California’s steelhead fishing heritage began in the second half of the 1800s as more immigrants arrived in the Golden State. At that time, people fished only for resident trout and the juvenile progeny of steelhead, because many coastal streams were not open to wintertime fishing. In addition, the relationship between steelhead, then called “salmon trout,” and the smaller “stream trout” was unclear. For example, one early account from the September 1879 Humboldt Times newspaper in Eureka described fly fishing on the lower Eel River: “We were fishing not more than an hour and succeeded in landing about thirty as fine beauties as one could wish to see, many of them a foot in length. As soon as the fly could be set and thrown into the water, a greedy trout would grab it and then the excitement commenced.”
Early accounts of abundant catches in rivers such as the Eel encouraged more anglers to travel to California’s North Coast to fish its rivers and creeks. Many of the trout caught in the late summer and fall months were actually half-pounder steelhead. If winter rains were delayed, anglers targeted the later-entering winter steelhead. Rivers in the southern part of the state did not support late summer or fall steelhead runs. However, winter storms added much-needed water to the parched watersheds. The increased stream flows provided winter steelhead access to the rain-swollen rivers there, and anglers often took advantage of the abundant “salmon trout.”
In the early 1900s, California’s fishing regulations for salmon and trout differed, leading to confusion as to what species of fish could be netted and sold commercially. To clarify the issue, in 1881, the Ferndale Enterprise newspaper reported:
Fish Commissioner Wilson has sent to President Jordan of the Leland Stanford, Jr. University, samples of the trout or young salmon caught in Eel river, asking for his opinion as to what species of fish they belong President David S. Jordan has settled the question as to the genus and species of the fish now being caught by [the] thousands in Eel river. He says they are young steelheads. The anglers who have, for years, broken the fish laws in the winter and spring by catching trout in the little coast streams have attempted to justify their action by insisting that the fish were young salmon, but that defense is no longer tenable, for the steelhead is a trout.
It was not until 1926 that commercial netting in the Eel River was banned.
One early California steelhead fly-fishing pioneer was John S. Benn, an Irish immigrant. Benn became famous when accounts of his visits to the Eel River were published in Northern California newspapers. He was recognized for his fly-tying expertise, and one newspaper even called him the “father of California f ly fishing.” The Ferndale Enterprise on October 21, 1903, reported, “J. S. Benn, the noted expert fly maker, arrived on the Eureka Sunday and will try some of his own materials in attempting to lure the finny denizens of Eel river in the vicinity of Weymouth’s.”
Benn resided in the San Francisco Bay area and traveled by steamship to Eureka to fish the lower Eel. Benn and visiting anglers often stayed at the famous Weymouth Inn. The inn was located off Grizzly Bluff Road on the south side of the river about twelve miles upstream from the mouth. It was reported that anglers fished as early as July for summer and early fall half-pounder and adult steelhead from wooden rowboats available at several liveries along the lower river. According to newspaper accounts, trolling for salmon and steelhead was popular in September and November and even later, when the larger winter steelhead began to appear.
The golden age of California winter steelhead fly fishing would have to be considered to have been from about the 1920s to the mid-1950s. During that period, steelhead runs in the Eel River were good, and stream flows and water quality were often conducive to late fall and winter fly fishing. Another famous steelhead fly angler and writer was Clark C. Van Fleet. Van Fleet wrote of this period in Steelhead to a Fly (1954) that in 1928, his business afforded him the opportunity to reside in Eureka for a year. That year, he reported catching his first steelhead on July 6 from the Eel River, a fish that weighed 10-1/2 pounds. He reported fishing the river on 51 occasions through December and hooked a total of 192 steelhead and landed 73. The smallest weighed 4-1/2 pounds and the largest 15 pounds. A few years later, during the 1936 winter season, Walter J. Thoresen, a local steelhead angler who often fly-fished the lower Eel River, caught an 18-pound steelhead the day after Christmas. The fish took first place in the Field & Stream Western Rainbow Trout [Steelhead] Fly-Casting Division contest for that year.
