River salmon winds down, steelhead season begins Dec. 1

BROOKINGS, Ore. – A hurricane-like storm has sidelined fishing guides and anglers throughout the Pacific Northwest, but before heavy rains blew out every river from Northern California to British Columbia, salmon fishing was in full swing on the Chetco, Smith, Elk and Sixes rivers. Winds over 80 mph slammed the Southern Oregon Coast overnight, bringing several inches of rain. The local rivers are expected to be blown out until around Thanksgiving.

**Longtime customer Tyler with a large Elk River hatchery king that bit a 5.0 Jaw Breaker MagLip.**

The Wild Rivers Fishing crew – Capt. Andy, Sam, Rye, Mick, Eric and Chris – were busy running drift boat trips on the local rivers near Brookings, Oregon, with good success, before the big storm. Salmon have been in the Chetco and Smith since early September, and after rains around Halloween, the drift boat season was in peak-season form. Earlier in September, fishing had been good in the Chetco River estuary.

**Capt. Rye with a trophy hatchery king salmon caught in the Chetco estuary in early October.**

Salmon to 50 pounds were caught on the Chetco and Smith this season, with plenty of fish over 40 pounds. Local guides have been catching salmon on MagLip plugs, roe and sand shrimp fished below bobbers, and back-bouncing roe.

**Capt. Mick holds a chrome-bright Chetco River king from early November.**

**Capt. Sam with a large Smith River king that was caught and released by a customer in November.**

**Capt. Andy with a large hatchery king from the Elk River in November.**

The peak season for fall king salmon was early November. Fresh fish will continue to move into the local rivers through December, while steelhead also will arrive next month. Peak season for winter steelhead on the Chetco and Smith is January and February, although December can produce decent fishing, especially on high-water years, which this appears to be.

The Chetco estuary kicked off this year’s river salmon season. The area along with jetties was crowded, but produced good fishing. A local angler fishing in his own boat caught a 52-pound king. Numerous fish close to 45 pounds or bigger also were caught.

After the first rains, our crew switched to drift boats, first fishing roe and sand shrimp below bobbers on the Chetco tidewater, and then switching gears to the Smith River after its first opener of the season. Fishing was wide open on the Smith. Capt. Sam and Capt. Andy both enjoyed 30-plus-fish days with customers when the river first opened, with a hot back-bouncing bite in the deeper upriver holes.

**Longtime customer Haley with a nice Chetco River king caught with Capt. Rye.**

Another rain storm arrived, kicking off the plug season on the Chetco and Smith. 5.0 MagLip plugs were hot this season, producing countless kings for our crew.

Our newest guides, Chris and Eric, both enjoyed success in their drift boats with customers. Chris and Eric have been deckhands on our ocean charter boats, and are now full-time fishing guides and charter boat captains. Chris earned his US Coast Guard captains license this year, and Eric, who graduated in June, is taking his captain’s class and will be running an ocean boat as well next summer.

**Capt. Chris has been getting customers into lots of nice kings this fall.**

**Eric has been a deckhand for us since he was 16 and is now a guide and soon-to-be ocean captain. Here’s a nice king from an estuary trip in October deckhanding for Capt. Rye.**

**The largest king caught so far this season with our crew, a 50-pound caught on the Chetco with Capt. Mick.**

The Elk and Sixes will be solid bets for salmon in December, while the Upper Chetco and Smith also get their share of late-run kings. Steelhead fishing is usually best on the Smith in December, with a mix of halfpounders and early adults. The Chetco has been known to produce good steelhead action by mid-December as well. In recent years, the Wild Rivers Fishing crew has caught bright kings on the Elk and Sixes as late as Christmas Eve.