The Smith was a beautiful emerald green on Wednesday reports guide Mike Coopman of Mike Coopman’s Guide Service, but unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the color will stick around. He said, “The good news is there seems to be quite a few fish around. The bad news is we were only able to get a couple days on the water before it blows out again. The river fished really well on Tuesday and Wednesday, everyone I saw was catching fish. There were also a few hatchery fish landed too. It looks like the flows will be unstable into next week, I’m hoping we get a few days of plunking in.”

Photo Details: Josh Rubio of Brookings landed a nice early-season winter steelhead Wednesday on the Smith River. After exceeding flood stage on Sunday, the Smith receded back to a beautiful emerald green color on Wednesday. Photo courtesy of Mike Coopman's Guide Service

Kenny Priest operates Fishing the North Coast, a fishing guide service out of Humboldt specializing in salmon and steelhead. Find it on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and www.fishingthenorthcoast.com. For up-to-date fishing reports and North Coast river information, email kenny@fishingthenorthcoast.com.