Steelhead in winter on the cold north coast.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

About 20 years ago in February Mel Jeffs and I went over to the Mattole River. Galen Geller and one of his friends?, Paul Keel or Phil Romig, went over too.

We camped overnight down at the mouth right on the ocean. It was so darn cold I can still shiver just thinking about it.

Mel had a little Datsun mini-pickup with a camper shell on the back. We slept in there and it was still freezing. Geller and friend slept on the ground in sleeping bags covered completely with a big old tarp.

When we got up and looked around we saw the big tarp with steam coming right through the top. It looked like a volcano, if you can imagine. It was their breath coming up throw the frost on the tarp.

Now that's dam cold.

We saw some guys fishing conventional tackle in big insulated suits. They looked like giant monsters with those huge thick insulated suits on. Like 4 big foots in a row casting into the river for Steelhead.

I don't remember us hooking anything but it was cold.

At 62 I don't have any real desire to go over there in the winter but might some day.

[Darian]

That brings back some very fond memories of fishing on the coast in January/February. :) :) I had a VW camper van that I traveled in. Since most of the state park campgrounds were closed to overnight stays, I would pull into the area near the bathroom (they still functioned), stay over night and leave early to fish. My favorite for this was Van Damme. Got pretty cold down there but nice and warm inside the van. Hot coffee and oatmeal in the AM. Fishin' in the early AM. If nothing was happenin' where I started, I'd move to another estuary. Sometimes covered from the Navarro on down to the Gualala in one day. Other times I'd cover the Gualala down to the Russian River. There was almost always something going on somewhere. If I was feeling very hungry on the way home, I'd stop at The union Hotel in Occidental for dinner. :D Man, was I stuffed when I got outta there. :lol: :lol: :lol:

I never spent much time at the Mattole. It was too far out of the way to go over there without having very specific knowledge that a run was there. If I went farther north, I always started at the Singley on the Eel River and worked North. Spent a lot of time on the Smith in those days. It wasn't crowded then. you could put a pram in the water below the Park Hole and have most of the day to your self. It was truly majestic watching Salmon in the depths of some of those holes in early December.... Oh well, I guess nothing stays the same. 8) 8) 8)

[wjorg]

Fished the Mattole last Thursday and Friday, greened up just before it browned up again. I saw some nice fish caught on kwikfish by the drifters. Got some good time in swinging....will head back soon.