Garcia, Gualala and Russian rivers fishing report

Rivers Rise, Last Chance for Steelies
Rainfall on the North Coast varied widely during this latest storm system. 24 hour rainfall totals through 5:PM Wednesday 3-20 ranged from .68 at Venado on the Russian to .88 at Ft Seward on the Eel to a high total of 1.84 inches at Gasquet on the Smith river. The Smith by far saw the largest rise jumping from 7.5 feet to 12.9 at Jed Smith state park. The Smith will quickly drop back in and looks to offer some ideal conditions this Thursday and into the weekend. With nice weather in the forecast a weekend spent fishing on the Smith and lodging at the Hiouchi Lodge sounds real appealing to this writer.
The Chetco also saw a significant rise and should be in play (and an excellent bet) by Friday.
The Eel pushed up about a foot to 8.6 feet at Miranda and is my top pick for anglers looking to score some huge numbers of mostly down runners on this catch and release fishery. It will need a day to flush out but I would expect the South Fork (Garberville to Miranda) to be fishing no later than Friday. Lower sections will be fishing by the weekend.
The Russian saw just a minor rise of less than 100cfs on the Cloverdale section and should be in prefect shape for those who like to cast roe and don't mind feeding the down run smolts migrating down from hatchery releases and general lack of adults. This once incredible fishery has been destroyed by a thousand cuts. The biggest being the huge expansion of vineyards along the entire watershed over the past 15 years. Steelhead and salmon are a very resilient species and given the chance to recover can quickly do so.
The Eel system was destroyed by clear cut logging and has seen a steady recovery this past decade due to habitat protections. Hopefully those who own, profit and control the Russian watershed will see that healthy fisheries are a great indicator of a healthy environment. If not, maybe we will see further ESL regulations dictate how much water is diverted, what kinds of pesticides or chemicals like sulfur are dumped on local vineyards and maybe less of these sterile farms. Quick profits tend to come at a price, one that is currently being paid for by our local steelhead and salmon.

Russian Steelies Still MIA
Last month we wrote a bit about the poor steelhead returns on the Russian this year and the past several. This story started not from me but readers asking me what I know of the continue decline in numbers and poor condition of winter run steelhead on the Russian. We received a bunch of reader feedback from that bit and have included a few of those emails below. We used the relevant ones and threw those that were not on subject. The one issue that comes up again and again is that there run continues to be very suppressed and the few returning steelhead are in very poor health, covered in fungus, have multiple hook and seal wounds. This story remains "live" and we will be making additional updates in the week ahead.

Officials: Poaching along Garcia River threatens fish recovery

Once again where rivers meet tribal lands fisheries have no oversight from state.

KICK-OFF THE 2013 SALMON SEASON

GOLDEN GATE SALMON ASSOCIATION’S

3RD ANNUAL SONOMA COUNTY DINNER AND FUNDRAISER

Friedman Event Center, Santa Rosa

Thursday, April 4, 2013
The Golden Gate Salmon Association hosts its Third Annual Sonoma County Dinner at the Friedman Event Center, 4676 Mayette Avenue, Santa Rosa on Thursday, April 4. Doors open at 5:30 pm.
It will be a great night featuring hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, dinner, silent and open auctions, and the chance to compare fish stories with all the folks we share the water with.
“By April, the Department of Fish & Wildlife will have given us a clear indication of what kind of salmon season to expect this year,” said Victor Gonella, President of GGSA. “After a good year last year folks are anxious to get back on the water. Last year’s spawners had some setbacks in the river and challenges remain to rebuilding strong, sustainable runs. Populations are already showing signs of decline for the future. GGSA needs your support to make sure we have enough salmon year in and year out to stay on the water. The Santa Rosa dinner is a chance for commercial and sport fishermen to come together for something we all appreciate - strong salmon runs.”
Tickets are limited and this event has sold out each year. Call 855-251-GGSA (4472) for tickets, or www.goldengatesalmonassociation.com. Tickets are $80 per person, $140 per couple, and $40 for youth and will NOT be sold at the door. Table Sponsor packages are $800 and include reserved VIP seating for eight, $160 worth of raffle tickets and one entry into the special table sponsor drawing.

Source responds

Mike,

I just finished reading the lengthy comment posted by Scott Heemstra of King's Sport Shop in Guerneville. Scott makes many valid points that are, and should be, well taken by me as well as other readers.

However, at the risk of getting into a pissing contest, I will maintain that fishing overall, has been as I earlier stated, AWFUL...at least in the Dry Creek vicinity of the river. The majority of us that are regulars in the Dry Creek area, have been fishing the Russian for 30 years or better, and have no misconceptions about it, nor do we expect the Russian to turn out the number of hook-ups per day as do the Mad or Eel. I'll say that the Russian is the toughest river I've fished for Steelhead, and that includes the Smith at low, clear water conditions.

What we all agree on though, is the fact that it appears that things are on a downward trend. By things, I mean yearly hatchery returns, hook ups per day per the number of anglers, number of fish seen rolling at daybreak or dusk...all on the downturn.

I caught my very first Steelhead at Mirabel Park in 1965, and that being said, I witnessed the tail end of the Russian's glory years, and in no way am I comparing 1965 to 2013. But, what started out to be a promising and fruitful effort by the Department of Fish and Game and Army Corps of Engineers, has fallen short of expectations for being this far into the game.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that something is out of balance with the Russian River, it's tributaries, and their ability to support anadromous fish....unfortunately, with humans being the main culprit in this, I don't see a very bright future.