The Russian River north of San Francisco was another popular early steelhead fly-fishing destination. The river did not and does not support runs of summer steelhead, and the first steelhead of the season was generally caught in December or early January. As fishing became more popular, anglers took advantage of the good steelhead runs. Fishing remained good on the Russian River through the middle of the century, and in the 1960s, pressure was often heavy. The Healdsburg Tribune, Enterprise and Scimitar newspaper in December 1968 commented on the large number of anglers:
There’s a question whether fishermen or steelhead are thicker along Russian River these days. Truth is, there may be more fishermen, but fish are there too. Not even the season’s first heavy rainstorm of the season which by the night of Dec. 14 muddied the river beyond, experts were certain navigation by any fish was impossible and may have stopped the run of steelies. Weekend and on through the week, fishing proved that somehow, the fish were getting through up river. In what quantity is anyone’s guess. Just check these babies! Tim Hickman’s 15-pound, six-ounce steelhead put him at the head of Healdsburg Sporting Good’s annual Derby last week, these beauties taken from Russian River last week include two caught by Darrel Dragoman, a 10-pound, 2-ounce and a nine-pound, 12-ounce, and Tim Hickman’s 15-pound, six-ounce steelhead.
Later, in the early 1970s, studies by California Department of Fish and Game biologists suggested that the steelhead run might have numbered as many as fifty thousand fish annually.
In addition to the Russian River, smaller rivers north and south of San Francisco provided excellent fly-fishing opportunities. Most of the effort in the early years was focused on their easily accessed estuaries and lower river pools. Also, reports of anglers catching steelhead in Southern California rivers began to appear in newspapers. For example, in April 1915, the Los Angeles Herald reported:
Steelhead taken from Ventura River by L. A. fisherman. While most anglers have been forced to be satisfied with eight and ten inch trout, G. M. Freeman won the silver loving cup offered by George Clino by catching a 27inch and a 28-inch steelhead trout. Freeman did his fishing in the Ventura river, the same place he opened the season last year. At that time his best haul was a 31-inch steelhead trout. In addition to the two large fish, he also caught a large number of small rainbow trout.
A few years later in January 1923, the Lompoc Review newspaper reported:
Steelhead trout fishing has been excellent this week, the high tides bringing schools of the fish over the bar at the mouth of the Santa Ynez river, according to several who have put their luck and skill to the test. Monday Mr. and Mrs. Scotty Clapp displayed a fine string of the fish about town, and had an excellent picture made at Bachelor’s Studio of their trophies. The season is open until the first of March and many local anglers and some from other parts have expressed their intention of landing the limit.
Unfortunately, Southern California steelhead runs were significantly impacted by dam construction, water diversions, and loss of habitat. For example, the construction of Gibraltar Dam in 1920, located 72 miles upstream from the mouth, blocked steelhead passage to the upper portions of the Santa Ynez River. Claude M. Kreider wrote about fishing the river for winter steelhead in his book Steelhead (1948). In the chapter titled “Little Rivers of the South,” he wrote:
And here — only one hundred and fifty miles from the great Los Angeles metropolitan area — f lows the Santa Ynez, the most productive of all little steelhead rivers of the south. A tiny brook in mid-summer, it heads back in the higher reaches of the Coast Range to become, with this immense watershed, a real river after the first rains of winter. And then with a continued flow assured it receives not only one but several good runs of large steelhead through the winter.
The last substantial steelhead run in the Santa Ynez River, however, occurred during the 1945–46 season. By the middle of the twentieth century, all Southern California rivers had been transformed by dam construction, water diversions, and habitat destruction, resulting in the eradication of their steelhead runs.
Anadromous rivers in Central California did not escape the onslaught of dam construction. Before being beset by human development, the Sacramento– San Joaquin River system had provided over two thousand miles of anadromous fish habitat. Early Californians observed that many rivers and creeks supported runs of salmon and steelhead. A November 1850 article in the Sacramento Transcript newspaper reported: “Our rivers afford a large supply of the finny tribe. The salmon and salmon trout are in large numbers and appear to be the general favorites.” Several Sacramento River tributaries historically supported spring-run summer steelhead and late summer–early fall steelhead runs. However, it is unclear if winter steelhead runs were significant.
As happened elsewhere in the state, early Sacramento–San Joaquin anglers often targeted the juvenile steelhead progeny and possibly resident trout. In August 1876, an article in the Tocsin newspaper published in the city of Red Buff reported: “A party of fishermen, consisting of four gentlemen and two youths, succeeded in catching 550 trout out of Thomes creek, near Toomes Camp, during one afternoon and morning during last week.” At that time, the trout fishing season ended in the fall and reopened in May. The trout caught from Thomes Creek were likely the juvenile progeny of winter steelhead. Years later, in May 1904, the Red Bluff Daily News reported: “Steelhead trout are now running in the river [the Sacramento] and a few have already been taken on the riffles. Considerable sport is afforded in fishing for these big fellows when they bite freely.” These were likely spring-run summer steelhead migrating to the upper reaches of the Sacramento River and its tributaries.
