1st Coastal River trip advice.

[Chukwithak]

My uncle and I are on our 2nd year swinging and chasing steel head, but this will be our first trip away from the LAR. Heading up to the Eel for the 24th - 28th. There is a storm supposed to come in early this week, but hoping it's not to bad. Any advice for the Eel is appreciated. Flies, sections, etc. We're staying in the state park in Weott.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I would use a black fly......

[Bwag]

I want to go as much as anyone and I'm not the most experienced person on this forum, but my advice would be don't go. January-March for me are some of the most stressful and frustrating months due to the weather on the coast up north. I primarily only fish one river and aside from the Smith on the California side, it's easy for the rivers to blow out and they can take a while to get back into shape depending how much rain is forecast in each system and how close you want to fish to the mouth. I prefer to see the waves crashing on the beach while I'm working through a run...

Long story long, ya may as well become a weather person when it comes to winter steel heading on the coast and be okay with a let down or few. For example, I drove through the night last year to head up to the coast, river gauge looked great, too great, I should have checked other nearby systems and didn't but knew most other rivers were probably blown. I woke up in the morning to chocolate milk, packed up and came back home. I did call the USGS and spoke with a real nice guy for about a half hour and he said they'd send someone out to check the gauge.

Long story short, the eel is projected to be at 14,429 CFS @ scotia on 2/24 and on the rise to 35,980 CFS by 4 am on the 25th. That's as far out as the river forecast goes for now but I'd say it's probably done for a bit after those flows.

Setting fixed dates to go fish on the Coast in the winter is a gamble. A while back, during the drought I'd do it, now it's just easier to watch the forecasts and as it starts to look like there will be a window tell my wife, then if there is a window, call in sick and go for a few days.

[eastbayed]

I love winter steelhead fishing. It gets me out of the house doing what I like. That being said, winter steelhead fishing is an iffy proposition at best. After a rain, not necessarily heavy, rivers our blown out. But that same rain often brings more steelhead into the system. If the 24 to 28 is the time you have scheduled then go for it, but if the Eel is not fishable then look towards other coastal rivers. Sometimes the Gualala, for example, clears much quicker. Fishing is a crap shoot. I'd rather be beating the river with a fly rod then sitting at home in front of a tv or computer monitor, fish or not. My only concern, is it worth my dollars.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Locals and retired veteran winter Steelheaders might say "It was good from noon yesterday till sunset today but is blow out now".

Coastal river have days and even parts of days where it is good fishing with a fly.

At 72 I just like October for Steelhead.

Being retired you could go stay there for a month or two and hit it good "some years".

Catching one wild fresh run winter Steelhead on a fly is really a big deal that will spoil you.


North coast Steelhead guide/instructor Jason Hartwick is one of the people who can predict where to be and when better than most.





Can you imagine how our coastal steams were fishing for Steelhead just after World War 2?

That great Steelhead fishing created some incredible fly fishers in Nor Cal from our Greatest Generation.


I am so glad that they made that movie, Rivers of a Lost Coast, so the history was saved for all time.

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[Larry S]

Guide Kenny Priest writes the "North Coast Fishing" column for the Eureka Times-Standard.

Here's his report from Jan 17. ====Coming off the first weekend of the winter steelhead season that saw all of the coastal rivers turn green, I was sure hoping to hear some better scores. From the South Fork Eel north to the Chetco, steelhead reports ranged from decent to tough – and everywhere in between. The Chetco likely fished the best, but there were plenty of boats that came up empty. The Smith has been tough all season, and not much changed over the weekend. The Mad River should have been the hot spot, but it fell flat on its face. For whatever reason, the bulk of the hatchery steelhead have yet to show up there. Both the main stem and South Fork Eel turned green over the weekend, but it was tough fishing for most. A few boats ran into some fish on the South Fork on Sunday, but again, lots of zeros. But just as your next cast could lead to a 20-pound steelhead, the next big storm, which is predicted for Sunday, could lead to North Coast rivers chock full of winter steelhead.

The North Coast can expect continued wet conditions according to Ryan Aylward of Eureka’s National Weather Service. “The first front will move in on Wednesday night, with snow levels dropping to 3,000 feet overnight. Rain amounts for this front will be around an inch in Crescent City and maybe three-quarters in Eureka. Lingering showers are forecasted for Friday and possibly into Saturday where we can expect a quarter to a half-inch. The next system will arrive on Sunday, and this should bring some heavier rain. The mountain areas in Del Norte could see over three inches, with one and a half falling at the lower elevations. The Eel basin could see three inches in the hills and an inch down lower. Showers should last into Monday, with the next round of storms predicted for Tuesday or Wednesday. Next week is looking similar to this week, with another couple cold fronts predicted that will bring snow to the lower elevations and keep the rivers flowing,” Aylward said.
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Best,
Larry S
Sun Diego

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Nice Larry..........thanks.

I email that out to my big Steelheaders list.

[Desmo13]

I grew up on a coast river, the Smith. Learned to steelhead fish on it. Learned to row a boat on it. Now living far away, kick myself about all the days I spent doing something else besides fishing it. Now it's a chore/challenge to get back. Just go, if blown out, go explore the north coast. And don't worry, you will be back.

[BumpBailey]

We were up on the Eel the MLK weekend and it was actually perfect. Looking! Fishing was tough, swinging for them rarely isn't! It beat the crap out of doing Honey Do's all weekend though.....

Like the others have said above, Coastal steel is all about timing! The rivers all pretty much blow out once real rain comes and they all clear at different rates. Dreamflows is your friend, learn what the best flows are (know your min. flow reqs) and watch for the drops. Once they get to the desired flows you can check in with Grundmans in Rio Dell for clarity. Spend some money in there too when you go up there!

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Thanks BB.......


http://www.dreamflows.com/





Grundman's Sporting Goods

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Phone number (707) 764-5744

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https://www.yelp.com/biz/grundmans-s...goods-rio-dell

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