The last two weeks have been plagued with a slew of storms that have punished Northern California for its’ mild winter.  Every river is high, muddy and unfishable.  This event, and the quickly approaching March 31 closure, is spelling D-O-O-M for this steelheader.  It’s almost time to put away the two-handers, Skagit heads and winter fly boxes and pull the surfboards out of their bags.   Or, is it…

A glimmer of hope on the horizon.

The majority of the north coast rivers will close at the end of the month, save two.  Sections of the mainstem Eel River are open, but the Eel usually takes a dry week or two to drop into shape.  The one last glimmer of hope on the horizon, California’s hold-out river in more ways than one, is the mighty Smith.  The Smith runs emerald green most of the time.  It’s really a matter of the river dropping to a level that’s fishable with a fly.  In the Smith, we have the possibility of the one last fix, before the long, hot doldrums of summer.

A wild steelhead to hand is an occasion to rejoice and a welcome interlude to the long wait ahead.