February 03, 2012    Headlines

Mad Clears

South Fork Eel Steelies are In The rains of last week have made for much better action on the South Fork this week. On Friday 2-3 Tony Sepulveda of Green Water Guide Service reported great action floating the lower South Fork. Today his two clients went 7 landed for 11 hooked and on Thursday they went 8 for 10. Tony says all the fish are dime bright fresh run fish running from 7 to 14 pounds. He says the river is low at 8 feet at Miranda but still has some color and the fish are holding in the deeper slots and holes. He expects good fishing down to 800cfs (at Miranda) level and once flows drop lower than that he will switch to the main stem. They are side drifting roe for the majority of their action. Tony has room two days next week for SF Eel trips. The South Fork with it's nearly unlimited public access is a great stream for bank anglers or drift anglers. Mad River Steelies Pushing Up Gary Blassi at Mad River Tackle reports that the river is back in on Thursday 2-2 and sporting about 18" of visibility. He says anglers tossing roe have been doing well and the yarn and beaders have also been scoring a lot of fish. Several hundred fish have moved into the ladder at the hatchery and word is that so many fish pushed in the past few days that hatchery employees closed the gates and pushed many back out into the river. One angler came by the shop to have a big fish weighed and it topped the scale at 19.4 pounds. The Mad is more often muddy than clear and this is a great opportunity for anglers to work roe in the riffles and holes. Crowds here can be thick but when flows are low anglers can hike quit a distance above the hatchery and get away from the crowds. Once again, the CDEC page is down and I am unable to report on flows. The Mad river looks to be a top bet for bank anglers for the next several days. For more info be sure to stop by Mad River Tackle. They will be more than happy to point you in the right direction. River Levels: For river status (low flow closure) updates from Fish and Game please call +1.707.442.4502 for the North coast and +1.707.944.5533 for Central coast streams. Be sure to check out the California Fish and Game regulations before you go. Regulations vary on every river and you need to pay attention to bait and hook restrictions. Due to winter closures on HWYs 5, 101 & 299 we recommend you check Caltrans road conditions as well. Caught Fish? Looking for timely informative updates? Check out a FREE trial to the Northern California Hotsheet, California's fastest growing fishing newsletter. The Hotsheet is emailed three to four evenings per week direct to your desktop. No hunting the web for information or waiting on an outdated magazine to arrive in the mail. These in-depth reports keep you on top of what is happening TODAY so you can catch more fish tomorrow! Just $3.50 per month when you subscribe for one year. You can receive a free week's trial copy by e-mailing a request to fishsite@aol.com