Redwood Coast Fishing provides epic fishing trips in Northern California & Southern Oregon.
Catch the fish of your dreams. Fish the hottest spots with an expert fishing guide. Cruise in comfort in our heated drift boat or roomy jet sled. Experience the stunning backdrop of Northern California's redwood coast.
I've started fishing for summer steelhead and we've had some great days, especially for how early in the season it is. I have some space for next week, so if you're in the area on vacation or you want to give these wonderful fish a go, now's the time!
Mike
I had a wonderful day taking some old and new friends fishing yesterday. It was a soggy day and the river was rising, but fishing was good. This is the weather we've been waiting for although it rendered even the Smith unfishable today. I'll be back on the water tomorrow with more significant rain in the forecast for later in the week. Better late than never!
Remember to give me a like on Facebook at Redwood Coast Fishing with Mike Stratman if you haven't already! You'll get reports delivered right to ya!!
Mike
Fishing has been very good this week. Starting tomorrow, it looks like rain will finally inundate our coast. This means we will be back to our usual haunts, like the Smith, Chetco, and as it drops, the Eel. I expect us to have a wonderful month of fishing ahead of us. I do have a few open dates later this month, so don't hesitate to call or message!
I know, I know. It's been awhile. While my reports don't show it, I have been fishing since the new year. My reasons for not posting reports and pics are simple: the places I've been fishing are very sensitive and don't need the publicity. The inexplicably dry weather that we've seen this winter has created very low water conditions and has forced anglers to think outside of the box. Just because conditions aren't typical doesn't mean there aren't fish around. On the contrary, the potential for an epic day of steelhead fishing is very high and I've seen the biggest number days of my career this winter so far.
That being said, we need the rains. When we did get rain earlier in the month, the Smith and Chetco fired off a handful of real good days. That will be expected for the next rain as well. In the meantime, I will lay low and probably catch a ton of steelhead!
For those interested, I do have Tuesday of next week open (January 28), so if you're interested in some last minute fishing, it should be good.
Mike
Rain finally came to the north coast, about a month late and I just got finished with a handful of days on the Smith and Chetco. At this point, these rivers are getting low and clear again and are in need of another shot of rain. Fishing was, for the most part, pretty decent. As is always the case with these fisheries at this time of year, figuring out a pattern, having a good game plan, and getting a little lucky is the difference between a skunk and a great day of fishing.
If we can get another rise in river in the next week or so, there will be another group of fish that enter these rivers, so salmon fishing is not necessarily done for the year. I'll keep you posted.
Since my last report, I finished up my Klamath season with a handful of trips. While the fishing wasn't white hot, it was pretty solid and there were some nice looking fish around. I will take the next few days off and wait for rain, but if we don't get it in the next week, I may end up back on the Klamath. Time will tell. In the meantime, here are some pics from the last month of fishing out of the driftboat.
Well, a lot has happened since the last posting. I'm bummed I've been unable to post sooner, but my computer has been in and out of the shop this month, very frustrating.
September on the lower river was very tough, as most of you have heard. We got a huge shot of fish the last weekend of September only to have the river blow out the next day!! Talk about bad luck. However, the huge storm did enable us to fish the Smith River a couple of days. Long story short, the first day was good, the second not so much. The pic here is of Odonell Doyle with a beautiful Smith Salmon caught on the first day (note the new boat, thanks Wille!!).
After the short stint on the Smith, I moved the trailer and boat up to Orleans and started the middle Klamath drift boat season. Fishing for the month has been very solid the whole month, but at present it seems as if the run is drying up. I will fish through Wednesday and then I will wait for rain to kick off the coastal salmon fishing. It looks like there is some rain in the forecast starting by the end of the first week of November. That would be perfect timing, so keep your fingers crossed!
Sorry for the lack of updates, but I am unable to connect with the internet at my trailer in Klamath. Fishing on the Klamath has been unexpectedly slow to start off the month. We are catching a handful of fish everyday, but this is hardly what the fishing was expected to be like considering the forecasted run for this system. That being said, there are still a lot of fish at the river mouth that have not pushed up yet. The weather, and water temps have still been very warm and I believe that the fish are being reluctant to swim out of tidewater in these conditions. A few cooler days and nights would help fishing out a bunch in my opinion.
Steelhead fishing remains good. The beginning of last week was a little spotty, but in the last 3 days, fishing for summerruns has gotten very good once again. The Salmon are still absent upriver, but this will change very shortly. There will be water released from the Trinity River beginning this Sunday, and when that water reaches the lower river it should drive the fish to make their move. The reports I've been hearing from the mouth of the river have been nothing short of unbelievable. I talked to a friend who was down there yesterday and said that he and his group of buddies hooked 50 to 70 large (20 lb+) king salmon apiece (!) during an afternoon of fishing. That pretty much equated to a hookup a cast. I know this sounds like B.S., but he's a super reliable source and he's not the only one I'm hearing reports like this from.
Give me a call or email for open days, as they are being booked pretty quickly. It's going to be a fun season and I hope to see you all out there!
Well, my trip this morning was unexpectedly canceled, so here I am. Fishing was tough to start yesterday, but as I worked my way down the river, we started encountering more and more fish. Nothing wrong with ending the day well! Overall, fishing has been very good the last week with adult steel the predominant catch, but salmon are showing up more and more. After my trip yesterday, I talked to some folks fishing the mouth, and it sounds like there are a ton of salmon in tidewater. I think this salmon season will be absolutely epic!
On a different note, I will on the ocean for a 3 day tuna trip out of San Diego starting the evening of August 12 to the evening of August 15. If you wanna contact me for a trip during that period, give my wife a call at 707-601-8756 and she'll set you up.
