Kenny Priest

The widely anticipated Pacific halibut opener was slated for Monday, but good ol’ Mother Nature had other plans. Ocean conditions up and down the coast were horrible, with gale force winds keeping fleets from the Bay Area to Brookings tied to the dock both Monday and Tuesday. That’s the bad news. The good news is […]

May 1 marks day one of our abbreviated ocean sport fishing season on the North Coast as Pacific halibut will open Monday. Our rockfish season will follow, opening on May 15, but will also be shorter than previous years. Without an ocean salmon season this year, these two fisheries will be more popular and will […]

The boat-based rockfish season on the North Coast won’t open until May 15 but that certainly doesn’t mean fish tacos can’t be on the menu. The jetties, the breakwater constructed to protect Humboldt Bay, are starting to provide some good fishing opportunities for both rockfish and lingcod. Over the last couple weeks, the North Jetty […]

In what was a mere formality, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) put the final nail in the coffin of California’s 2023 ocean Chinook salmon fishery April 6. The PFMC acted unanimously to recommend a full closure of California’s commercial and sport ocean salmon seasons. Options put forward by the PFMC last month for public […]

Spring, along with the accompanying nice weather, will arrive eventually. At least that’s what the calendar says. And when it does, a new set of angling opportunities will come with it. As the number of storms begin to lessen, we’ll see some much-improved ocean conditions. With that, anglers will head to the jetties and beaches […]

It’s looking like this year’s winter is refusing to end, but unfortunately, the winter steelhead season will. Enough rain has fallen over the past few days to keep the majority of the coastal rivers high and off-color, essentially washing away the last week of steelhead season. As of Wednesday, all of the coastal rivers, already […]

Other than the Smith and Chetco, all of the coastal rivers are currently running high and off-color due to an extremely wet few weeks. And with the potential for more rain and plenty of snow left in the hills still to melt, it’s likely most of the rivers won’t clear in time prior to closing […]

If the forecasts from last Wednesday’s salmon information meeting are accurate, Chinook salmon are going to be few and far between this year. It will also likely result in a complete ocean closure to Chinook fishing state-wide in an effort to protect stocks. Currently, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) is meeting in Seattle to […]

For those of you who aren’t yet ready to throw in the towel on this year’s steelhead season, you’ll have limited angling options this weekend. If you’re wanting to head north, you’ll likely run into low and clear conditions. Both the Smith and Chetco did see a rise in flows the past couple days, but […]

The Pacific Fishery Management Council released its “Review of 2022 Ocean Salmon Fisheries” report last week and the news wasn’t good. Based on an ocean abundance of 200,100 Klamath River fall Chinook thought to be swimming in the ocean last fall, forecasters predicted roughly 66,759 adults would return to the river. Unfortunately, the run fell […]

With the majority of our coastal rivers in prime fishing shape, it’s starting to feel like it’s now or never for the 2023 winter steelhead season. In what has been one of the most dismal seasons anyone can remember, if the next couple of weeks don’t produce some quality fishing, it’s likely the season will […]