Kenny Priest

The season’s first real storms are currently drenching the North Coast and putting rivers on the rise, and it looks like there’s plenty more of the wet stuff on the horizon. If the forecast holds, we should see enough rain in the next few days to open all of the rivers to fishing that are currently closed due to low...
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The ever-popular recreational Dungeness crab season is scheduled to open on time this year, and the season’s first crustaceans can be legally hauled from the salty waters of oceans and bays beginning Saturday morning. However, the California Department of Public Health could issue a health advisory on the sport season similar to the start of the 2016 season when they...
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Last weekend’s rain provided a glimpse into what could be one heck of a late-fall coastal salmon season on the Smith and Chetco rivers. Following last Thursday’s rain, the Smith opened to fishing above Rowdy Creek for the first time this fall. And per usual, that first big rise brought in plenty of big, chrome-bright kings. Sunday was the day...
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If you thought the California halibut season was belly up, you may want to reconsider. The effort has definitely tapered off over the past few weeks, but the bite remains as strong as it’s been all season. “We fished over the weekend, and it was as good then as it’s been all season,” said Tim Klassen of Reel Steel Sport...
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After a slow start to the Chetco bubble season on Saturday, the bite really picked up on Sunday. According to guide Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing, the ODFW fish checkers reported 40 kings for 250 boats on Saturday. “We landed three kings on Saturday, but only one was over the minimum keeper size of 28 inches. On Sunday, we...
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On Sept. 18, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) voted to bring groundfish depth restrictions for the balance of 2017 back to 2016 depths in California from Pt. Conception to the Oregon border according to an Oct. 3 article in the Fish Sniffer Magazine. The reason behind the depth restriction is the yelloweye rockfish is predicted to exceed harvest guidelines....
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