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The winter steelhead run is in full swing on the North Coast and no two
rivers are producing better action at press time than the Smith and Chetco.
As a matter of fact, the Smith River has been producing some of the best big
fish action in recent years. Numerous fish in the 20 pound class have been
taken in the last two weeks alone, including a 25.75 pound monster landed by
Kenny Baugus on January 18.
Baugus was fishing with Mike Coopman of Mike Coopman's Guide Service out of
Crescent City. "We hooked the fish at Simpson Park and fought the fish for
approximately 45 minutes spanning over one mile of river," said Coopman. "He
was using a G.Loomis HSR 9000 with a Penn Prion reel, 12 pound Ande, shrimp
pink glo-bug yarn and a pink puff ball on a #4 Gamakatsu hook."
According to Coopman, the fish was weighed about 6 hours after it was landed
and probably lost a considerably amount of weight during that time. "Not
knowing how large the fish was, we didn't weigh it right after landing it,"
he explained. "With the IGFA scale of length and girth, the live weight of
the fish would have been 27 pounds, 9 ounces. The fish was 39.5 inches long
and the girth measured 23 inches."
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And for those of you who have put in countless days and even years in search of such a fish, this was the first steelhead Baugus had ever hooked! Corky Hart from Elk Grove (husband of Fish Sniffer staffer Nanette Hart) confirmed the reports after he and three friends spent two days on the Smith and one day on the Chetco last week. Hart made a run up north with Billy Ferguson from Pollock Pines, Glenn Cramer from Wilton and Kevin Young from Herald. They fished Monday and Tuesday, January 20 and 21 on the Smith and their final day, Wednesday, January 22 was spent on the Chetco. "On Monday, we drifted from the Forks on down and landed a total of 7 fish up to 13 pounds," said Hart. "Billy and I fished with Mad River Phil and landed 3 fish. Glenn and Kevin fished with Gary Klein and they landed 4 fish. We caught all of our fish on roe and puffballs fished on 10 pound main line, 8 pound leader and a #4 hook." The following day, the four anglers fished from Ruby Park down to Jed Smith Park. "Kevin and I fished with Phil on Tuesday and we landed 4 fish from 3 to 12 pounds," said Hart. "Glenn and Billy fished with John Pizza and they also caught 4 fish topped by a 15 pound hen that Glenn caught. Once again, all of our fish were caught on quarter-sized chunks of roe and puff balls. Everyone on the river was catching fish and we heard of several fish over 20 pounds during those two days." The Chetco River was the destination on their final day and Hart said they managed to get in a half day of fishing before the river blew out. "It was barely sprinkling when we hit the river at 7:30 am and before we knew it, it was absolutely pouring," he explained. "A lot of people decided to stay in for the day, but we went out anyways and it paid off." Hart said they were fishing in torrential downpours with winds so strong, it difficult to keep the drift boat moving down river. "Billy and I fished with Craig Sutton and he did an amazing job keeping the boat in position," said Hart. "We ended up landing a total of 7 fish from 6 to 10 pounds before the river blew out early that afternoon. Glenn fished with John Pizza and he managed to catch 2 nice fish. Our entire trip was arranged by Pizza " At press time, both rivers are running high after two days of heavy rains and most of the guides are expecting the action to resume within a day or two. Timing is everything when it comes to steelhead fishing, so those anglers who are able to leave at a moments notice have a big advantage. If at all possible, try to time your trips two to three days after a heavy rain. If not, plan on staying at least a few days. |
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