Prior to the construction of Folsom and Nimbus Dams in the early 1950s on the lower American River, steelhead fishing there was often reported to be good. Unfortunately, the dams blocked salmon and steelhead from over one hundred and fifty miles of spawning and rearing habitat, and no provision for passage around the dams was provided. The Nimbus Salmon and Steelhead Hatchery was constructed immediately below Nimbus Dam to “compensate” for the lost fish runs. The hatchery began operations in 1955, but due to the low number of steelhead trapped and the small amount of eggs taken there during the first few years of operation, winter steelhead eggs were transferred to the hatchery from Eel River egg-taking stations. In spite of several other steelhead introductions to the American River, genetic analysis of the hatchery broodstock indicates they continue to remain most closely related to the Eel River steelhead broodstock.
During the following decades, additional dams, water diversions, and loss of habitat contributed to the eventual decline in the Sacramento River steelhead run. Today, anadromous fish habitat in the Central Valley has been reduced to only about three hundred miles. Most of this habitat is composed of the main river, which functions as a migration corridor to short tailwater reaches below major dams. Steelhead runs have declined from more than twenty thousand fish to fewer than five thousand fish annually.
While dams led to the decline of steelhead runs in Central Valley and Southern California rivers, steelhead runs in the northern part of the state were impacted by major floods in 1955 and 1964. As a result of extensive logging and road building in the watershed, rivers and creeks that provided spawning and nursery habitat were devastated. Adult steelhead numbers declined dramatically in the following years. Winter steelhead counts at the Benbow Counting Station on the South Fork of the Eel River dropped from an average of over sixteen thousand fish annually prior to 1955, to just six thousand fish in the ensuing years. A similar decline was observed at the Van Arsdale Fish Counting Station on the main Eel River, where winter steelhead counts dropped from an average of slightly more than four thousand fish annually prior to 1955 to only about a thousand fish.
In spite of the reduced number of fish, winter steelhead fly fishing on the lower Eel River continued to be popular. In the late 1960s and 1970s, anglers often camped on the lower river gravel bars and launched small boats on the pools or waded the shallow edges. Most effort was directed at the late summer and fall fishery, but when river conditions were suitable, fly anglers sought the big winter steelhead. Unfortunately, fly fishing on North Coast rivers is often dictated by stream flows and river conditions that follow a typical pattern of extreme high winter flows followed by low summer and sometimes low fall f lows. Drought periods are not uncommon, and steelhead may become more vulnerable during lowflow periods. As a measure to reduce harvest, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife imposes low-flow fishing restrictions during specific periods and on specific river reaches.
In spite of all the issues, some North Coast and Central Coast rivers continue to support winter steelhead runs. At the northern end of the state, the Smith River has been and continues to be one of the most popular. The river flows through the Rogue River–Siskiyou National Forest, Six Rivers National Forest, and Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park and enters the Pacific Ocean about four miles south of the California-Oregon border and about ten miles north of the city of Crescent City. The Smith River is the largest river in California that still has no major dams or water diversions and is included in the National Wild and Scenic River Program. The state record steelhead was caught in the Smith River by Robert Haley on December 22, 1974, and weighed 27 pounds 4 ounces. In more recent years, other large winter steelhead have been reported, but have not been officially certified as a new state record, because all wild steelhead must be immediately released.
For several years, the privately operated Rowdy Creek Fish Hatchery has trapped and spawned winter steelhead and released the fin-marked juvenile fish in the lower Smith River. The Smith continues to support a good winter wild steelhead run, and access at several county and state parks is good. Stream flows are variable, and during the past 15 seasons, main river flows have averaged about 7,000 cubic feet per second during December through February. Unfortunately, these high flows often make fly fishing difficult.
Redwood Creek is a smaller North Coast steelhead river and flows northwest through Humboldt County until emptying into the Pacific Ocean immediately south of the small community of Orick. The watershed begins near Board Camp Mountain in the Coast Range, and much of it lies within Redwood National Park. Unimproved levee roads on each side of the lower river parallel the creek from near the mouth upstream to the confluence with Prairie Creek. Above the confluence, Redwood Creek can be reached at several unimproved turnouts and farther upstream from the Redwood Creek Hiking Trail in Redwood National Park. Another popular North Coast steelhead river is the Mad River. The lower river f lows through a wide valley floor with a gentle gradient, starting near the community of Blue Lake, about fifteen miles upstream from the mouth. The river eventually enters the Pacific Ocean just north of the town of Arcata. The Mad River Hatchery was constructed in the early 1970s as a salmon-and-steelhead-enhancement hatchery near Blue Lake. Releases of juvenile fish are confined to the Mad River, and winter steelhead runs have been fairly good in past seasons. Access is good near and downstream from the hatchery. The river remains a popular fishery for both conventional-tackle and fly anglers.
