Photos like this will be much more prevalent in the weeks to come as spring arrives on the coast. Pictured is Fortuna resident Issac Thompson with a nice lingcod landed on a recent trip to the Humboldt jetty. Rock fishing is open year-round to shore-based anglers and divers. Photo courtesy of Issac Thompson Spring, along with the accompanying nice weather, has arrived. And with it, comes a new set of angling opportunities. As the number of storms begin to decrease, we’ll begin to see some much-improved ocean conditions. With that, anglers will head to the jetties and beaches in search of rockf ..read more

The Pacific Fishery Management Council officially pulled the plug on California’s ocean salmon season April 10. Pictured is Calvin Wagner of Boulder City, Nevada who landed a nice king while fishing out of Shelter Cove back in 2022. Photo courtesy of Jake Mitchell/Sea Hawk Sport Fishing At the March Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) meeting, the Council voted on and approved three alternatives for ocean salmon fisheries along the California coast for 2024. Alternatives one and two lay out severely abbreviated seasons with strict harvest limits for commercial and recreational salmon fis ..read more

Ten-year-old Calvin Purcell from Charlottesville, VA landed a nice ling cod as well as a canary rockfish while fishing out of Eureka with Captain Marc Schmidt, right, aboard the Scrimshaw. The deep water rockfish season opened Monday statewide. Photo courtesy of Marc Schmidt/Coastline Charters. The statewide rockfish season opened April 1, but you’d be hard-pressed to find any type of announcement. Because the month of April is only open beyond the 50-fathom line, this falls under federal jurisdiction. Hence, the only notification that went to the public came from National Oceanic and Atmosphe ..read more

Lester Phelps of Fortuna landed this nice vermilion rockfish while fishing near Cape Mendocino a few seasons back. The rockfish season on the North Coast is expected to open in early April. Photo courtesy of Tim Klassen/Reel Steel Sport Fishing The California Fish and Game Commission unanimously approved changes to the 2024 groundfish season opening dates, fishing depths and bag limits in a press release issued Wednesday. The 2024 groundfish seasons are expected to be reviewed and approved by the Office of Administrative Law and take effect in state waters in early April. The Commission and Ca ..read more

Eureka resident Yvette Faust landed a nice winter steelhead earlier this week while fishing the Chetco River. Photo courtesy of Alan’s Guide Service As if we haven’t had enough rain this winter, another potent storm is about to take aim at the North Coast. From the South Fork Eel north to the Smith, we’re looking at anywhere from 2 to 3 inches of rain combined with snowmelt to impact the rivers. All of the rivers will see a substantial rise in flows, turning green water to brown. With the final week of the season right around the corner, and more rain on tap next week, it’s likely the South Fo ..read more

Josh Carmel of Redding landed a nice Chinook salmon while fishing out of Eureka a few seasons back. The PFMC released its three season alternatives this week with the final decision coming in April. Photo courtesy of Gary Blasi/Full Throttle Sport Fishing After a sometimes tense-filled week of meetings in Fresno, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) released its ocean and inland salmon season options Monday. The PFMC took a precautionary approach in setting the season alternatives, though some would argue they didn’t error on the side of caution enough. While more Chinook salmon retur ..read more

Petaluma resident John Burch landed this beautiful 19-pound king salmon while fishing out of Trinidad a few seasons back. The PFMC are currently working on setting salmon seasons for 2024. Photo courtesy of Tony Sepulveda/Shellback Sport Fishing Following a year of a complete salmon shutdown across the board, the Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) is again taking a precautionary approach in setting the 2024 ocean salmon seasons, even though ocean abundance forecasts have increased over the prior year for both the Sacramento River and Klamath River Fall Chinook. When the PFMC released it ..read more

Chris Contreras, of Garberville, landed a nice Chinook salmon while fishing out of Shelter Cove back in 2021. Ocean salmon anglers will likely face another year of tight restrictions or closures due to the low ocean abundance of both Sacramento and Klamath kings. Photo courtesy of Jake Mitchell/Sea Hawk Sport Fishing If the forecasts from Wednesday’s Oregon Ocean Salmon Industry Group Preseason Planning Meeting are accurate, we could be in for another lean year when it comes to Chinook salmon fishing along the California coast. It could also result in another complete ocean and river closure t ..read more

Cam Berloger with a Klamath River Chinook salmon from a previous year. Ocean and river salmon anglers will find over the next two months the fate of the 2024 season. Photo courtesy of Fishing the North Coast Guide Service The Pacific Fishery Management Council released its “Review of 2023 Ocean Salmon Fisheries” report last week and the news was better than expected. Based on an ocean abundance of 102,500 Klamath River fall Chinook thought to be swimming in the ocean last fall, forecasters predicted roughly 39,858 adults would return to the river. Fortunately, the run was a little more robust ..read more

Janel Long of Los Angeles with a hatchery steelhead caught last week with guide Mick Thomas of Brookings Fishing Charters. What was shaping up as a couple day window for some other coastal rivers to finally drop into shape, has been firmly slammed shut. The rain that began Wednesday dashed all hopes of being able to finally drift the South Fork Eel, Van Duzen and Mad. So once again, we are back to high and muddy water. And these series of storms that are forecast to roll through the area will keep all of the rivers high, including the Smith and Chetco. As of Thursday, it looks like the Smith a ..read more