Pre-football drift turns up biter
A quick run down the Smith River before the football games with Phil Desautels of Smiling Salmon Guide Service this morning scored a steelhead for Mark Gasich and we were all back at the Ship Ashore in time for kickoff.

The bite was definitely on the slow side with the cold water, and we knew we were blowing off the great afternoon bite, but near the bottom of the Hiouchi Flat Gasich hooked up and we went on a wild whitewater ride around the corner before we hit some slick water and the Mark could coax the fish into the net.

Again the incredible lack of people on the Smith told the story of the reg change and the fact that both the Eel River and the Chetco River were kicking out lots of biters.

But our quick run down the river today showed that some schools of big shouldered Smith steelies are on a constant march into the river. We were getting close to our take-out drifting to the Stump Hole when we saw a solid lineup of close to a dozen plunkers start to move around like ants that had their ant hill kicked. We could hear bells rattling and saw the rods bend as four fish were immediately hooked and watched as two biters in the 15-pound range we brought to the beach. We slid our baits as close as politically possible but the school must have moved one. It's still all chromers on the Smith and they're still coming and coming strong. The water will be dropping slowly with nothing but sunshine in the forecast to melt the mountain snow. Get on up if you can, the next few weeks are going to be prime time.

Rich Holland's Roundup