There's an old saying that you are darned if you do and darned if you don't. In this case it's North Coast weathermen on the hot seat. It's either more rain or stop it for awhile. Right now some low water streams are on the verge of closure.

In the meantime, the Smith and Chetco are low and clear and tough fishing, according to guide Rich Mossholder. On the other hand, Darren Brown from Brown's Sporting Goods in Garberville notes that the South Fork to the main Eel produced some fabulous fishing with 15 to 16 fish per day, up to 28 pounds, last week. He sold over 9,000 fishing lines and ran out of steelhead cards, he said. Roe and plugs got the job done.

Best bets last week on the Chetco were side drifting a small piece of roe with a Quickie puffball from the bank or a drift boat.

Willow Creek guide Ed Duggan reports that the lower section of the Trinity River has finally come into shape and I have seen several drift boats go by my house on the South Fork to Big Rock drift. Fishing has been a little slow but most all the steelhead hooked were adults with about 50-50 native to hatchery fish. Most anglers that worked the slower part of the riffles or tail-outs were able to get hookups with about three to four fish per drift. I don't recommend that you hurry up to start fishing at the crack of dawn until it warms up some, he cautioned.

”The past week has been cold,” Ed points out. “Steelhead were banging the bottom of my boat asking for hot coffee to warm them up. I have to say it's been cold and not worth getting on the river before 9-9:30 a.m. because the fish just won't bite. Most of the fishing pressure has been up in the Lewiston area on the fly fishing section so the rest of the river has been pretty much open to the bank fisher with very few drift boats to bother them.

”My fishing buddy from Sacramento took a friend of his out this last Friday and Saturday and fished from Junction City campground down to Pigeon Point and they were the only boat on the river. They did pretty well with five fish hooked and four to the boat Friday, with the largest an 8-pound native hatchery fish. Saturday they only landed three fish, one German Brown and two steelhead, the largest a 7-pound native fish. Both days they fished from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The cold weather has made fishing slow, but the hookups have been great when they do come. Bank fishers have been using roe or been fly fishing, while the drift boaters have been using plugs.”

Ed goes on to say that the mid-Klamath has finally come into shape for some good fishing for hardy souls that are willing to brave cold mornings. “The Weitchpec and Orleans area has really started to get hot for some good steelhead fishing for adults. Upriver is still producing plenty of good fishing in the Happy Camp, Somes Bar area with a few half pounders in the mix. Most of the fish have been taken on roe with a few on night crawlers. Hardware throwers did best working the tail outs.”

Fishing has also slowed on Redwood Creek the last couple of days. The previous week wasn't bad, according to one source. Roe and Fish Pills are getting good play.

High winds have plagued fishermen off Fort Bragg and many party boats have canceled rockfish trips.

Don Terbush is a North Coast fishing freelance writer and a retired Times-Standard sports editor. He can be reached at sports@times-standard.com.