1960s Steelhead / Silver Salmon on lower San Lorenzo River - video

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm-i48cER_M

[Bob Smith]

Thanks for posting Bill - I spent many hours and days fishing the San Lorenzo from the time I was about 11 into my mid 20's. During that period of time - the San Lorenzo was stocked annually by CA DFG.

[avidangler]

That looks like a nightmare. Nothin like fishing with 500 googans lol

[STEELIES/26c3]

That looks like a nightmare. Nothin like fishing with 500 googans lol

I was probably there.

Riding "The Wild Mouse" or "The Big Dipper"

HaHaHa... that's some cool, old footage.

[Idadon]

I was probably there too. Catching some waves over by the Cliffs. Fun times for a kid.

[OceanSunfish]

I was probably there.

Riding "The Wild Mouse" or "The Big Dipper"

HaHaHa... that's some cool, old footage.

"The Wild Mouse" was ridiculous........

Anyway, I remember standing on the levee and watching the line up of fly fisherman on our around 1972. Common for us to take a day drive to Santa Cruz from the South Bay on a nice sunny day in late Fall. There may have been a lot of anglers fishing, but that was okay. Fishing was still very much a culture....... I would rather see that enthusiasm vs. no participation or apathy.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I went there once in 1975 for Silver Salmon in maybe November?

I think it was open Sat/Sun and Wed?

It was the very first time I ever fished in a tide water fishery.

My fly rod and lines were for moving longer rivers like the American, Trinity and Klamath.

It was like fishing a shallow lake with little or no current.

I did get to talk with a local who was using a WF7 Intermediate line (1/2" per second) long leader and small black woolly worm.

You would wade to a spot that was near a depression, cast, let it sink a little and strip like fishing a lake for trout.

A few Silvers where caught that day on flies in that corner near the overpass area.

It looked just like the video with hundreds of folks lined up on both sides.

Waders on the shallow side and bankies on the step side.


Many short coastal Nor Cal rivers had runs of wild Silver Salmon in the Fall that seem to have all disappeared.

I know the CDFW has been trying to bring some back but not sure if it is working.

.

[Ted S.]

Thanks for the video, Bill. As kids, we fished the gorge upstream of the park. Love that river, although it's taken a beating over the years.

[mogaru]

When I was living in the Bay Area (80's and 90's) I used to fish the San Lorenzo, Pescadero, Scott creek etc. My best fish was a 10# out of the Scott creek.

They are not destination creeks but I bet the locals still catch some decent fish. The pools on the San Lorenzo, are beautiful and deep and underneath the impressive redwoods makes you feel you are further up north. Have very good memories from all those creeks catching gorgeous steelhead. On a good rainy winter in between storms can still provide a great fishing adventure.

[Darian]

Good memories.... When the ladder of rivers/streams north of SF were not fishable, I fished all of the streams south of the Golden Gate Bridge thru Soquel Creek from late 1968 thru 1974. In those days, everything opened on 10/16 for Salmon and a month later for Steelhead. For the first few years, they were open everyday but later changed to open on weekends, Wednesdays and holidays. Everything closed on February 28th. No high or low water closures. Frequently, the bar at the mouth of these creeks were blocked in the early season and occasionally a farmer would come down with a tractor and open a channel....

My largest Steelhead from that area (San Gregorio Creek) was an 11 pound spent fish caught less than 100 yards from the surf. It was still beautiful and bright. My biggest Silver was a 6 pounder from the San Lorenzo tidewater. Tidewater was crowded on weekends but not on Wednesdays. If you fished that area much you became a "regular" and met the same guys at each place....

Fly gear was limited back then. No graphite rods, Pflueger Medalist/Hardy reels, tapered, thick butt mono leaders with flies ranging in size from #10 thru #2. Flies were the classic Steelhead patterns. Some off the hooks were made heavy and had rank barbs (like the Mustad 7970). One of the best hooks for that type of fishing was the Mustad 3908/3908C. Fly lines were floating or sinking (rated I, II, Hi-D) and either DT or WF. Several guys I met made there own custom shooting heads.

The largest fish (Salmon/Steelhead consistently came from Pescadero Creek in those days and my favorite was Waddell Creek because of its proximity to Ano Nuevo Pt. When conditions were right, you could go to Waddell and catch a Steelhead, then stop at Ano Nuevo and walk thru the basking Elephant Seals to the beach and dig up a mess of clams. One of the largest sharks I've seen from shore was swimming between the beach and a small, rocky island looking for seal dinner I suppose at Ano Nuevo. Not a place I would care to be in the water when the seals are there.