In spite of historical declines in steelhead numbers, the main stem and South Fork of the Eel River offers some of the best winter steelhead fly fishing opportunities in California. Since the 1964 flood, the watershed has been healing, and wintertime water conditions have improved. Unfortunately, the lower river pools have filled in with sediment and gravel and no longer provide good steelhead holding areas and fly-fishing opportunities. Access farther upstream remains good from shore or by drift boat or raft at several state parks. Several fly-fishing guides offer drift-boat trips to wintertime anglers, and the scenery through the redwood groves is unsurpassed.
Smaller coastal rivers such as the Mattole, Garcia, and Gualala, in addition to several other Humboldt and Mendocino County rivers, continue to maintain small runs of winter steelhead. Water diversions in the watersheds have reduced summer nursery habitat for juvenile fish and have resulted in reduced returns of adult fish. In spite of there being fewer fish, some fly-fishing opportunities continue to be available in the estuaries and lower pools of these rivers when water conditions are favorable.
Today, the Russian River remains a popular winter steelhead fly-fishing river. Regrettably, water diversions have reduced nursery habitat for juvenile fish in many tributaries. The Warm Springs Dam was completed by the US Army Corps of Engineers in 1982 on Dry Creek, a major tributary near the town of Healdsburg. The dam blocked anadromous fish, and the Warm Springs Salmon and Steelhead Hatchery was constructed immediately below the dam to mitigate for the lost habitat. The dam and hatchery are located about fourteen miles upstream from the confluence with the Russian River and about forty-six miles from the Pacific Ocean. Hatchery personnel trap and spawn winter steelhead and maintain a coho salmon conservation program. In recent years, hatchery personnel trap about three thousand winter steelhead annually. The majority of fish are trapped during the month of February. Department personnel also have trapped winter steelhead broodstock upstream at the Coyote Valley Fish Facility on the East Branch of the Russian River below Lake Mendocino. Fin-marked juvenile hatchery fish are released in Dry Creek or near the fish facility. Fly-fishing opportunities for winter steelhead can be good if weather and water conditions are suitable.
A number of small rivers and creeks that f low into the Pacific Ocean from south of San Francisco down to Monterey Bay still offer limited winter steelhead fishing opportunities. Unfortunately, steelhead runs have been greatly reduced, and all naturally produced steelhead populations in the Central Coast Region are listed as threatened by the National Marine Fisheries Service under the Endangered Species Act. No hatchery-produced steelhead are released in any of these waters. Angling regulations, including open areas and seasons, gear and bag restrictions, and low-flow restrictions, vary by fishing district and river. Anglers should review the California Sport Fishing Regulations booklet for specific waters and restrictions.
In the Central Valley, only the American River supports a run of winter steelhead. The run is maintained by hatchery releases of juvenile fish. In some past years, the run has been estimated at over three thousand fish, but in recent years, the number has been considerably smaller. Regulated releases from Nimbus Dam and water quality are typically adequate throughout the winter season. This, coupled with good access along the American River Parkway, makes the river a popular fishery.
While Northern California rivers continue to provide notable fly-fishing opportunities for winter steelhead, such is not the case in Southern California. In 1997, all steelhead in rivers from the Santa Maria River, 10 miles south of Pismo Beach, south to the Mexican border were declared federally endangered by the National Marine Fisheries Service, and all taking of steelhead was prohibited.
Today, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife District General Regulations for fishing provide that most anadromous waters in the state are closed to fishing except for the specific areas, times, and gear restrictions listed in the “Special Regulations” section of the Sport Fishing Regulations booklet. Winter steelhead fishing is sometimes like searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack. And unlike fishing for late summer–early fall half-pounder steelhead, where daily catches can be counted on two hands, anglers consider themselves lucky to hook one winter steelhead in a week of fishing. Many anglers consider fly fishing for winter steelhead to be the ultimate challenge. And while winter steelhead fly fishing is not for everyone, the rewards have proven to be addicting to many.
Note: This article contains information and excerpts from California Winter Steelhead: Life History and Fly Fishing (2021), by Dennis P. Lee.
