Kenny Priest

One of the toughest and most frustrating steelhead seasons in many years will close Wednesday, March 31. From the Chetco south to the South Fork Eel River, and all the rivers in between, the fish just never showed up in numbers we’re accustomed to. No one knows for certain what caused the decline but it’s […]

If you’re looking to get that one last steelhead trip in, this could be the weekend to do it. All the rivers are green and have plenty of water. The main stem Eel and Chetco have good color and ample water, and that’s probably where you’ll find the majority of the boats. The Smith is […]

If the PFMC is right, we could see fewer salmon like the one pictured here with Colby Black, from Houston, Texas, this fall. The recreational ocean salmon season is tentatively scheduled to open either late June or July 1 and last through July. The final decision will come from the PFMC meetingsin April. Looking at […]

As we move toward the end of the winter steelhead season on the coast, river conditions are shaping up nicely for the weekend. All the rivers, except for the main Eel, should be some shade of green. The catching, on the other hand, may be a different story. It’s been a struggle all year as […]

The news wasn’t pretty at Thursday’s annual Ocean Salmon Information meeting. Not only are the Klamath salmon stocks struggling, the Sacramento stocks took a nosedive, as well. The Klamath River fall Chinook ocean abundance forecast in 2021 is 181,500. This is slightly higher than the 2020 forecast but still well below the long-term average. California […]

Rivers conditions are trending toward perfection this week and it’s pretty much now or never for the 2021 winter steelhead season. In what has been called one of the toughest seasons anyone can remember, if the next week or so doesn’t produce some quality fishing, it’s likely the season will go down as a bust. […]

Following a disappointing 2019 adult fall run on the Klamath, 2020 proved to be only slightly better. Unfortunately, the numbers weren’t enough to get us out of the “overfished” category, and it’s likely we’ll have some severe restrictions both in the ocean and in the Klamath and Trinity rivers in 2021. “Based on this year’s run size, I’d expect very limited […]

This past weekend saw all of our coastal steelhead rivers turn some shade of green — some emerald and some olive. Condition-wise, it was probably the best we’ve had this season. But pristine conditions only last so long. The next round of storms is forecast for Thursday and that will likely be the end of […]

After a solid week of rainy weather that turned all the coastal rivers big and brown, it looks like we’re headed toward a green water convergence. Some rain is in the forecast for Wednesday but after that we should begin to see some sunshine and dropping water levels. The Smith will be the first to […]

Just as the steelhead season began to show signs of life, another round of wet storms is set to wreak havoc. All the coastal rivers are bracing for increased river flows certain to curtail any hopes of green water for some time. But these storms bring a little good news with them. For the first […]

Last week’s storms finally provided some of the flushing and scouring our coastal rivers desperately needed. As they’ve all now dropped back into fishable shape, the question has become, “Where are the fish?” Other than the Chetco, which is dealing with some slides, all the coastal rivers are some shade of green and fishable. There […]

A powerful yet quick storm blew through the area on Tuesday, forcing winter steelhead anglers to hit the pause button. The bad news is it dumped a bunch of water quickly, turning coastal rivers brown. The good news is it didn’t stick around long. As quickly as the rivers rose, they are forecast to drop […]