Latest Update: February 18, 2001

20:41 ROOM 222 OF THE ECONO LODGE, CRESCENT CITY

IÍm cold and wet and IÍm watching a Discovery Channel program on the winter snow-crab fishing season in the Aleutian Islands, which is very cold and wet.

Earlier today IÍd been talking to someone on the river about a friend-William ñWinkiî Thurlow-who had gone up to Alaska one winter for that season. He said it was hell. This Discovery Channel show backs that up. It is hell. The Bering Sea in February/March is no fun. People die one a week out there, in a variety of ways. It is really, really nasty, but guys can make 50 grand in two months. But it is hell.

Anyway, I fished all day today and it was hell, too. No, it was fun and all, but IÍm having technical difficulties. Those bait-casting reels are not idiot proof like everything else these days, so IÍve been having trouble with snarls and such. IÍve stripped off half the line and I have to have it replaced tomorrow.

I sometimes feel like IÍm doing the right thing at the right time, but I spend half my time unsnarling that reel and reattaching rigs. Everyone loses hooks and weights in the rocks. The bottom of the Cable Hole must be absolutely strewn with line, a lot of it mine.

But the reel problems bug me. Either I bought a bad reel, or IÍm a nincompoop. Must be the former. Must be.

I woke up thinking I was heading south, but sutbborness and pride has kept me here.

I fished three places today: Jedediah Smith State Park in the morning. There is a nice hold there off some rapids and this is where the hot-shots go. I was three fish caught this morning, with a couple of keepers. I flogged it for awhile, but had to go back to Crescent City to get my fishing vest.

After that I walked across to a nice hole just up from the Highway 101 bridge. IÍm looking forward to drifting the Smith one of these days. It is a great river, just loaded with terrain. And it is full of fish.

I just canÍt catch one.

After the lower hole I drove up to Jedediah Smith State Park, flailed that for awhile, and then bought some salmon roe at the LunkerÍs Bait Shop near GregÍs house

Then I snuck through the fence, parked and flailed the Cable Hole for couple of hours.

I was by myself at first so no one could hear me swearing when my reel snarled, which it did all the time. You have to keep your thumb on the thing to keep it from backlashing, and you canÍt slack off.

I slacked off.

Anyway, IÍve gotten quick at re-tying rigs and every once in a while IÍll get a good cast and put it along the bottom where it should be.

I was joined by local guy named Chris who bitched about the number of driftboats in the water-150 at the most-and the number of people fishing the river.

Chris works at EnglundÍs Marine Supply and I guess he was there when I bought my reel. He has known Greg for a long time and verified one of GregÍs stories, that he put a couple of live pet steelhead in his outdoor pool before it was chlorinated.

Chris knew what he was doing. He caught one nice hen and a baby one-pounder, but that was all in two hours of fishing. Even guys who know that theyÍre doing donÍt catch a lot of fish. And he also lost several rigs. I spent the last half hour fishing with a completely snarled reel. I have to go get new line tomorrow, and buy more lead sinkers and bouncing betties.

Not sure how much longer IÍll stay. IÍm almost out of money, so tomorrow will be the last day.

This evening, Greg suggested I go visit a guy named Mike Stang who lives over toward Redding. He has 100 acres and steelhead on the property, and Greg says he is lonely because his wife recently passed away. Maybe IÍll go visit him. HeÍs a former big-wave surfer and might like to see all the video I have.

Greg also said I have to cast farther, to get to the other side of the fast water and let the current pull my line to where the fish are. I have to get that thing wired.

So now IÍm watching TV and being glad IÍm not in the Aleutian Islands doing the ñdeadliest job in the world.î

IÍm gonna go get something to eat and see if any of my Internet friends are on. IÍll fish tomorrow then I have to drive south. IÍm outta dough.

I want to come back up here before the end of the season, in March. I want to drift the Smith.

Below is a letter I wrote to the Swedish guys I met on the Kispiox in October. I think theyÍd like the Smith. Tomas Persson and friends Sweden Tomas

This is Ben Marcus, the clumsy fly-fisherman from the Kispiox River.

I have spent the last week on the Smith River in northern California and I thought you might want to hear about it. A friend of mine lives up here and I've been trying to catch a steelhead. It still isn't easy.

After seeing you guys in action I bought a spey rod and reel in Washington State, and I did some steelhead fishing up there. The season was too early and there weren't many fish in the river. Most of the fish were being caught with bait.

I don't like bait.

I drove down through Washington and Oregon in December but didn't fish much because it was raining. We've been having an easy winter up here, but I just happened to catch a bad storm on the way down. There are some really good steelhead rivers in northwest Washington: The Hoh, Quilayut, Quilcene. Really nice rivers through surprisingly empty, rural country.

I spent a month or two in Santa Cruz writing a big article for Surfer's Journal. Last week I drove up to Northern California and I've been up here since last Tuesday.

The Smith is a great river, as good as the Kispiox and maybe better. There hasn't been much rain this winter so the steelhead runs are late. I came at just the right time, I think, because the river is full of fish. There is one bridge over the south fork where about 100 big, fat steelhead are all lined up like B52's over Tokyo.

But they aren't interested. You can throw lures and bait and flies at them all day and they won't bat an eye.

I've been fishing in front of a friend's house. His name is Greg Noll and he's a famous surfer from the 60s, one of the most famous ever, kind of the John Wayne of the surfing world. That is what he is, come to think of it, the John Wayne of the surfing world.

Anyway, he lives overlooking a hole called the Cable Hole so I've been mostly flogging that. I came up with all my fly gear ready to rock and roll, but no one fly-fishes for steelhead on the Smith. Or every few. The water is low and crystal clear, so it's mostly bait casting. Guys use bait-casting reels and good, short rods. They use mostly roe with colored foamy balls and sometimes yarn.

The rigs are pretty simple: lead sinkers or Bouncing Betties. The roe is held in with a snelled hook and the Glow Bugs help the hook float.

You get that all rigged up and then throw it out there and try to catch a fish.

It's not easy.

I saw two caught today at the Cable Hole in about four hours of fishing in the afternoon. One caught from the shore and one from a driftboat.

Drifting the Sm ith is the way to go. It's a perfect river for drifting and I saw at least 30 boats go by. Driftboats help you cover the entire river, which is about as big as the Kispiox, maybe a little wider. But it's like the Kispiox in that it looks like it was designed by a billionaire who wanted the perfect steelhead river.

Anyway, I've seen probably 20 fish caught all up and down the river in the last few days. It can be done, but it's no easy. I haven't caught a thing. Not even a bite, I don't think.

I bought a decent bait-casting rod and reel for about $150, and Greg Noll has been helping me rig it up.

So I've been flogging the river and losing lots of rigs and screwing up my reel and just finding out that it's a lot harder than I thought. Bait-casting for the buggers is just as hard as fly-fishing.

But I'll get it down. I just have to figure out the equipment and learn to tell the difference between a bump and a nibble.

Anyway, it's just fun fishing these coastal rivers in winter. I'm looking forward to getting a drift boat one of these days.

You and Big Swede and Orjan (?) might want to consider the Pacific Northwest or northern California for your next trip. It's better than you think it is.

Hope all is well. I'll send you some photos of the river later.

Ben Marcus