Chetco River’s Thursday opener nets multiple hookups

Fishing Report columnist Larry Ellis catches a 42-pound Chinook Thursday using a sardine-wrapped M2-SP FlatFish. Photo by Andy Martin

It has often been said that you can never go home again.  I thought about that familiar mantra often the evening before the Chetco River was scheduled to reopen above the Highway 101 Bridge on November 19. And all that did was make me homesick.

I was homesick for the days when Chinook reigned on the Chetco and fishermen were the kings – when every slot on the river invited multiple hookups – when the cleaning tables at the Port of Brookings Harbor were lined up elbow-to-elbow with anglers filleting salmon upon salmon. I wanted to go home that night more than I ever wanted to go home before.

I know that Andy is as much of a hopeless optimist as I am, perhaps even more so. So when he started talking about things like making one quick drift and limiting out in only a few hours, it was like being given a pep talk by NFL coach Vince Lombardi.

Just like Lombardi, Andy had a game plan, and when he talked about it to me, he made me believe that it could happen. The only difference was, instead of Green Bay, the playing field was the Chetco River.

Andy’s modus operandi was to be on the river at zero dark thirty, rigged and ready to go at first legal light. First legal light is one hour before sunrise and for those who have never been on the river at that particular time, it is pretty darned dark.

That reminded me of the days when I used to hit Tide Rock at the same hours, and be packing up two strapping salmon as the first throng of anglers were heading down the trail.

With the hundreds upon hundreds of salmon I saw stacked up at Tide Rock this October, and the two more than successful seining days done for the Chetco Broodstock Program, I reasoned that it was only logical that the historic November runs on the Chetco would surely follow, and maybe, just maybe, coming home would be more of a reality this year than ever before.

As it turned out, Andy’s game plan paid off much earlier than I ever anticipated.  As we started drifting downriver, Andy and I both put out rods rigged for pulling plugs. In this instance we were using M-2SP (also designated M2-SP) FlatFish that fishing icon Buzz Ramsey had given us both to try out.

Andy had carefully added a sardine wrap on his plugs the night before, so they were all rigged and prepped for the river. Ten minutes hadn’t passed by before we got our first savage take-down.

The fish was well-hooked, although you never really know those things at the time you’re battling a fish, so I played this one extra carefully to be on the safe side.  It was light enough to clearly see that the fish was enormous. All we could do was estimate how big it was and hope it would see the inside of a net.

A 20-minute battle ensued with several “near nettings” before Andy scooped up the wild fish and weighed it.  The fairly bright fish turned out to be 42 pounds. After a few snapshots the FlatFish were back in the water and we were on the hunt for number 2.

Ten minutes later the second rod doubled over. Before long a nice 35-pound chrome-bright king met its maker.  We had a wild-fish limit in under an hour! We put the plugs back in action and started pursuing hatchery fish.

Not long afterward a searun cutthroat hammered the plug and a few minutes later another cut made a valiant effort to eat the same plug. 

We drifted by some of the best holes on the Chetco, trying to find solitary water.  Everywhere we went, both bank anglers and driftboats were hooking up with salmon.

Within another hour salmon three and four hammered the FlatFish, but since they were both wild fish we couldn’t keep them. Satisfied with our catch, it was time to head for the barn.

I couldn’t estimate the number of fish caught that day, but suffice it to say the action was fast and furious.

Fishing out of Martin’s 17-foot Fish-Rite was a pleasure. A propane heater in the morning took the edge off the cold. Everyone fishing in Martin’s boat has the luxury of also fishing with a Penn International fishing reel couple with a Berkley IM-8 rod designed by Ramsey.

But what stuck out in my mind that day was the superior performance of the M-2SP FlatFish, and that night I had to give Buzz a jingle to tell him about the lures’ success on the Chetco. For those who don’t know, Buzz is now regional manager for Yakima Bait Company.

It didn’t seem to matter what color plug we put out. They hit double-trouble, chrome with a chartreuse hot lip and another wiggled wonder that had a red tail and was veined throughout with bluish mackerel-type markings.    

These plugs come tuned right out of the package.  They have the capability of diving 20 feet using 120 feet of 30-pound Dacron. At shorter distances they dive less deep but are very effective because they get “in the zone” where a salmon’s nose tends to be.

The popularity of this plug was such that Yakima Bait Company ran a contest to rename it. After hundreds of entries, the plug was finally dubbed “Mag Lip”. It might take a while before that product designation makes it on tackle shop shelves, but anything that says M-2SP, or M2-SP is the same animal.

In closing, the opening of the river was a huge success. The good old days of the Chetco were happening right now. I had finally come home, and I hope this time it’s for keeps.

Tight lines!