Kenny Priest

Up and down the North Coast, the story has been very similar. Where are the Pacific halibut, and when will the bite turn full tilt? To date, it’s been a slow start to the season, but certainly no need to panic. To be fair, the month of May has seen its share of wind and unfishable days, which has put...
Full Story 

For North Coast anglers, Memorial Day weekend provides an excellent opportunity to try your luck at a variety of fish species and locations. With plenty of options on the table, the biggest decision might not be if you want to go, but where. Here are a few of the options that will hopefully make your decision a little easier this...
Full Story 

Lack of effort, ocean conditions, or lack of fish, whatever the reason may be, it’s contributing to another slow start to the Pacific halibut season, eerie similar to last year. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s a combination of the first two. Since the season opened on May 1, there’s been just a few days which boats were...
Full Story 

The much-anticipated Pacific halibut season kicked off Thursday, but it was a slow start for the small fleet fishing out of Eureka. Ocean conditions weren’t very good according to Tim Klassen of Reel Steel Sport Fishing. “The seas were pretty choppy and the water was really dirty,” said Klassen. “We didn’t see much life on the bottom either. We fished...
Full Story 

Pacific Halibut, Rockfish open May 1 Following another tumultuous offseason for saltwater anglers that included far too many meetings, it’s finally time to start fishing. Our Pacific halibut and rockfish seasons are once again angler-friendly, and both will open next Thursday, May 1. And we even managed to sneak in a very abbreviated sport ocean salmon season beginning in June. Let...
Full Story 

At the March Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) meeting, the Council voted on and approved three alternatives for ocean salmon fisheries along the California coast for 2025. Alternatives one and two lay out severely abbreviated seasons with strict harvest limits for commercial and recreational salmon fishing. Alternative three, if selected, would shut down the salmon season for the third straight year. After...
Full Story