The steelie action remain
great and while most anglers have hung up their gear for the season a few
are still out enjoying good catches. On Thursday 3-27 Kenny Armstrong
drifted the main stem from the Forks to Holmes. His two clients hooked nine
fish landing 7 to 14 pounds. Three of the fish were mint bright late season
chromers and the other four spent but still in fighting shape. Kenny is
booked this weekend but has other boats available. Wally is soaking up the
sun in Mexico and Pete Sparacio has moved back over to the upper Sac for
trout. This is your last chance as the season closes next Monday March 31st
at sunset.
Many of the top guides
have moved down to the Eel and are looking to take advantage of the great
late season action this river has been known for the past several years.
On Saturday 3-22 Kenny Armstrong was back on the main stem. He
drifted from the Forks to Holmes and said the river was still a tad high and
a hair too dirty but they did well. His two clients landed 6 fish out of 7
hooked with a solid 8 to 12 pound average. One was a chrome bright buck and
the rest were headed down but in great shape. Fishing pressure was very
light and there were only two other boats on this drift today.
This is the last week that the Eel will be open to fishing. The action is
still great and a good excuse to get out on the rivers one last time. Kenny
has most of this week available for south fork and main stem trips. He
will be running trips out of the jet boat for Klamath springers beginning in
May. Wally has hung his ores up for the season and he is headed to
Mexico for a little R&R and will be offering trips for Sac stripers in April
and May. Pete Sparacio is starting to run his popular upper Sac river
rainbow trips where he will spend most of the summer months.
The color dropped out of the central south fork Eel on Sunday 3-16
and the bite was still red hot. Wally Johnson drifted the Garberville to
Philipsville stretch today with 6 fish landed out of 8 hooked. The fish were
slugs and three were bright averaging 12 to 15 pounds and had a couple of
the fish been pre spawners instead of post they would have been closer to 18
to 20 pounds. We are seeing a late push of fresh fish on may rivers but the
Eel has the best numbers. Wally said the river on this section was much
clearer than he expected with visibility running at over 3 feet. Despite his
good score he felt that if he had been down one drift he woulda coulda done
even better. Wally has just a couple of spots left but Kenny Armstrong and
Pete Sparacio both still have several days available for the final two weeks
of the season. With fresh fish and good weather this is an excellent bet
this week and next.
On Saturday 3-15 Wally Johnson was back on the Eel after spending the
past two weeks on the Chetco. He said light rain Friday night had blown the
lower south fork out but he found fishable water between Richardson Grove
and down to the Bear Pen. On this short drift his two clients landed 4 fish
to about 11 pounds and missed and lost a few others. Not a bad score for
just a small area this high in the system. He said that the lower south fork
should fish to Dean Creek possibly Miranda on Sunday and the entire south
fork will be in on Monday. We expect to hear some big scores from him the
next few days. He is running trips here (weather permitting) through March
22nd and has some spots still available.
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