Ron Gilbertson, left, from King City, Calif., and David Castellanos from Brookings caught these Chinook in the ocean on Monday. Ron's king weighed 37.5 pounds. The Pilot/Larry Ellis

Fishing report for 

October 7-13

20-fathom restriction on bottomfishing lifted

Anglers should be bringing in more limits of bottom fish to the fillet tables this week due to the fact that ODFW has lifted the 20-fathom restriction on October 1. Fishing for rockfish and lingcod has been on the slow side for the past several weeks, but that should change now that anglers are allowed to fish in deeper water.

Historically, October has been one of the best months to catch some of the largest black rockfish and lingcod of the season. You can see the abdomens on both male and female lingcod starting to produce noticeably larger bulges now that they are preparing for the spawning season, which can last from October through April.

This is a time when the bottom-grabbers can be the most aggressive, so it’s a good idea to start targeting the bigger rockfish in deep water with a lot of structure using heavier jigs such as the ever-popular leadfish.

“Leadfish” is just a generic name for any number of metal jigs usually poured from lead. They’re relatively inexpensive and can be bought at Four M Tackle, Loring’s and the Chetco Outdoor Store. They do NOT have to be painted in order for them to be deadly effective.

It’s no secret that leadfish are my go-to lures for big rockfish as well as for lingcod. When using these lures, you’ll want to let them sink all the way to the bottom, take up the slack, and then lift them a few feet from the bottom using only your rod.

Take up the slack with your reel and follow your leadfish back to the bottom with your rod tip on an “almost-tight” line, making sure that the line coming off of your reel is being gently pinched between your thumb and index finger. The bite will almost always occur while the lure is sinking and will feel like a distinct peck between your fingertips.

Keep repeating this lift-drop procedure until you hook up. Sometimes you won’t feel the bite at all. Often when you lift your leadfish off the bottom it will already be inside of the fish’s mouth. Those obvious bites are the ones we all love the most.

Remember that the limit is still seven groundfish plus two lingcod. The minimum size for lingcod is 22 inches. Cabezon are still off limits to boat anglers.

~~~

The ocean terminal Chinook fishery officially came to an end on Wednesday. There were some very large salmon caught, with many in the 40-pound class. There were also several reports of anglers breaking lines on even heavier Chinook.

The results of the Sporthaven Chetco Hawg Derby are finally in. First place and $2,175 went to Gary Veech with his 46-pound, 3-ounce Chinook. Second place and $1,305 was awarded to Tom Roseberry with his 45-pound, 3-ounce king, and third place with a $870 cash award went to Paul Pearson with his 44-pound 10-ounce monster salmon.

Anglers should continue picking off an occasional king trolling the Chetco bay up to river mile 2.2 until the river finally opens up with both barrels on November 5. Anglers can expect to catch more of those 45-pound hawgs in the bay and maybe even a few of those line-breaking 50-pound monsters.

Kings on the Smith

Meanwhile, California’s Smith River has been kicking out some very large and extremely bright kings in the 35-pound category.

For at least three days last week, Andy Martin from Wild Rivers Fishing (wildriversfishing.com) limited out his clients while back-trolling sardine-wrapped M-2 FlatFish from Ruby Van Deventer down to the Bailey Hole.

“For the last two days we’ve been getting limits and they were really nice fish,” said Martin on Thursday. “There are fish rolling all over the place. We were releasing some fish and keeping the bigger ones. The fish we’ve been keeping have been averaging 30 pounds.”

The Smith has a barbless hook restriction. The limit is one wild Chinook per day whether it’s a jack or an adult; five per season.

I know that a lot of folks don’t appreciate fishing with barbless hooks. There are always going to be a few fish that just come unbuttoned for no reason. Just be sure to maintain constant pressure on your kings and you should be able to land the majority of them.

It’s my personal opinion that the barbless hook restriction in addition to the lower seasonal limit will really help bring these magnificent specimens of Chinook back to the Smith.

“You’ve got to mark your tag right away as soon as you catch it,” warns Martin. “The game wardens are really watching for that.”

Martin says that the M-2 FlatFish is the same size as a K-14 Kwikfish, but the M-2 runs a lot better with a bait-wrap.

“The K-14 will roll over on you a lot of times while these M-2 FlatFish won’t,” advises Martin. “In the fast water like at Little Mill Creek, I’ll run a Mag Lip, then I’ll switch to the M-2 in the slower, more traditional plug water. The main thing is to get those plugs as far ahead of the boat as you can where they will still work without digging in all the way.”

To keep apprised of Smith River closures this week, call the low flow information hotline at 707-822-3164. If the Smith River closes above Rowdy Creek, there should be plenty of new fish on the flats at the Sand Hole and at the Piling Hole.

If the Smith gets lower, there should be some great bank fishing at the mouth. Access this spot by going south on Highway 101 and take a right at “Mouth of the Smith River Road.”

The best fishing here is an hour before low tide, through low slack, and then up to two hours as the tide starts coming in. Throw a 1-ounce chrome Krocodile or a three-quarter-ounce gold Kastmaster. Don’t forget to change out your treble hook to a siwash, single-shank barbless hook.

Tight lines!