Over the years, the Pacific Northwest has built a name for itself through the high yield of steelhead and salmon. When the rivers flow high in the winter, these beautiful fish swim upriver to spawn, providing great sport fishing to anglers in the areas of Humboldt and Trinity County. With the past two years providing high rainfall in the Trinity mountains, the Trinity River, Mad River, Chetco River, and their tributaries, the steelhead have been given a chance to swim upriver and complete their journey to spawn.
On a recent trip to Lewiston CA, I got the chance to fish a couple of miles of a tributary to the Trinity River. It was running much higher and faster than average. Fly fishing from the boat, I had luck catching two wild rainbow trout and hooked into a big steelhead but wasn’t able to land it. The water was clear and cold, perfect conditions for big fish.
Another popular river in Northern CA is the Mad River, known for its big steelhead and trout runs. The river’s fishing regulations have kept fishing the Mad limited since its closure on November 15th, but the river will open to the public on the first Saturday of April 2025.
Rye Davis, an Arcata High senior, fishes the river often, and claims to have had less luck this year than most.
“The [Mad] River was blown out for the beginning of winter, and pretty muddy,” Davis said. “I got a chance to fish it a couple of times, but I didn’t catch anything.”
Another local angler, senior Cooper Miles, has had a similar experience.
“I had the best luck on the Trinity, but I caught a few in the Mad after it cleared up. I feel like it [Fishing] wasn’t as good as last year, but I still had fun,” Miles said.
With the mud and silt from rainfall and snowfall in 2024 choking up local waterways, going upriver has been a good choice to avoid the murky waters.
Arcata High teacher and coach Troy Ghisetti made that decision and doesn’t regret it a bit. “Living in Humboldt County, you wait until the river is clear to get out on the coastal river snow,” Ghisetti said. “We just found different rivers to fish, like when the Mad was too high, I was up on the Chetco.”
With spring coming, the rivers are projected to clear up, hopefully providing for some late spawn season fishing.
