Kenny Priest

Smith river dropping slowly
Kenny Priest
by Kenny Priest, JANUARY 26, 2017
Smith River

The Smith has fished great since Monday, with boats landing four to six chrome-bright steelhead per outing. The river is dropping slowly, and is in great shape and should stay that way through the weekend. The boat pressure eased somewhat now that the Chetco has dropped into shape, but expect a pretty crowded river this weekend.

Humboldt Bay Entrance Safety Zone established
Kenny Priest
by Kenny Priest, JANUARY 26, 2017
Humboldt County Coast

In a press release issued last week, the Coast Guard established a safety zone in the navigable waters of the Humboldt Bay Entrance Channel to promote the navigational safety of all vessels near Humboldt Bay, when extreme environmental conditions are present. The safety zone will run through March 31, 2017. The safety zone prohibits vessels from transiting the Humboldt Bay...
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Smith and Chetco full of bright steelhead
Kenny Priest
by Kenny Priest, JANUARY 26, 2017

After what seems like a couple months of solid rain, things are finally looking up for North Coast steelhead anglers. Not only are the Smith and Chetco in pristine condition following the latest round of storms, but the rest of the coastal rivers are dropping quickly as well. The South Fork Eel, Van Duzen, and the Mad could all be...
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Storms slow solid steelhead action on Smith, Chetco
Kenny Priest
by Kenny Priest, JANUARY 18, 2017
Smith River

North Coast steelhead anglers breathed a collective sigh of relief this week as the first real push of winter steelhead entered the Smith and Chetco rivers. The unusually slow start had anglers a little nervous. Were we finally seeing the effects of the drought? Were the steelhead waiting out the huge river flows? Could be a little of both, but...
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Record rains blow out North Coast rivers
Kenny Priest
by Kenny Priest, JANUARY 12, 2017
Smith River

The parade of storms that pounded the North Coast earlier this week pushed some of our coastal rivers above flood stage, and the ones that didn’t flood, were right on the verge. We haven’t seen this much water flowing in our rivers since the floods of 97’, at least that’s what I’ve been hearing. Needless to say, our steelhead season...
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Steelhead season off to a slow start
Kenny Priest
by Kenny Priest, JANUARY 4, 2017
Eel River - South Fork

As the North Coast is once again on the verge of being pounded by more wet winter storms, there’s a collective questioning happening amongst anglers. Where are the steelhead? Just about every river has dropped into fishable shape at some point within the last couple weeks, but the fish have yet to show in any of the rivers in good...
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