Eel River main stem

Man, it's been a while but the main stem Eel is in shape and on fire! I drifted friday, saturday and sunday. Totals are 10 fish landed for 24 hooked, all on plugs. These fish are chrome, wild, and very acrobatic on the take. It didn't bother me much to not land all the fish as the show they put on was fantastic. They went nuts!
I was in my drift boat and couldn't keep from thinking how right it was for a kayak. I'm still thinking about it...

Right on!  What drift would you recommend in the next few days?  Any good action all the way down by Fortuna?

What part of the river?  Awesome numbers Juan! PLUGS rule!!!

wheres the pics man, wheres the pics!! Ty and I are both jonesing. Looks like we need to make a run. Randall

Never fished up there so what do you recommend for a rookie in the area as far as location and plugs? Frankfishing

The Eel has been hot if you can hit the right hole or riffle. I've been sea-kayaking all week and am jonsing to get back on the river. I've ran it from the headwaters to the ocean and have detailed maps of the fishing holes and where to get access to the river. I think right now the best run is from the forks down to Holmes. It takes about five hours to drift and fish. If you don't get a fish I swear the redwood paddle experience will make the drive worth it anyways. I reccomend that stretch based on Local talk of where the fish are holding up due to the low low water.I'm game for Sat or Sun. As far as bait and tackle the local guides are using Bouncing betty weights, 10 lb line with 6lb leaders (maxima). #4 hooks tied with some pink/red yarn (helps hold scent and hangs up in steelhead teeth) They use a little cured roe and an orange styro fish pill to keep the hook off the rocks. Plugs and spoons haven't been as effective from what I've gathered as the straight roe set-up but I've only talked to a few of the guides and am waiting some for some more local reports. I'll be ready with a trailer if anyones wants to get in on a shuttle setup. (No whitewater on this stretch)

Thanks for the port.I wish i knew SOMETHING about this fishery.I keep telling myself to GO AND CHECK IT OUT..but then keep it local   one of these days I will get up there and the fish will be gone its on me!
keep up the reports(and pics)

I agree with Swellrider about the stretch from the "Forks" down to Holmes. The forks is where the south fork meets the main stem. There's an old train trestle there. I think the south fork from Weott down to the forks would be good as well, I'm just afraid it might be too low for the driftboat. But a kayak? Sure.
The lower the river gets, the lower I'm going to fish it. I'm even thinking of going from the forks down to Scotia on an overnighter.
As for techniques, yeah, roe works and is my go-to rig. But, at a hole where we hooked fish every day, we tried the roe and got no hits. We then ran the plugs and BINGO, two fish in row. I didn't miss the roe mess. A diver with roe would probably work as well. As for plugs, one day they hit every color from dark blue to fuschia. It didn't seem to matter. They liked the big plugs too. Sunday they only hit one color, champagne pink. So who knows? Just get a hook in the water.
I use Brads plugs. Hot Shots would work too. They just need to run right. I ran them on #10 blue Stren. I like the Stren cause I need to see where the line enters the water, thereby letting me know where I'm rowing the plug into. I also ran the plug a good ways away from the boat.
Sharpen the plug hooks regularly as they dull up when pulling along the bottom. Saturday we had 11 takedowns and only landed 4 of them. I think some of those that came off were due to the crazy acrobatics of the fish upon the initial hookup. Several times the hooks were bent by the fish! I am not kidding. All great fun!