Humboldt Lagoons

[Jeff Fisher]

Taking the tube up to Big Lagoon on Saturday. Not much info on the internet about fishing the lagoons, but the little info I've gathered by talking to a local, I understand that the coastal cutthroat fishing can be pretty good. Along with the chance of hooking into a steelhead now and then.

I have zero experience fishing this lake, so if anyone would care to share some local knowledge, I would greatly appreciate it. Like where to concentrate my efforts so I'm actually fishing over fish or where fish might like to hang out.........

The plan is to just cruise off the shoreline and strip small bunny string leeches.

I know that Freshwater Lagoon has recently been planted with pellet-eaters, so that is probably a distant Plan B if the cutts in Big Lagoon aren't cooperating.

Thanks for any info.

~Jeff

[SHigSpeed]

Taking the tube up to Big Lagoon on Saturday. Not much info on the internet about fishing the lagoons, but the little info I've gathered by talking to a local, I understand that the coastal cutthroat fishing can be pretty good. Along with the chance of hooking into a steelhead now and then.

I have zero experience fishing this lake, so if anyone would care to share some local knowledge, I would greatly appreciate it. Like where to concentrate my efforts so I'm actually fishing over fish or where fish might like to hang out.........

The plan is to just cruise off the shoreline and strip small bunny string leeches.

I know that Freshwater Lagoon has recently been planted with pellet-eaters, so that is probably a distant Plan B if the cutts in Big Lagoon aren't cooperating.

Thanks for any info.

~Jeff

Oooh, good topic! I went to HSU for a couple of years and never got to catch fish in those lagoons but I want to head back up some day to fulfill my coastal cutt req for my second HTC. Share please. :)

_SHig

[Ben J]

First post..

I would concentrate on the rocky banks along the north'ish shore of Big. A clear intermediate sink tip can really make the difference, and gray or brown buggers along with muddlers or whatever your favorite streamer will get a few looks from the cutts. There are some really big cutties and steelhead in there, i've gotten into a few 18-20 inch sea run cutts.

You can always hike south to the mouth (believe it's closed) from the dry lagoon access point where there should be some spent steelhead waiting for the spit to break.

Was messing around at Freshwater over the weekend and got into some cheeseheads.... got bored pretty quickly though

Most importantly, be careful where you park and don't leave anything in view in your car! tweakers abound up there:rolleyes:

Good luck

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

The guys at the Eureka Fly Shop know these lagoons well.

The very popular book "Fly Fishing California Stillwaters" by Bill Sunderland has great info on these lagoons north of Eureka, CA.

My friend Chris Pasley went to Humboldt State many years ago. He would park on the road above the north end of Big Lagoon and walk down hill to the beach. You can cast from shore off the sand at the very north end of the lagoon for land locked (temporarily) Steelhead and Sea-run Cutts. I believe this is where it breaks open after a big rain?

April/May is a top time.

[Steve Dinardi]

I also went to Humboldt State back in the 70's and made it a point to fish both Big Lagoon and Stone Lagoon. I actually favored Stone Lagoon at the time because I could sight fish for cruising cutthroats working the edges of the west end off the sand spit. I recall using a Humboldt Hopper which was actually a wet fly but fished shallow with a floater or sink tip. Those were strong fish on a 5 wt.! I also remember that April was the best month for this fishing and that fishing was better early in the morning. The locations mentioned for Big Lagoon are solid places to fish. While working for Fish and Game we would set out fyke nets in that location about 100 feet off the shoreline to trap cutthroats for scale samples. 18" to 20" cutts were not uncommon at that time. Blind casting in Big Lagoon takes a lot of faith and patience but if you stick with it you will connect with some nice fish. Good Luck.

[Scott V]

Thanks for the info everyone, that area is on my list. What time of year seems to be the best or does it not really matter.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Spring......I think Chris Pasley liked April/May for cruising fish.

Chris cast in front of rising cruisers with a #10 Hare's Ear nymph.

I stopped there once just to look at it in August and it was pretty dead.....

We have "Fly Fishing California Stillwaters" by Bill Sunderland in stock too.

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&rlz=1W1DKUS_en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=big+lagoon+eureka+california&fb=1&gl=us&hq=big+lagoon&hnear=Eureka,+CA&ei=xH2mTZjPEJGcsQPGu4CHBg&sa=X&oi=local_group&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CAQQtgMwAA

[FlyReelFisher]

Ditto on the vehicle security precautions. The DFG warden once distinguished "Northern Arcata Hippies from those in the South," as he said. I thought that was funny...

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

We stopped in Arcadia once about 10 years ago and around the college we saw lots of modern day young 'hippies' just like we had here in the 1970s.

Really culturally shocking for us...,,,,,,,,,.thought they were all gone by then.

[Jeff Fisher]

Thanks everyone for the responses. Very helpful info! Report and pics on Monday.

[caniretireyet?]

We stopped in Arcadia once about 10 years ago and around the college we saw lots of modern day young 'hippies' just like we had here in the 1970s.

Really culturally shocking for us...,,,,,,,,,.thought they were all gone by then.

As a proud member of the Humboldt State Class of '89, I can offer my anthropologic observastions of this phenomenon. Most of these kids are delivered by their parents in August neatly dressed, and well groomed. By September, they have blown all their lunch money on the Instant Retro Hippie Package offered at many retailers, mostly on the Arcata Plaza. The truly committed wear this new found garb upon the initial re-introduction ritual known as Thanksgiving break. Many, however, seem to shed the costume at or about the Cal-trans rest stop at the Grapvine on I-5. The latter strategy, it is thought, is in a effort to maintain the ritualistic gifting rite known as keeping on Mom and Dad's payroll. Those who return in costume risk the end of this gifting rite, and after a few months when the last installment has gone the way of the Patchouli and Tie-Dye vendors, can be found working as hostesses or bus-boys at the Denny's in Eureka.

