Reel Steel Sport Fishing, there’s a large area of warm water off of Eureka that connects all the way north of Trinidad. “There’s a lot of fish out there,” said Klassen. “Most of the boats are fishing 20 to 25 miles northwest of Eureka off of Trinidad. There’s lots of life out there right now, lots of birds and jumpers. The fish are averaging a little bigger than peanuts, I’d say 12 to 14 pounds. On Wednesday, we were able to catch a few on live bait and iron, which is always fun. Wherever you saw birds, there were tuna around. It looks like the good ocean conditions and warm water will stick around at least into next week.”

Trinidad
With the warm tuna water well within reach, Tony Sepulveda of Green Water Fishing Adventures put away the halibut and rockfish gear to join the tuna party. “It was a funny bite Wednesday,” said Sepulveda. “It felt like a big volume of fish that wasn’t overly aggressive. We had mostly singles and doubles picking at the long lines and showing favor to the smaller lures. But we were busy all day. It was you spot em’, you got em’ kind of fishing. Find a jumper, turn on it, a rod or two was going to fold. We pointed the Shellback to the east around 1:00 pm with 49 albacore.”

Shelter Cove
Jake Mitchell, of Sea Hawk Sport Fishing reports the weather wasn’t great this week, so we stayed close to home. He said, “It was hit and miss overall. Some days it was easy limits of rockfish and lings and other days it was a real struggle. It looks like we could finally have a weather window to get offshore by the end of the weekend, but the tuna water is still about 60 miles out.

Crescent City
According to Britt Carson of Crescent City’s Englund Marine, most of the effort has shifted towards tuna this week. “Boats that went straight west 40 to 50 miles the last couple days did well,” said Carson. “Scores were in the 20 to 25 range for most. It looks like the water and weather will cooperate for quite a while. The Pacific halibut bite is still really slow. There are a few anglers who are sticking with it, but not having much luck. California halibut has been excellent this week, the guys trolling South Beach are catching quite a few on anchovies. The rockfish bite is still good, with the Sisters and North Reef being a couple of the top spots. Quite a few lings are being caught as well. The nice ocean conditions should help anglers find the redtail perch at Kellogg Beach.”

Brookings
Boats fishing out of Brookings scores big numbers of tuna 30 miles straight out from the harbor reports Andy Martin of Brookings Fishing Charters. “Fishing was pretty much wide open for the 15 or so boats that left port just before daylight,” said Martin. “More boats are planning trips throughout the week with a nice forecast. Closer to shore, lingcod and rockfish action has been good, while halibut are biting in 200 feet of water. A 58-inch halibut was brought in Monday. Salmon fishing is slow.”

The Rivers:
Lower Klamath
Steelhead fishing has slowed on the lower Klamath the last few days as the water has taken on some color due to upriver dam removal. Conditions will likely get worse as water from Upper Klamath Lake is expected to arrive this weekend for the Boat Dance. Fishing pressure continues to be light. 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 is fishing well for fall salmon, but is crowded. “Most guides are getting better than a fish per rod. Fishing has been good for a week straight.”

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.