Upper Klamath Steelies
Wally Johnson had a group of three on his home waters of the upper Klamath on Thursday 2-2 and Friday 2-3. They hammered the fish today with over 40 fish landed mostly 2 to 5 pound wild steelies that were al released. Wally reports that they had countless doubles, a few triples and even one quad as he "had to stick a rod out". They fished from 10:AM to 4:30PM working roe in the slots and holes. This is some of the best fishing he has seen in over a decade on the upper Klamath and he expects it to continue with the warm weather and higher river temps. He is booking trips depending on where he can put his clients on the best counts. When the coast rivers blow out he will be on the Klamath and when they drop out he will head to the Smith and Chetco. Right now he has no reason to leave his home waters.

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Rain Hits Far North Coast
All rivers saw moderate to huge rises on Thursday and after dropping on Friday are back on the rise here on Saturday 1-21 morning.
The Smith crested at 27.5 feet on Thursday, dropped as low as 16 feet on Friday and is now back up to near warning stage of 23 feet. More rain is expected late Sunday and dryer weather with some showers or light rain forecasted next week.
The Smith will be the first back in shape and if the forecast holds true the Smith should be back in play by next Tuesday. Anglers could see some great action on the Smith for several days and even if we see dry weather should fish real well for an extended period. Guides will be back to side drifting when flows on the Jed Park gauge drop to 13 feet or low. With showers / light rain expected next week we could see the Smith hold in that ideal range of 9 to 12 feet for several days, maybe even a week or more. So far this season fishing on the Smith is some of the best we have seen in several years. It would not surprise me to see several guides hoisting double digit scores this coming week.
Wally, Kim, Tony and Kevin will all likely be posting some huge counts this coming week. Most have at least some room and we ask readers to support these guides who make this page possible.
The Chetco should be back in two days after the Smith. Like the Smith counts have been high this season and we expect more good fishing in the coming weeks.  Side drifted roe will be your top bet. Rivers to the south will need more time to clear.
The Mad river crested at 16 feet (warning stage is 15) this morning and the guidance plot forecasts it dropping to 9 feet by next Thursday. It will remain high and muddy but the liners will be out below the hatchery once it drops a few feet. The Mad typically needs 10 days to two weeks of dry weather to clear enough to allow for conventional tactics like roe or plug fishing.
Other options include the upper Trinity where it's dam controlled flows tend to keep the upper river in better shape. The Trinity is currently dropping with flows at Douglas City in the 1100cfs range. Fishing will be good once flows drop below 1000cfs. Roe will be a top bet with the cold water flows as quite a bit of snow has fallen in the surrounding mountains. Steve Huber is running trips here all winter and offers a very reasonable all inclusive package.
The lower Trinity river will be out for an extended period due to all the snow and now saturated watershed.
The Upper Klamath at Seiad has jumped from 3500cfs to 6000 and the guidance plot calls for flows to drop to 3600 feet by Thursday. There are tons of half pounders and adults to 5 pound class in the upper river but it will take a week of dry weather for it to come back into play. The lower Klamath will be out for the foreseeable future.
The South Fork Eel saw a huge rise over the past 24 hours jumping ten feet to 22' at Miranda. The SF needs to drop to 8 feet at Miranda before it will fish in that section though the river above the East Branch (Ben Bow) will be in great shape a few days before. The Each Branch pushes a lot of silt into the river making it a tad harder to gauge when the section below will come in but 8 feet is the height to watch for. Fishing here has been excellent the past several years but because it runs muddy more often than not it harder to get on.
The Russian has seen a much smaller rise. Here I like to use the gauge at Healdsburg. Over the past 24 hours the river has jumped from just 200cfs, crested at 4000 last night and has quickly dropped to just 2700cfs. The river tends to be "in" at about 1200cfs at Healdsburg but the upper section from Geyserville to Cloverdale will fish a day or two before. Over the past two years the fishing has pretty much "sucked" but that looks to change this season. The river mouth was breached 9 days ago and I received several reports of a huge push of fish into the lower river from Austin Creek to Johnsons. These fish should be pushing into the Dry Creek section now and we could see the action turn on by Wednesday (according to the river guidance plot). I think we are going to see a big turn around in the Russian river counts this season.
Now is the time to plan your trips as late next week looks very promising. My top bets for next week are the Smith, Chetco, upper Trinity and Russian.
Pictured above this young angler is not so sure about this fish while "Shorty" Wally's Jack Terrier just wants "one lick". This is a very typical upper Klamath winter steelie, 18" long, big tail and feisty.