Kenny Priest

Spring rains, and lots of it, can do wonders for our salmon and steelhead populations. Following a wet spring in 2017, the benefits are starting to roll in. At Wednesday’s annual Ocean salmon Information meeting in Santa Rosa, CDFW suggested 274,222 Klamath River fall Chinook adults are swimming in the ocean. Not a huge number, but still right around the...
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Last fall produced some of the best king salmon fishing on both the Klamath and Trinity Rivers in recent memory, and the preliminary number of returning kings seem to reflect just that. While we’re still not back up to average runs sizes, we’re headed in the right direction. The CDFW predicted a river run size of 91,873 in 2018, and...
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At last week’s meeting in Sacramento, the California Fish and Game Commission accepted a petition to list Upper Klamath-Trinity River Spring Chinook Salmon as endangered, starting the process of a status review to be completed by the CDFW. The one-year review will determine if a CESA listing by the Commission may be warranted. After reviewing the best scientific data available,...
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Some good news coming out of the fishing world – finally. During the ninety-fifth annual meeting of the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC), it was announced that our Pacific halibut allocation for California will be set for the next four years at 39,000 pounds. This is approximately 8,000 net pounds greater than our 2018 quota. According to Tom Marking who sits...
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Mother Nature can be so cruel at times. For the first time in nearly a month, the Mad, Van Duzen, and the South Fork of the Eel are all on the verge of turning emerald green. It’s the color that will make any winter steelhead angler giddy. But no sooner will they be in prime shape, rain will once again...
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Our coastal rivers finally received the flushing and scouring they desperately needed. Last week’s storms brought the rivers to their highest levels of the season, providing ample water for steelhead to make it back to the streams and creeks where they originated. The extra flows will also trigger the fish that are still swimming in the salt to begin their...
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