[John Sv]

Good memories.... When the ladder of rivers/streams north of SF were not fishable, I fished all of the streams south of the Golden Gate Bridge thru Soquel Creek from late 1968 thru 1974. In those days, everything opened on 10/16 for Salmon and a month later for Steelhead. For the first few years, they were open everyday but later changed to open on weekends, Wednesdays and holidays. Everything closed on February 28th. No high or low water closures. Frequently, the bar at the mouth of these creeks were blocked in the early season and occasionally a farmer would come down with a tractor and open a channel....

My largest Steelhead from that area (San Gregorio Creek) was an 11 pound spent fish caught less than 100 yards from the surf. It was still beautiful and bright. My biggest Silver was a 6 pounder from the San Lorenzo tidewater. Tidewater was crowded on weekends but not on Wednesdays. If you fished that area much you9 became a "regular" and met the same guys at each place....

Fly gear was limited back then. No graphite rods, Pflueger Medalist/Hardy reels, tapered, thick butt mono leaders with flies ranging in size from #10 thru #2. Flies were the classic Steelhead patterns. Some off the hooks were made heavy and had rank barbs (like the Mustad 7970). One of the best hooks for that type of fishing was the Mustad 3908/3908C. Fly lines were floating or sinking (rated I, II, Hi-D) and either DT or WF. Several guys I met made there own custom shooting heads.

The largest fish (Salmon/Steelhead consistently came from Pescadero Creek in those days and my favorite was Waddell Creek because of its proximity to Ano Nuevo Pt. When conditions were right, you could go to Waddell and catch a Steelhead, then stop at Ano Nuevo and walk thru the basking Elephant Seals to the beach and dig up a mess of clams. One of the largest sharks I've seen from shore was swimming between the beach and a small, rocky island looking for seal dinner I suppose at Any Nuevo. Not a place I would care to be in the water when the seals are there.

Very cool
Thanks for sharing

[OceanSunfish]

Good memories.... When the ladder of rivers/streams north of SF were not fishable, I fished all of the streams south of the Golden Gate Bridge thru Soquel Creek from late 1968 thru 1974. In those days, everything opened on 10/16 for Salmon and a month later for Steelhead. For the first few years, they were open everyday but later changed to open on weekends, Wednesdays and holidays. Everything closed on February 28th. No high or low water closures. Frequently, the bar at the mouth of these creeks were blocked in the early season and occasionally a farmer would come down with a tractor and open a channel....

My largest Steelhead from that area (San Gregorio Creek) was an 11 pound spent fish caught less than 100 yards from the surf. It was still beautiful and bright. My biggest Silver was a 6 pounder from the San Lorenzo tidewater. Tidewater was crowded on weekends but not on Wednesdays. If you fished that area much you9 became a "regular" and met the same guys at each place....

Fly gear was limited back then. No graphite rods, Pflueger Medalist/Hardy reels, tapered, thick butt mono leaders with flies ranging in size from #10 thru #2. Flies were the classic Steelhead patterns. Some off the hooks were made heavy and had rank barbs (like the Mustad 7970). One of the best hooks for that type of fishing was the Mustad 3908/3908C. Fly lines were floating or sinking (rated I, II, Hi-D) and either DT or WF. Several guys I met made there own custom shooting heads.

The largest fish (Salmon/Steelhead consistently came from Pescadero Creek in those days and my favorite was Waddell Creek because of its proximity to Ano Nuevo Pt. When conditions were right, you could go to Waddell and catch a Steelhead, then stop at Ano Nuevo and walk thru the basking Elephant Seals to the beach and dig up a mess of clams. One of the largest sharks I've seen from shore was swimming between the beach and a small, rocky island looking for seal dinner I suppose at Any Nuevo. Not a place I would care to be in the water when the seals are there.

In 1977 or 1978, a 15' Great White Shark was beached at Ano Nuevo with a 10' seal lodged in its 'system'........ It was presumed that the shark choked to death and beached thereafter....... The shark was massive in the newspaper picture.

The "Gorge" fishery was cool back then too. That hike down in near darkness then fishing in the dampness was colder than ski trips I've taken during that time........ My first experience with frozen shut guides. Later, when I took a trip to Alaska for Coho, the setting was exactly the same as the San Lorenzo!

There were some good 'sticks' fishing the Gorge with small silver flatfish.

The Love Creek slide in the early 80's was horrific. If I'm not mistaken, the slide came as a result of the record rains that ended the horrible drought that ended the 70's and started 80's.

Attempts to restore the Coho runs on many of the nearby coastal streams was HQ'd at Big Creek Lumber Co.? There was (maybe still is) a hatchery that reared Coho and planted them in the nearby streams. Volunteers were on hand to clip fins prior to releasing the smolt.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

We spent many a summer vacation in Santa Cruz because my aunt, uncle and cousins lived there.

My uncle, Dick Anderson, worked at John Bull Motors in Santa Cruz which was a BMC (British Motor Company) dealer.

