COASTAL RIVERS

[donpline]

There has been some talk on this board about coastal rivers. I live in the Bay Area and fish the Gualala, Garcia, and Navarro each season. Here is just a little information to help you out.

The Gualala was great in 2001, 02, and 03. The 04, and 05 season saw less fish in the lower river, but there was a reason. The fish would not hold in the lower river because of a few problem sealions and harbor seals. A sealion would move up the river in the very early morning, and would chase fish out of the good holes and runs. In early 04 the sealion would go all the way to the Switchville area(4 miles up river). By the end of 04 they would actually go up the very thin water of the Northfork and chase the spawners. And last year people reported seeing them as far up a Buckpile, which is a good 7 to 8 miles up river. So I think the fish were in the system but headed up river or into the spawning tribs very quickly. This river is best fished at 300 CFS down to 175 CFS. And then I base the other two rivers off of these flows. Your best bet for success is to become a student of the USGS page which will give you flow information on the rivers. The Garcia will fish about the same time as the Gualala, the Navarro will take another 2 to 3 days to clear after a big rain. So if you hit the Navarro and it is muddy, move south, if you hit the Gualala and Garcia and they are too clear head north. Although there are fish in these rivers as early as December, the time to really focus your efforts is towards the end of January through early March.

The Garcia clears at very close to the same rate as the Gualala, and has a very similar size of fish, and when everything is normal a similar population. I have not had the sealion problems on this river.

Access has become harder on all of these rivers. The put in at the Gualala is owned by a logging company and has made it difficult to put in drift boats. You can purchase a special permit from Gualala Redwoods. At the Garcia the take out is down a road that is operated by the city. Because of trash dumping by locals you'll need to get a special key from the city to access this road. On the Navarro, they have had some large Redwoods fall and block the river 1/2 way down. It's very hard to portage a drift boat, but is possible. We use the one man pontoon boats and don't have a big problem.

These rivers are remote and a little out of the way to get to, but to catch a 34 inch fish that has sealice, and is able to rip off 75 feet of line in a flash is worth the effort. Good luck.

[Darian]

You obviously fish these rivers from a drift boat.... I was under the impression that the Gualala had a regulation that prohibited drift boat usage during Steelhead season....

I was fortunate enough to have fished all of those rivers during the period from the late 60's thru the late 70's (prior to moving to Sacramento). I always concentrated my efforts in the estuary or tidewater segments and had a lot of luck with Silvers/Steelhead. I always timed trips to tidal movement and weather fronts.... Both seemed to encourage activity on the part of fish.

During the 60's, there was a little bar/motel at "Navarro by the Sea". This place was across a dirt parking lot from the lagoon and at the base of a bluff. We'd line up and fish for Silvers (you could see 'em rolling all over the lagoon ) and when we tired or got cold, we'd go to the bar and get some hot chili or soup and watch the fish roll thru the window over the bar. Also, the hillside opposite the lagoon was overgrown with a lot of grasses which attracted deer for watchin'.... Then a combination of very big storm surges, lack of business forced a closure. Not much left there, now....

[donpline]

It must have been great fishing for both silvers and steelhead in those small rivers. The silvers are a distant memory, only rumors about a guy who knows a guy who saw a guy catch one last week.

I fish from the shore, a pontoon boat and a drift boat. You cannot fish out of a driftboat on the Gualala below the Northfork. Above the Northfork is permitted. I usually only use the pontoon to get to spots that do not have public access. 95% of my fishing is from the shore.

The lunch spot on the Navarro sounds like it was a lot of fun. We fish the upper stretches of the river, I've never fished the lagoon. What tide did you catch them in the tidal area?

[Darian]

We used to try to get there when a good high tide was on the rise and fish thru it.... Some days, there were so many Silvers in the lagoon that you could see 'em rolling every 30 seconds.... I've been by there many times since during the month of October and haven't seen even one fish roll while I was passing.

