Steelhead season is off to a strong start on the Chetco and Smith Rivers, with near-perfect conditions and a big return of winter fish. The Wild Rivers Fishing crew has been enjoying success on both rivers.
Despite cold weather, with lots of snow in the hills, fishing has been has been good the past week. A major winter storm is expected to start the new year, which could limits options for the first week of 2022.
A beautiful Chetco River steelhead caught with Capt. Andy.
Both rivers blew out around Christmas, but the Smith quickly dropped back into shape, and the Chetco has been in prime shape for the past few days. During the higher flows, plunkers fishing large Spin-N-Glos from shore did well. Drift boaters side-drifting roe and Corkies did well as the river began to drop.
A wild hen steelhead is released on the Upper Chetco.
Wild Rivers Fishing has guides licensed in Oregon and California to fish the Chetco and Smith rivers, and operates under special use permits from the US Forest Service to fish the Wild and Scenic Upper Chetco and launch at the Forks on the Smith River to drift through Redwood National Park.
Nice Chetco steelhead caught on a 3.5 MagLip plug.
We also fish the Elk and Sixes rivers during the winter, and occasionally on the lower Rogue River. Steelhead season is off to a great start on the lower Rogue, where some guides are getting into double-digit numbers anchoring and fishing 3.5 MagLip plugs.
The Chetco is expected to blow out by Jan. 2, and could approach flood stage with the combination of heavy rain and melting snow. When we get back on the water, we will start by running plugs and then side-drift as flows drop.
The peak of the winter steelhead season has arrived on the Chetco and Smith Rivers, and although fishing is only fair at best, some of the fish being caught are in the mid-teens or bigger. The Smith already has produced a handful of 20-plus-pound steelhead, and the Chetco has yielded several fish in the upper teens.
High water in early January has brought in decent numbers of steelhead. Catch rates, however, are still somewhat low, with one to two fish a day on average. There is a nice mix of hatchery and wild steelhead on the Chetco, while the Smith has a few hatchery steelhead, and plenty of bigger wild fish.
A large hatchery steelhead caught on a 3.5 MagLip in January 2021 on the Chetco River.
As the rivers dropped back into shape after the New Year’s rain storm, the Wild Rivers Fishing crew spent the first few days the Chetco was fishable by running plugs close to shore. A 19-pound and an 18-pound steelhead were caught on 3.5 MagLips. After the river continued to drop, side-drifting was effective.
A 19-pound steelhead caught on the Chetco River in January 2021.
The Wild Rivers Fishing guides have donated a handful of wild steelhead to the ODFW hatchery broodstock program on the Chetco. The steelhead are caught with hook and line, and after being held in live wells on the drift boats, are dropped off in holding pens on the lower river. ODFW then takes the steelhead to the hatchery on the Elk River (there isn’t a hatchery on the Chetco), where they are live spawned. The adult steelhead are released back into the Chetco, and several months later, the juvenile steelhead are brought back to the Chetco.
A beautiful Chetco River wild steelhead that was donated in January to the ODFW broodstock hatchery program.
The last few years, February has been the peak season on the Chetco and Smith rivers. Steelhead season runs through March 31 on the Chetco and the end of April on the Smith.
A hefty Chetco River hatchery steelhead from January 2021.One of the wild steelhead donated to the broodstock program.A chrome-bright Chetco steelhead.
Ocean bottom fishing charters also will begin soon out of the Port of Brookings. The Wild Rivers Fishing crew also captains charter boats in Brookings, targeting lingcod, halibut, salmon, rockfish and albacore tuna.
To book a guided drift boat river trip, or an ocean charter, call (541) 813-1082 or visit www.brookingsfishing.com.
The river guides who spend the fall and winter fishing for salmon and steelhead the Chetco and Smith rivers for Wild Rivers Fishing are also saltwater charter boat captains. Through our sister company, Brookings Fishing Charters, they run lingcod, rockfish, salmon, albacore tuna, California halibut and Pacific halibut charters out of Brookings and Gold Beach.
Capt. Andy Martin and his daughter Alexandra hold a pair of vermilion rockfish caught off the coast of Brookings in early April 2020.
The Miss Brooke, Papa B, The Dash and ‘Bout Time have been running ocean charters since January. Ocean fishing was good in March, before stay-home orders brought charters to a standstill just before Spring Break. Lingcod fishing has been especially good this year, and the number of large vermilion rockfish has been above average. With the charter fleet grounded because of social distancing mandates, the crew has been taking their families fun fishing, and getting nice limits of lingcod and rockfish.
A nice lingcod caught in April 2020 by Jim Martin, Capt. Andy’s father, near House Rock.
We hope to resume ocean charters in May, just in time for the Pacific halibut opener. Pacific halibut season runs May 1-Oct. 31. Fishing is hit-and-miss off the coast of Brookings, but Brookings Fishing Charters has the highest success rate of any local charter company catching these prized fish. Several Pacific halibut are brought in by the Brookings Fishing Charters crew each year.
Pacific halibut, lingcod and rockfish caught last season aboard the Miss Brook near Mack Arch.
The ocean salmon season out of Brookings will run June 20-Aug. 7 this year. Late June and early to mid-July are the peak season for king salmon. Brookings Fishing Charters is one of the most successful charter fleets on the entire Oregon Coast at catch king salmon in the ocean for customers. This year’s ocean season is promising, with a combined ocean abundance forecast for the Sacramento, Klamath and Rogue rivers of nearly 1 million adult king salmon. Salmon from the Sacramento River make up the majority of the ocean catch off of Brookings. This year’s forecast for the Sacramento is almost 500,000 adult kings.
Anglers hold California halibut caught last August with Capt. Andy Martin out of Brookings.
California halibut have been off the coast of Brookings for decades, but the fish have been fairly elusive. While Cali Hali are incidentally caught each summer by anglers targeting bottom fish or salmon close to shore, few skippers have been able to dial in how to catch them. Last summer, Capt. Andy had several impressive days fishing for California halibut, with catch rates of three to five fish per angler. The best time for Cali Hali is July through September.
Capt. Rye and Capt. Mick with albacore tuna caught last summer off the coast of Brookings aboard The Dash.
Brookings Fishing Charters also was successful last summer at getting customers into albacore tuna. The six-pack charters were able to quickly get offshore and find the prized fish, with very good catch rates. Tuna trips are based on a call list. Call (541) 813-1082 to get on the list. Trips are booked when weather and fishing conditions allow.
Alexandra with a nice rockfish caught in April.Customers of the Miss Brooke hold lingcod and rockfish caught in late March, before ocean charters were put on hold because of covid-19 stay-home orders.
To learn more about our ocean charters, visit www.brookingsfishing.com. We off daily trips, weather permitting, out of the Port of Brookings. We also have a dock slip in Gold Beach for Rogue Reef lingcod and rockfish in June, July and August. For information, call (541) 813-1082.
All of the ocean charters working out of the Brookings Fishing Charters office are six-pack charter boats, with local owners and operators.
The Miss Brooke is owned by Capt. Andy Martin and operated by Andy and Capt. Travis Sallander.The Dash is owned and operated by Capt. Rye Phillips.The Papa B is owned and operated by Capt. Mike Brouillette.The ‘Bout Time is owned and operated by Capt. Rich Singnorello.
