Fishing near Willits

[aggie9]

I recently was offered a summer internship in Willits and was hoping for a little more information on the fishing opportunities in the nearby area. From the little research I have done I found that the closest big name river is the South Fork of the Eel with a lot more opportunities available a few hours north near eureka.

I'm not sure what bodies of water are open along the Eel as well as other productive streams/rivers nearby. I will be in this area from mid July to the beginning of October and look to spend more than a few weekends on the water. If anyone is familiar with the surrounding waters and and the fishing during this time I would greatly appreciate a pm or response on here.

Thanks Hayden

[steveg137]

would love to know this myself, I believe there's some carp stuff in that area but not sure.

[JoeFin]

Lake Pilsberry 25 yrs ago used to have dependable "Breakfast Trout" in the 14"-16" variety. I usually fished the inlet next to Oak Flat around 5:30 am for them.

Then some really smart guy thought he would use bait fish he trapped on the Sac River and introduced Squaw Fish to the lake. Since then it has seriously gone down hill. There was some talk of DF&G poisoning the lake but don't know as I stopped visiting the place.

Below the dam and for about the next 2 miles used to be pretty good too. Lots of pockets to be fished

[donkeyhunter007]

Lake Mendo has stripers....upper russian above lake mendo has some trout.........I think......its been a while I dont remember the prime time

[amoeba]

There's alot more ocean fishing out of Fort Bragg than anything else going on fish-wise near Willits in summer. Salmon, rockfish, lingcod, and even albacore (when conditions permit). Bring money, make friends with people with a boat, or bring your own. I'm not sure you have much significant stream/river fishing for trout at that time of year near there. Pretty darn low water, and/or closed.

[Tony Buzolich]

Hayden,

If you're getting into the medical field my brother-in-laws runs the surgical unit at Howard Memorial Hospital in Willets and can probably give you some local info about what's going on up that way.

We've fished steelhead and stripers both out of that area several years before moving here. That time of year wouldn't be prime for steelhead though, especially with all the low water conditions. Lake Mendocino is very low now too and no telling what it's going to be like this summer. It does (or did) have stripers there for years but they've stopped all the planting of them for at least 10 or 12 years and the only ones left might be carry-overs that are few and far between. The lake does also have black bass and sunfish if you're inclined.

I used to fish the Garcia, the Gualala, and the Russian quite a bit and the Eel up around Piercy but again it was during the spring when there was plenty of water and steelhead to be had. In the summer around the Cloverdale area you'll find smallmouth in the Russian too. The Eel up around Covelo should also have smallies that time of year as well.

Good luck, Tony

[aggie9]

Thanks for all the responses looks like to satisfy my trout fishing I will have to take some drives north to the likes of the Trinity, Mad, etc. I am sure as it gets closer I can look for more information as well as fishing reports to find the most productive waters.

[aggie9]

I actually just found an old article from this forum where Bill one mentioned summer steelhead on the middle fork of the Eel, does anyone know how much section has changed in the last 8 or 9 years?