Shooting heads, long casts and short strip retrieves.... The fly we used was a size 4; short, sparse Grey Squirrel tail, metallic silver chenille body and Jungle Cock for eyes.... Guess it imitated a Stickleback Sometimes I used a Black/Brown Wooly Worm....

it sure was fun to hook a Sliver in that much water and space to run....

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I heard the Navarro had Silvers and I know the San Lorenzo in Santa Cruz had Silvers years ago too. I think other rivers had them too.

I think the big drought of the late '70s was the final straw that finished most of those runs?

I guess lodging, rods, vineyards and dams were the real culprits?

[Darian]

Hi Bill,.... Slivers were in all of the Coastal Streams; even the small streams south of SF.... The San Lorenzo had a decent run in it. To me the loss of spawning habitat (whether thru the things you listed or development, logging, poaching and maybe changes in the ocean....) was the cause of their demise.

The Navarro River was the first one I noticed a change in, tho.... It seemed like there were some major changes in the bottom of the lagoon. It became sanded in and shallow after several very big winter storms.... Maybe the siltation process happened upstream, as well....

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Darian,

There is a movement right now to get Silvers back in some of the CA rivers.

I think the Russian River might be part of this project?

I have heard that Slivers are running into the Rogue, Klamath and Trinity every fall.

I know the CA DF&G only raised King Salmon for decades but now they are working on the Silvers again.

I would love to see a project with wild Silver Salmon but??

I caught a ton of fresh wild Silvers in Alaska on the Tsiu River but I have never caught one in CA. Maybe we will now?

[donpline]

Over Thanksgiving weekend I stopped at the hatchery in Lewiston to watch them spawn kings. There was a very strong number of silvers also returning to the hatchery.

I did catch one silver this year in the Del Loma area, and had another on in the Douglas City Area. For guys that put some time on the Trinity this year, the chances of hooking one were pretty good.

I know of at least 1/2 dozen that were caught.

Scott Creek south of SF has a small hatchery run, and the San Lorenzo still has a few that return each year. I also heard that fish and game spotted a few on the Gualala, and the Garcia last year.

[Darian]

Wow!!! Hatchery fish in Scott Creek I didn't know there was a hatchery there.... The only thing close to a hatchery was an ocean based commercial Silver farming operation on Waddell Creek and that one failed.... Scott Creek was on my list of stops between San Gregorio Cr., and the San Lorenzo River. Never fished above the lagoons in those creeks but each one had some very beautiful scenery surrounding 'em. Waddell Creek had the best of all, tho. Did you know that Herbert Hoover owned that property (drainage) all the way up to Skyline Blvd. He, or his heirs, donated the property to Stanford University.

All of those creeks (San Gregorio, Pescadero, Gazo's, Scott, Waddell, etc.) had small runs of Silvers/Steelhead. I always considered the San Lorenzo a larger stream for that area.... This discussion brings back some memories of fishing Soquel Creek, as well.

One of the better flies for that area was a modified Boss pattern tied on a very heavy hook (Mustad 7970 ), size 2 thru 8. This fly had an flourescent orange craft fur tail, black or orange floss body ribbed with the black or orange floss (lacquered) and a black or orange saddle hackle. The dark version for muddy water and the brighter version for clearer waters.... Kinda makes me wonder whether it would still fish well

[dberry]

There are several small streams along the coast that still support small runs of silvers. For the most part, they are closed to fishing due to the presence of the runs. I used to count fish in Muir Creek every year. The run in that small stream was sometimes in the 100+ range. Farther up, Salmon Creek [Sonoma County version] has a small run. Last year was a very poor return for that watershed. Up in Mendocino, Caspar Creek supports a run. Last year [2004] there were less 500 fish; in 2003 there were 1100+ returns. Little River has a small run that someimes approaches 250 fish. There are several small streams in the King range that support small runs of silvers.
Ocean sport fishers in the Ft Bragg area catch quite a few silvers during the ocean sport fishing season. They are supposed to return those fish; survival is an issue with those fish. Silvers will spawn in a stream the size of a bathtub - strange fish.