In 1950s, 1960s and 1970s we spent a lot of time in and around Santa Cruz.

Later my sister Kathy and her family moved there.

My brother Dick and his family moved there too.


We camped at Sycamore Grove Campground up on the San Lorenzo River.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/denisecastellucci/255559089




Being in the tackle business in Sacramento for 50 years I heard a stories of a Cigar Store in Santa Cruz that also made split cane fly rods.

Ernie Kinzli worked at the Cigar Store many years ago.

Then we had Ernie's Casting Pond in Soquel.

Like my wife and I, Ernie and Diane Kinzli retired and went on a ton of fishing trips.


http://www.ernies.com/

[mogaru]

I still have and keep a fishing cup from Ernie's Casting Pond.................I used to park and change into my waders by the Safeway parking lot to fish Soquel Creek........Ernie was a great guy and an excellent source of info for the local creeks. He told me before he closed his son was more into computers and not interested in continuing with the fishing business.

[Bob Smith]

I followed my dad down misty redwood trails into the gorge during the mid/late 1960's. After I got my driver's license, I was a terror on the San Lorenzo, Carmel, Big Sur and all of the creeks draining western San Mateo County. My hot lure was a F7 Coho (blue and silver) Flatfish and a small blue and silver Tadpolly. Right after I got married and while I was going to San Jose State, I lived between the Twin Bridges on Highway 9 in Ben Lomond on Brackney Road. I knew that stretch between the bridges like the back of my hand.

I used to torment the DFG guys when they worked the fish trap at the inflatable dam in Felton. Unfortunately, lots of plants were made (both coho and steelhead) from Washington stocks so things were pretty messed up, both genetically and from a run timing standpoint. I wonder if things have improved - I have not fished it in 30 years.

[avidangler]

Fishing on these rivers has suffered due to the lack of rain. The Carmel hasn't been good really since the raly to mid 2000's . After the fires the Big Sur has filled in due to sediment. Some of the best holes there are no longer. I am a Monterey native and basically spend most of my steelhead days on long drives north in search of better runs. But I will likely toss a line in Paradise park one of these days on the San Lorenzo. Hooked some beauties in that stream.

[Darian]

Does anyone else recall the fish trap just upstream from the Hwy1 bridge on Waddell Creek?? It was one of the earliest attempts to farm Salmon/Steelhead that I'd heard of. I met the guy who had it constructed and ran it. The raceway, very short, entered Waddell just above the upper limit of legal recreational fishing and had a small holding pool/shack. Don't know whether he purchased the initial stock of eggs/milt or harvested them from trapped fish. This was a small operation compared to current fish farms.

Of course, early in the season, there was always a major sandbar at the mouth that ran along a bluff to the south side that broke thru down there, creating a lagoon that offered a good place to cast a fly at high tide (if the surf wasn't crashing the lagoon. Salmon/Steelhead and an occasional Striper were caught there quite often and I heard the manager of the farm complain that he was losing his stock.

The operation only lasted a few years but it was interesting to watch when he had fish to process. Never did find out where those fish were sold but thought they might be provided to Stanford University since the operation was on Stanford property at the time.

[Bob Smith]

When I was a wildlife zoology major at San Jose State (late 1970's), I interviewed a guy that had set up a facility in Davenport (off Davenport Landing Road) for a paper about aquaculture. I cannot recall his name but the company was Silverking Oceanic Farms. I recall that he also had facilities in other locations including Scotts Valley. At the time, he had a permit to release all kinds of different species/strains of salmon and the returns were very very poor. The day I was there, he had a few coho in the holding tank from a release of several hundred thousand smolt.

By the way Darian, Waddell Creek was the site of an iconic study on small coastal stream coho and steelhead back in the early 1950's. I remember reading and referencing the paper both as student and angler.

Here's the link to the online version: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2v45f61k

[Darian]

Thanks for sharing the link. At the time, I really never thought that Scott Creek was similar to Waddell, at all. I guess I was only interested in the estuaries/lagoons of each. One thing I always looked for was a high tide after a rain that had muddied up a creek. The tidal push would create water clear enough to fish a fly and offered an opportunity to bounce over smaller swells that made it into the lagoon. ;) Enjoyed the times I fished down that way.

[Bob Smith]

One of the things I enjoyed the most about getting out and exploring San Gregorio, Pescadero, Scott and Waddell Creeks back in the 1970's was the ease of getting on private lands along the lower stretches above tidewater. I don't recall ever getting told "no" when I asked for access...

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Waddell Creek Steelhead - video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6Gh4EOrwR8



Pescadero Creek Steelhead - video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYBCr3tz730



Trout Unlimited helps farmer save Pescadero Creek's young Steelhead - video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nN1qwmAllU