Winter Steelhead Fishing

Date: March 25, 2009
Current Report: Smith and Chetco River

Fishing so far this month has been pretty much like it has been all season. There is fish to be caught, just not a lot of them. I've been on the Smith and the Chetco Rivers.  The nice thing is that there hasn't been very many people on the river.  Most of the fish I've been catching have been runbacks but there are still fresh fish coming in which is good to see.

It looks like the Eel River will be fishable by this weekend.  I'm planning on fishing there until the end which is March 31.  

Brice

 Date: March 1, 2009
Current Report: Smith and Chetco River

I have not fished that much since my last report.  All the rivers blew out with only the Smith being fishable this last week.  Even then it was pretty high on the fishable days.  We just finished the second of the three fund raising steelhead derbies.  With the high water the Chetco did not fish on Friday so all the boats were on the Smith. It was kind of a back up at the forks put in but once we were on the water it wasn't bad.  The higher flows tend to spread out the boats pretty fast!  My boat was able to catch three fish that day.  The river was big but looked good, the only thing is it gives the fish a lot of places to hide.  On Saturday all the boats went to the Chetco River.  It was definitly on the big side but fishable from top to bottom.  We caught two fish on the Chetco which with the three on the Smith was good for second place in the derby.

We are getting rained on now with more on the way.  We'll see what it will do to the rivers.  It is going to be a Smith and Chetco show for awhile.  I'm hoping to get back on the Eel before the end of the month.

Brice

Date: February 22, 2009
Current Report: Smith and Chetco River

Since my last report I've still been fishing the Chetco River.  The fishing remained good through the week.  It did drop and clear up but the light boat traffic did not make it so critical.  We just finished up the first of three fund-raising steelhead derbies.  These derbies consist of teams of four anglers and two guides.  One boat fishes the Smith and the other fishes the Chetco one day and then switch the second day. The money raised from these derbies are used to finance fishery projects, mainly the hatcheries.  The Rowdy Creek Hatchery on the Smith River is privately funded, it does not receive any money from the California Fish & Game.  I caught three fish on the Chetco and two on the Smith during the derby which was good for third place.

Both the Chetco and Smith blew out today from heavy rain.  With more rain on the way the Chetco is not going to fish for a few days but the Smith should. 

Brice

Date: February 13, 2009
Current Report:  Chetco River

I've been on the Chetco River the last couple of days and the fishing has been good.  The river conditions were nice, and there were fish biting.  We were getting rained on both days but with the low snow level the river was actually dropping.  You could look up on the hills and see the snow line.  It wasn't very much higher than we were!  The rise in the river level from the storm on Wednesday brought in a good push of new fish.  Let's hope they keep coming in like this.  It sounds like the guides on the Smith caught fish too.

It looks like we are back to a "normal" winter pattern.  This means I will be up on the Smith and Chetco for a while.  The lower rivers are high and muddy and will probably only get higher.

Brice

 Date: February 11, 2009
Current Report:  Eel River

We finally got the rain that everybody wanted!  It rained pretty hard today while fishing on the Eel River.  We fished a rising river all day but the color held together until the end.  When I went back to get my truck though the river was brown there, and then back at the boat it was getting dirty fast.  We were able to land a couple of nice fish though and had a chance at a couple of other ones.  The bites we are getting are soft, like a cold water bite but the fish are not fighting like that though.  It's pretty cool when a fish makes a run and you wonder if it's ever going to stop.  Or how many more times it's going to jump.

I'm heading north to the Smith and Chetco Rivers tomorrow and with the change in the weather pattern it looks like I'll be there for a while.  It has been nice fishing from home but I  really enjoy fishing those two rivers.  It has been a while since I've been up there it's going to feel like I havn't fished there this year.  

Brice

Date: February 9, 2009
Current Report: Trinity & Eel Rivers

Our weather has finally changed and with that so has the fishing.  A couple storms went through putting much needed water in the lower rivers.  The Smith and Chetco did not come up much but the storm that is going to hit us tomorrow should change that.  If this storm is a big  as they predict I'll probably be up north on Wednesday.  The extra water in the rivers has made the fishing better for me.  The conditions today were about as ideal as a person would want and we ended up having a good day.  I have still been moving around a lot, mainly just trying to find water that isn't crowded. 

Brice

Date: February 2, 2009
Current Report: All Rivers

I have been fishing the Chetco, Eel, Klamath, and Trinity rivers since my last report.  My goal is obviously to find good fishing but also to find some water I can fish by myself. It seems like if I can do this we have a decent day. The low clear conditions make the fish spooky but if you are stealthy about it they will still bite.  We've been having sunny weather too which makes it a little tougher.  I can't remember ever fishing this long without rain.  Like my last report said the fish are still coming in small bunches.  I will be staying down on the lower rivers until the weather changes, the Chetco is too low for me.  The Smith river is going to be an option,  even if there is not a lot of fish the river is low enough that a person can find them.  It just depends on boat traffic on how well they will bite.

My computer is working as of now, I will be able to return emails and do my reports.

Brice

I have been fishing a number of different rivers since my last report.  There are fish in all the rivers, just not a lot.  It seems like there are small bunches of fish coming in and you need to be at the right place at the right time to catch them.  I've had days where we've hooked four to six fish to one day on the Smith where we did not land a fish.   The nice weather we've been having has created low and clear conditions, especially on the Smith and Chetco.  Right now it is raining lightly with unsettled weather for the next week.  Hopefully this will change things.  Right now my computer is not working right so my reports are going to be spread out more than usual until I get it fixed.  Right now I'm posting reports and checking e-mail via a friend.

Brice

Date: January 14, 2009
Current Report: Eel River

I fished the Eel river today and had a good day.  The boat traffic was higher than I thought it would be though.  After a chilly morning we were in our t-shirts for most of the day.  Definitely not steelhead weather!  The river looked good but it won't be long before it clears up. All the rivers up here are fishable right now.

Brice

Date: January 13, 2009
Current Report: Smith & Chetco Rivers

I've been fishing the Smith and Chetco rivers since my last report.  Fishing has been O.K., there are fish in both rivers just not a lot.  We are still dealing with cold water conditions, which makes the bite a little tougher.  It does seem like we are getting pushes of fresh fish every day.  Both rivers are dropping and with no rain in sight we will be dealing with low and clear conditions.  I'm planning on fishing the Eel tomorrow.

Brice

Date: January 4, 2009
Current Report: Smith River

We've had some cold weather since the last time I fished, this has helped with the river levels.  They came down faster than I thought so I was able to fish today on the Smith.  The river was on the high side but looked good.  We were able to hook four fish and landing two of them.  The water temperature is really cold .  The bites we got were real soft, with the cold water the fish are not real aggressive.  We have rain in the forecast for this week, hopefully not too much.  The reports from the Chetco is that it is high and off colored.

Brice

Date: January 2, 200
Current Report: Smith & Chetco River

I fished the Smith River to start out the New Year!  The river was big but the color looked good.  The put in at the forks was pretty messed up.  The high water had built up a gravel berm between the bottom of the paved ramp and the river.  We made it work but hopefully this gets fixed.  We were able to hook five fish but only landed one.  Sometimes you just have days like this.  We still had a fun time with it though.  The excuses and finger pointing was going on all day.  There were not a lot of boats on the river today.  I did see a number of fish being hooked by the other boats too.

Unfortunately the rain and snow melt has blown out the river for today and probably tomorrow.  I do not think I will be back on the river until Sunday or Monday. I do have open days throughout the steelhead season.

Brice