Humboldt area smelt fishing

Over the past year or two I have somehow come into possession of two A-frame dip nets from estate sales and garage sales. One looks pretty homemade basically made out of some branches and bolts and the other one seems like a legit commercial production. I'd love to eat lower on the food pyramid and get out and use these things. But it seems like information on timing and where to go is a bit hard for me to find. I'm out of eureka and looking just for general tips on how to get started.

Surf fishing is a blast - when they run!   

I got my first exposure to it at a young age down near Half Moon Bay.  We'd cruised up the beach to where my dad and the other men saw the birds working, and while the guys set up their nets my sister and I were catching them by hand in gentle surf - two at a time!  Early 1970's...

In the late 80's early 90's I started frequenting Centerville Beach - it's 10 minutes past Ferndale at the south edge of the Eel River Valley.  I put in lots of time watching birds that would work but never seemed to move in to shore.  I was targeting the hours before and after a high tide, and it was the summer months - "Fair Time" in August comes to mind.

One day at Centerville the stars aligned.  I saw birds doing their usual thing up the beach a ways, so I hoofed it up there and by the time I got there it was a frenzy!  I got fish on my first dip, dumped them on the beach and went back for more.  Came out with a second dip of fish and my first catches were gone - the birds found working the sand way easier than working the waves!     I learned that a bucket is indispensable in surf fishing.

I haven't surf fished since, but I miss it, and smelt make great bait that's hardy like a herring and can be re-frozen.

My tips and places:

- bird activity is crucial;
- tide factors in, but it's not always a high tide gig;
- keep talking to locals so you can get word on some spots;  and...
- bring a bucket, young man!

- Centerville was close to Loleta but not the best spot ever;
- Orick is known for surf fish - it's where the commercial guys usually are;
- Luffenholtz has been known for surf fish and has especially had a reputation for night fish, but watch your car there - sketchy at times.

Best of luck, and please text me or drop an email with some nuggets that you attain on this challenging fishery.   

My friend’s dad had probably the last shore-based commercial fishing permit catching smelt up your way. He supplied all the west coast aquariums with food for their captive creatures. He had a fish camp on a remote beach up there in the 60-80s

There’s definitely an art to it

He did mostly night smelt runs and would watch the surf til he spotted them and shout the crew out of bed. One guy with an a-frame kept a bunch of young men running full fish boxes up the beach

I still have a throw net I need to put to use

Maybe down at Santa Cruz

 First of all open both nets you have and measure distance off bottom of opening,comercial is 10 ft and sport is 6 ft.you said onr looks legit and one doesnt we allways made our own with redwood limbs lsimilar to the one you described as it was said the aluminum ones reflected the sun and made a noise when sand and waterof wave hit it.  Dont know if there was any truth to that but it was said to be true.  August and septenber sounds about correct for peak of season and the higher the tide the better.  Black coerse sand is what they like to spawn in so beaches fitting that are the ones to hit.  We allways planned our extended family outings at wages creek beach and would dip net that beach or one north of it before highway 1 turned inland to leggett.    I know usal was a popular producer also and ive seen dip netters at the mouth of the klamith.   Ive also seen a couple of guys with half filled bucket using throw nets at portuguese or school house beach between bodega and jenner.  Ive often thought that black sands beach north of shelter cove would fit the criteria also but ive only dirt biked that beach i believe its also refered to as ten mile beach but eric says there are rip tides there.  Back in the 70s it was said that the school of fih was 10 miles long and 1 mile wide but who knows.  Back in the 70s there was a comercial fishernan that suplied marine world not sure if its the same guy bluekayak was refering to,   A thread was started some time ago so search thearchives.   Good luck and dont wear waders for the obvious reasons 

What a score on the A frames!  I had dreamed of doing this years ago after watching Kirk Lombards videos, maybe they can give you some inspiration or nuggets of information.  He also has a book on Sea Foraging. https://www.seaforager.com/book

eiboh that is likely the same guy, initials were B.B. out of Philo and had a place on the Mattole

The last time I talked with his son he was still alive but that’s a while back. One guy with a-frame kept a bunch of guys running boxes

Usal

Wolf Creek

Last time I went up with my bro it still required 4 wheel or you could get in there with a vw bug but was an interesting trek

About waders the same guy fishing the mouth of one of the rivers watched his friend get swept out either the Mattole or Klamath I forget which

After which I switched to wearing my wetsuit farmer johns and got the nickname rubberlegs

When I was a kid I had an uncle that used to use an A-frame net to commercial fish on Kellogg Beach north of Crescent City.
When I saw that redwood A-frame net you posted it reminded me of when I was a bit older and worked in the woods packing tools for a faller. He used a set of redwood gunning sticks to line up the face of the huge redwood trees he was falling. Most of the time he got the cat ground with a cat to make the bed instead of the high lead ground. An old Russian guy that at 65 years old could get up and down those those hills faster that I could when I was 20.

First of all open both nets you have and measure distance off bottom of opening,comercial is 10 ft and sport is 6 ft.you said onr looks legit and one doesnt we allways made our own with redwood limbs lsimilar to the one you described as it was said the aluminum ones reflected the sun and made a noise when sand and waterof wave hit it.  Dont know if there was any truth to that but it was said to be true.  August and septenber sounds about correct for peak of season and the higher the tide the better.  Black coerse sand is what they like to spawn in so beaches fitting that are the ones to hit.  We allways planned our extended family outings at wages creek beach and would dip net that beach or one north of it before highway 1 turned inland to leggett.    I know usal was a popular producer also and ive seen dip netters at the mouth of the klamith.   Ive also seen a couple of guys with half filled bucket using throw nets at portuguese or school house beach between bodega and jenner.  Ive often thought that black sands beach north of shelter cove would fit the criteria also but ive only dirt biked that beach i believe its also refered to as ten mile beach but eric says there are rip tides there.  Back in the 70s it was said that the school of fih was 10 miles long and 1 mile wide but who knows.  Back in the 70s there was a comercial fishernan that suplied marine world not sure if its the same guy bluekayak was refering to,   A thread was started some time ago so search thearchives.   Good luck and dont wear waders for the obvious reasons 

Thanks for the tips, ill have to break em out and take a look for the size