Eel River - 1/4 and 1/5/18

Thursday:  Walker was my guest for a scouting run on the main stem.  With very little rain in December the river has been low and clear, and salmon are still spawning.  We covered some ground and caught a few half pounders before landing on some fish late in the afternoon.  Couldn't get bit by the adult steelies we could see here and there, and ended up with a fat salmon on the spoon.  Not the target, but we got some good scouting done just as more rain was moving in for the night.

Friday:  Spent a couple of hours on a favorite run today after noticing that last night's rain wasn't heavy enough throughout the basin to blow the river out. More rain is in the forecast, and I got word that muddy water is making its way downstream from the upper SF, so today's in-between water was awesome. My spot on the upper main stem went from too clear yesterday to almost the perfect green today.

I had the run all to myself as I stood on the drifting kayak and casted my spoon across swiftly moving water where yesterday we'd seen some adult steelhead that we spooked in the clear flow. When the hardware didn't produce for two drifts I decided to do a side drift down through the bottom of the run where the gravel was smaller and the bounced bait would have a more ideal presentation.

Big payoff! My line suddenly had pressure on it before rapidly heading to the other side of the river. What was obviously a stout adult was now dogging me in less than 6' of water. With no jumps in the first minute and lots of strength, I thought this could be a fresh salmon, but a couple minutes in I got a good look at what was one of the nicest steelhead I've ever hooked!

I had the video going and got pretty good footage as I left my drag pretty loose and let this fish tire for about 6 minutes before I had her in the fine mesh release net. She went to sleep in there - no thrashing, no damage to fins. I love that net and feel it should be required on catch and release wild fisheries. Banked the yak, got the single barbless out of the corner of her mouth, snapped a couple photos and watched her swim off strong. Totally awesome fish went 30"+ and 12 to 14 pounds.

Bailed that spot a bit later and headed to check turbidity on some side tribs where I'm tracking salmon redds - beautiful water there too and good news for redds that should have alevin emerging soon. Made my way to the confluence of the Main and South Fork for a few more casts at sunset and counted myself as very fortunate and appreciative to be on the river this afternoon.

Book a date between now and the end of March. We only go if the river is presenting fishable water at the time. Looking forward to getting as many guests as possible on the chance at a winter steelhead in the redwoods.

Last of Thursday pix

Today:

Yes!!! Great report. That is one fine specimen.
Thank you for the inspiration.  I will be looking for chome again soon down here on the Russian. No luck yet. Soon

Great report. Thanks for the inspiration. I need to get out on the Smith.

I just got around to watching the vid. Dude you are awesome. My heart sank for a second when it looked like it came unbuttoned but that's Steelhead fishing. My favorite part was when you said " come on beautiful Steelhead".
Love it!!!

I just got around to watching the vid. Dude you are awesome. My heart sank for a second when it looked like it came unbuttoned but that's Steelhead fishing. My favorite part was when you said " come on beautiful Steelhead".
Love it!!!

Thx, Capt!   

Congrats on that beauty Eric!  The rush of hooking into a bright 30+ inch steelhead really gets the adrenaline going.

Sure must be dry down there to see water color like that in the Main in January...

Wow!  The fish you cnr’d on Thursday is an epic fish man!!

Thx, fellas. 

Awesome Eric

Wow !  Thanks for the report , vid and pic Eric.. Beautiful. 

Awesome video.  Thanks for sharing!


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Thanks for the great reports, pictures, and video Eric.