Smith River Salmon & Steelhead Fishing Report

The steelie action remains good on the Smith and the weather has been spectacular. On Friday 2-3 Kevin Brock reported 4 fish landed out of five hooked for his twosome. Kevin says the river has great color and with flows just slowly dropping should fish well for the next several days. They found good action up in Jed Park and came across another batch for fish that look to be just pushing up through the Ruby section. Kevin has a few spots open the next two weeks.
Over on the Chetco fishing has been good with guides reporting 2 to 5 fish per day. Wally Johnson reported 3 fish on Tuesday 1-31 and three fish on Wednesday 2-1 fishing the upper Chetco.
Wally had a group booked on his home waters of the upper Klamath on Thursday 2-2 and Friday 2-3 and they hammered the fish with over 40 fish landed mostly 2 to 5 pound fish today. 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.

Light rains moved through on Tuesday night and guides reported that the river was up about 8" and gained some needed color on Wednesday 2-1. Kevin Brock reported 3 fish landed out of 4 hooked working the Flats to Ruby section today.
While we often concentrate on guides scores I received a great email today from a reader, Tim who was on the river with three other buddies bank fishing on Saturday 1-28. While the Smith is not a tough river to bank fish from with it's many access points it is a big and challenging river to fish without local knowledge. The bank fishery does get overlooked but that said there is public access from Gasquet to the Jed Smith state park and down to Ruby. Tim and his three friends had a banner day where they landed 24 fish including this 20 pound class trophy that was released. It was his forth fish landed on that epic day. Tim reports he was using Mad river artificial eggs fishing a just above Hiouchi. For those new to this river I recommend that you go the guide route first and once you find your bearings pull on the waders and try fishing it on your own. (Tim thanks for the great photo and report)!

Scores picked up for guides working the Smith river on Tuesday 1-31. Kevin Brock said the pressure dropped way off (many moved back north to the Chetco) and most guides found some elbow room. Kevin drifted the Forks to Ruby section twice today and his twosome hooked 7 steelhead and landed 6. the biggest was about 11 pounds but Kevin said all the fish were especially "hot and feisty as his old girlfriend". Overall scores ranged from 3 to 7 fish landed more the majority of guides. There is a weather front just off the coast that will bring in moderate rain overnight. This is great news as it will bring the river back up a foot or so and set up ideal conditions for the coming week. The bulk of the rain will fall in Del Norte and Humboldt counties with lighter amounts to the south. The Chetco gave up some good numbers today as well and if we see a small rise the Eel could be a great bet for weekend warriors. All of our sponsors have room and we ask you support those that make this site possible.

One could not ask for better river conditions than what was seen on Monday 1-30. The Smith river flat lined at 10 feet and dropped just 6 inches over the past 24 hours. Guides reported good scores of 3 to 5 fish landed per boat of solid fish averaging 8 to 10 pounds with a few in the mid to upper teens. Kim Hagen's twosome batted 1000 landing 4 fish for 4 hooked including a couple of keeper hatchery run fish. Kevin Brock's twosome batted 600 with 3 fish to the net out of five hooked. Tony started on the Smith landing one, got antsy and trailered north to the Chetco where they put in two more. Tony said he didn't know if that was a good move or not but his clients sure enjoyed seeing two rivers in one day.
On Sunday fishing the Chetco Dave reported four native fish landed for one clients fishing the upper Chetco. Both of these rivers have good numbers of fish in their lower runs and there is more good fishing ahead. The forecast calls for dry weather this week and we expect both to slowly drop and clear. The watershed is saturated which should keep some color in both into next weekend.

Side Drifting for Steelhead 101
Here are a few tips to help improve your steelhead scores when side drifting with a guide.
Side drifting is a "team sport" where the guide and his or her clients must fish together. It's important to understand what is expected of both the guide and the anglers to be an effective team. When the guide on the oars and anglers work together the results almost always means more opportunities to hook that trophy.
The guide sets the boat "up" off of the travel lane of the fish and adjusts the speed of the drift to work the baits into where the fish are holding without snagging bottom. Sounds simple enough but it takes top guides 100s of trips to fully "know" a river and their "job" is only tougher when you have clients who aren't following instructions.
The first trick for the clients in the front seat to master is "matching" their casts. Typically your guide will tell you exactly, down to a few feet or sometimes inches where he wants you to place your casts. The top guides, with their years of knowledge know exactly where fish will be holding depending on a river's flow level and color. They already have a game plan in place before the boat is off trailer and know which areas of the river they will want to concentrate on that day. It's the clients responsibility to be ready to follow instructions. Typical instructions are "Cast in the foam line behind that boulder pile" or "on the soft side of that seam" or "in as tight to the bank as you can without going in the trees". If anglers make accurate casts of the same distance this makes it easy on the guide to get that "perfect drift". When one angler casts too short or long it's impossible for your guide to get both lines to work properly through the run. The result of mismatched casts is often times one line getting snagged on the bottom and fishing time is lost. Anglers who remain alert and make those typical 4 to 8 average bites count come off the river with a memorable day. Those day dreaming, not ready to cast or not placing their casts where directed are lucky to hook a fish or two. Crossed lines, backlashes, snags or those flung into the trees are "score killers" and will result in fewer fish hooked at the end of the day.
If you are not a proficient caster then I have three words, practice, practice, practice before your trip. From a chair in a forward sitting position practice making casts to your right and left at app. 9 to 10 o'clock and 2 to 3 o'clock. Keep practicing until you can consistently place a cast within a three foot radius without back-lashing and be sure your fishing partner can do the same. No professional guide that I know will ever blame his clients for a bad day but often times it is the lack of "following directions or not being prepared" that does result in a low fish count. If you are casting short or long into the trees no guide can overcome "poor form". Scores almost always improve when there is some talent or "hot-sticks" on board. The reason is the clients are matching their casts, making good baits on their own and this leaves the guide to concentrate on his top priority, putting you on the fish.

What to bring:
Save time by purchasing your fishing license and appropriate stamps ahead of time. Dress warmly in layers (don't forget the hat and gloves) and be prepared for rainy weather. Always arrive early to your meeting spot. Bring a lunch, a thermos of something hot and snacks that has be easily eaten while fishing and don't forget the sunglasses and a camera.
We are proud to have some of the top guides feeding us reports from all north coast rivers throughout the year. Our sponsors are all full time guides and have the experience and the know how to consistently put you on the fish. Please support these guides that make this site possible. All offer professional trips with the best of boats and equipment. During the peak runs they also book trips for other quality guides that are often mentioned within our reports. On their websites you will also find additional fishing reports, trips dates and booking information.

New Rules for the Smith River
New rules have been adopted by the Cal F&G commission for the Smith River in 2011. Only barbless hooks will be allowed in all reaches of the Smith River. The Klamath-Trinity Salmon Report Card has been renamed North Coast Salmon Report card and will now be required on the Smith River also. The annual bag limit for wild trout or steelhead was reduced to zero and no more than five wild Chinook may be kept per year.

Affordable Alaska
For you readers looking for adventure on a "boys" or family trip that includes world class salmon, halibut, trout action we still have a few prime weeks available in our Alaska vacation cabin for 2012.
Our full equipped coastal home sits on three acres (sleeps 7+) overlooking Cook Inlet and is within 30 minutes of five rivers including the Kenai, Kasilof and Anchor.
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Give us a call and we will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have about fishing on the Kenai peninsula. 707 479-0992
Pictured above: A family shot of the morning sockeye catch from our annual family trip in July

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