Thanks
Steve

[SHigSpeed]

As a proud member of the Humboldt State Class of '89, I can offer my anthropologic observastions of this phenomenon. Most of these kids are delivered by their parents in August neatly dressed, and well groomed. By September, they have blown all their lunch money on the Instant Retro Hippie Package offered at many retailers, mostly on the Arcata Plaza. The truly committed wear this new found garb upon the initial re-introduction ritual known as Thanksgiving break. Many, however, seem to shed the costume at or about the Cal-trans rest stop at the Grapvine on I-5. The latter strategy, it is thought, is in a effort to maintain the ritualistic gifting rite known as keeping on Mom and Dad's payroll. Those who return in costume risk the end of this gifting rite, and after a few months when the last installment has gone the way of the Patchouli and Tie-Dye vendors, can be found working as hostesses or bus-boys at the Denny's in Eureka.

Thanks
Steve

That's pretty spot on!

From my observations of '89-'91, I noted two distinct subcultures that may mesh with your theory:

Hippies and "horticulturalists" that were drawn to the environmental and political leanings of the area, and SoCal big city kids that wanted to get as FAR away from mommy and daddy as possible but stay in CA. Of course if anyone remembers the trends of the late '80s, there were an abundance of mini-trucks and hip-hop Boys 2 Men and Vanilla Ice wannabes intermixed with the VW microbusses and wool, dreads, and patchouli smelling hacky-sackers all mixed together. Quite a scene....

_SHig

[FlyReelFisher]

Fyi...looks like you could be fishing in quite a bit of rain.

[Ben J]

Fully agree, was up north today and the marsh on the east side of 101 at Big is really starting to fill in with water again... pretty thick muddy perimeter around the shore of the lagoon as well... hopefully the waves will settle down.

just curiuos, has anyone been to the plaza at about midnite on halloween? wow.... not that i wasn't a part of it

[kokaneejr]

Thanks for this post it is really timely for me as I am also considering the coastal cutt for my HTC fish.
ScottV let me know when you are going to fish in that direction as I would like to fish with you again. Seems like the silverfork might be awhile this year...Craig

[Jeff Fisher]

Well.......not much to report, as I never even got the tube in the water. Got up to Big Lagoon around 8am only to find it "blown out". All the rain on Friday turned the lake into a muddy mess. While chatting up Mike at the flyshop on Friday, he told me that the lagoons must be very clear to fish effectively. So, Big Lagoon was out. Stone Lagoon was just as muddy. And Freshwater Lagoon was not quite as muddy, but only about a foot of visibility. So since I was up there, I took a nice long jog down the beach, then drove home.

Some good info shared by Mike........
If it's windy, the lagoons will muddy up, and take a few days to clear. The green/gray crystal buggers are a good choice fished on an clear intermediate. The reason for the intermediate is becuase the fish will hang in a thermocline and the intermediate line will be able to "search" different depths until you find where the fish are hanging. Steelies will cruise in circles in the north part of Big Lagoon feeding. When you see fish rolling.....it's on! No fish rolling can be tough, but still worth trying.

So now I know.........just another thing added the memory bank about the fishing up here. I should have it figured out in a few years.

[fj40]

If its running you want to do up there I have that dialed in. Amazing trail runs through ancient redwood forest. James Irvine trail and back on miners loop trail in Prairie Creek State Park.

[Mike O]

Shig and caniretire...

We share the same shame. I loved my time at HSU, was there the same years as Shig. I gotta say, HSU is the most beautiful campus in CA, period.

The people, however....suck. I can't stand the fakey hippies beefin' about the Man, all the while taking CalGrant and cheap tuition. I also couldn't figure out how you can be "open to new ideas, man" and at the same time bashing the government, and others who don't agree with you.

As far as the fishin?? Next time you head up there, if the Lagoons are blown, come back to Arcata and fish the little known hotspot right in town.

How many of you have ever heard of fishing the Arcata Sewer ponds?? I caught a 23" rainbow outa the pond you can fish in when I was up there in college. Biggest non-anadromous rainbow I ever caught. They have a really revolutionary water treatment system up there, and they stock the final pond as a "canary in the Coal Mine" sort of thing. If the quality gets bad, the fish go belly up, or something. (You could also hunt ducks down in that area)

Of course, these are catch and release fish....otherwise, eeeewwwwwww.

Mad River was good from the boat launch down in the estuary, to the hatchery. Had a stinkin' sea lion take a nice one offn' my line down at the boat launch one year.

As you can see, I didn't "fit in" to the popular perception of HSU and Arcatans in general...but then most of the people at HSU don't fit into that perception either.

[Darian]

Ever catch any floating browns in those ponds.... :?: :?: :eek: :lol:

[Mike O]

you can only fish the final pond, which is supposed to be clear of "invasives"

[Half Pounder]

Not much happening in Klopp Lake for many, many years. If I understand it correctly, HSU used to drop broodstock in that pond from time to time, but I don't think that happens anymore. In the eighties there used to be some big ones in there, though.

[Jeff Fisher]

All three lagoons are still muddy. The wind up here last week really stirred things up. Didn't even bother blowing up the tube. Probably less than a foot of visibility. Quite a few folks at Freshwater dunking and trolling though. Water was very murky there too.