Kenny Priest

Spring, along with the accompanying nice weather, will arrive eventually. At least that’s what the calendar says. And when it does, a new set of angling opportunities will come with it. As the number of storms begin to lessen, we’ll see some much-improved ocean conditions. With that, anglers will head to the jetties and beaches in search of rockfish and...
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It’s looking like this year’s winter is refusing to end, but unfortunately, the winter steelhead season will. Enough rain has fallen over the past few days to keep the majority of the coastal rivers high and off-color, essentially washing away the last week of steelhead season. As of Wednesday, all of the coastal rivers, already swollen from an extremely wet March,...
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Other than the Smith and Chetco, all of the coastal rivers are currently running high and off-color due to an extremely wet few weeks. And with the potential for more rain and plenty of snow left in the hills still to melt, it’s likely most of the rivers won’t clear in time prior to closing for the season. These extremely wet...
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Management Council on March 10 provided three options for recreation and commercial salmon fishing from the California/Oregon border all the way south to the California/Mexico border. Unfortunately, but not surprising, all three options included the words “CLOSED.” In an unprecedented decision, the PFMC was left with little choice but to close recreational and commercial salmon fishing this season statewide. Southern...
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I know everyone is pissed about the upcoming salmon closures, but I wanted to provide some hope for a salmon rebound in the coming years. The last closure we had was in 2017, which included the ocean (CA and Oregon KMZ’s) and the Klamath and Trinity rivers. That year, the ocean abundance forecast was for only 54,200 Klamath fall kings....
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If the forecasts from last Wednesday’s salmon information meeting are accurate, Chinook salmon are going to be few and far between this year. It will also likely result in a complete ocean closure to Chinook fishing state-wide in an effort to protect stocks. Currently, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) is meeting in Seattle to decide the fate of our...
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