Tom Heenstra wrote
In response to your recent Russian River report I think there are a ton of misguided people out there. The vineyards are a huge problem with this system. Not only do we get muddy runoff from them we also get toxic runoff, and they suck the water table low and have ruined spawning streams. Add all of the toxic runoff from Santa Rosa through Mark West/Santa Rosa Cr as well as the dumping of treated sewage when they claim the flow is "adequate" to handle it. Then compound the Sonoma Water Agency in their personal control of the water and it all adds up to one big mess. We are seeing a larger than usual number of infected fish and these are not all downstreamers. I myself found one in December that was a 10-12 lb wild fish that still was full of milt (pressed on its belly and it freely came out) I know these fish get injured in the process of spawning but with the huge surplus of early season water I don't see how they could have. We are seeing more than normal seal and sea lion activity in the river. We have seen lions come up as far as Guerneville and they usually stay in the estuary. As for your "source" report I think he was off by calling it awful. You come to fish the Russian in hopes of getting a pull and maybe a fish to expect that it is anything like all the other rivers and you are deluding yourself. We have though been getting on average 1-3 fish per outing. I myself managed three on flies one on friday two on sunday and only fishing for an hour each night. Hope this gives some insight and perhaps we can raise enough money through the Russian River Wild Steelhead Society to help impact the river enough that hoping for a fish is gone and now we expect several.
Was hoping you might be able to post this on your site for our upcoming fundraiser.

Thanks, Scott Heemstra
Store Manager
Kings Sport & Tackle

Tom T. wrote this in reply to Carl below
I just read the e-mail responses from some of your readers....sounds like Carl D. is misguided in his assumption that the vineyards have no impact on the fish.....with regard to the fungus present on the fish, those fish are downrunners, not fresh spawners. I've seen numerous fungus infected steelhead in the river that are facing upstream, but being pushed downstream by the current....its pretty much impossible for anadromous, cold water fish to spawn successfully if the water conditions in the spawning creeks are lees than ideal...low water levels, due in some cases to irrigation draw down by vintners, warm water temperatures, silt, fertilizer and pesticide runoff from the vineyards all have a major impact on the fish. If you refuse to believe this, you walk through life with blinders on....but because the vineyards, according to Carl, are the largest employer in Sonoma County, doesn't give them Carte Blanche to abuse and destroy the watersheds and fish that inhabit them...
The 'recent' problems with Russian River Steelhead began, in my opinion, with the severe drought we went through in '75.'76 & '77....after those three winters, Steelhead virtually disappeared from the river (remember, there was not hatchery on Dry Creek at the time)...whether it be the ocean conditions, vineyards, seals (too many IMHO), or all of the above, there is a serious issue on the Russian that needs to be addressed before it's too late.

Bill S. wrote:
" I’ve been fishing on the Russian quite a bit this year and you also need to address the huge numbers of fish with the fungal infections on the river. Both up run and down run fish are visibly covered with fungus. You’ll see them cart wheeling in the air, dying in side channels and I can’t explain this. I’ve never seen this in the 25+ years I’ve been fishing on the Russian. Water is perfect and there are few fish and some very nasty ones regardless if they are hatchery. I hope someone can also note this issue. I suspect there are plenty of issues not being addressed!"

Dave V. emailed this in::
"I fish the upper river around Ukiah and do so for a few hours 5 days a week. There are fish in the system, the reason why they are not biting is that they are getting snagged (ripped) all the way up the river by fisherman and many are losing part of their tails to seal lions at the mouth. With the low water I have not seen a steelhead of medium to large size that has not had multiple snag and or sea lion wounds. Only the small bucks of 24" or less do I find a occasional clean fish with no snag marks. One fish had seven hook (snag) marks on his body and half a tail missing from a sea lion. One nice hen had a flap of skin hanging off the top of her head, fungus growing on her back from snag tears and ..well you get the idea.
Its very hard to get the fish to hit, but I am getting some".

Ryan M. also a long time angler has this to say:
Growing up in Healdsburg and fishing the river for 20 plus years this is the worse ive seen it. I fish about 10 - 15 hrs a week and have found that ive been doing allot better in the Geyserville to asti section its not on fire but you can expect to hook a fish if you put your time in and hunt the fish down you have to walk and find a hole or run that is holding the fish its not easy but if your a diehard and put the effort out you will hook up! as for the crappy return why was the salmon run in the thousands and the steelhead so poor? if the river is messed up it must be something affecting the fish in the summer months after the salmon fry are already down in Jenner? and the amount of silt coming out of lake Mendocino is horrible it hasn't rained hard in 6 wks and its still muddy all the way to Cloverdale. that's unacceptable if you ask me. and this coho restoration thing that will not work with a river in this condition period.
just my 2 cents from a pissed off steelhead fisherman

Carl D. had this to say:
Why don't you just stick to fishing reports. I don't care what you say the runs are down due to poor ocean conditions just like salmon. We had lots of rain in December and writing that vineyards or others are to blame is pure crap. Vineyards are the biggest employer in Sonoma and steelhead aren't worth saving if we take water from vines and give it to fish."