Smith River Fishing Report
Kenny Priest
by Kenny Priest, DECEMBER 5, 2019

Smith River

The first part of December is typically transition time for the Smith River. The majority of the salmon have moved upriver and we’re now waiting for the steelhead to show. Flowing at just under 700 cfs on Wednesday, the river has been closed to fishing since Tuesday. While it was open on Monday, some salmon were caught, but the majority...
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Steelhead up Next For Coastal Rivers
Kenny Priest
by Kenny Priest, DECEMBER 5, 2019



With very little rain over the past two months, the end is near for the late, fall-run salmon season on our coastal rivers. The season, much like last year, has been somewhat of a disappointment to anglers. Only a couple smaller storms hit the coast and dropped enough rain to bring the Eel, Smith and Chetco up to levels where...
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Check-up on San Francisco Estuary Health
by FISHBIO, DECEMBER 2, 2019


The San Francisco Estuary covers a large swath of California, encompassing the Bay Area and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The Estuary’s varied landscapes and habitat types are as diverse as the people and communities that surround it. Situated in the heart of California’s agricultural, economic, urban, industrial, and water management hubs, these landscapes play important ecological roles for wildlife, human health, and geophysical...
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Wild steelhead harvest could end on the Chetco
Kenny Priest
by Kenny Priest, NOVEMBER 28, 2019



A petition requesting a temporary rule change restricting harvest of wild winter steelhead in the Oregon Southwest Zone, which includes the Chetco River, was submitted on Nov. 4 by a group of Oregon fishing guides to the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission. If accepted, the emergency rule change would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2020. According to the petition,...
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Eagle Lake Conditions
by Valerie Aubrey, NOVEMBER 25, 2019
Eagle Lake

We don’t always get the predicted snowfall during a storm event, however we do prepare for the worst and accept the least. Predictions range from 3-7” to 12-18” of snow. One thing will be certain is roads are probably going to be impacted even if we only see a few inches. I expect to see low temps drop below zero...
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The 149th annual American Fisheries Society meeting held from September 29–October 3 in Reno, Nevada, was a truly unique experience for the thousands of fisheries professionals who attended, pulling them out of their aquatic bubble and into the terrestrial world of wildlife biologists. This represented the first ever joint conference between the American Fisheries Society and The Wildlife Society, and #TeamFish versus #TeamBird social media feuds...
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