Fishing
Fishing opportunities abound in the Eel River Valley. In Fortuna, you’ll find everything you need to reel in your catch, with gas, food, licenses, and lodging nearby world-class salmon and steelhead fishing. Pick up bait and tackle at the locally-owned outdoor sporting goods store, Sport & Cycle (707-725-9405).
Try a guided kayak fishing tour with Loleta Eric’s Guide Service (707-845-0400), and hook ’em like an expert.
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With 150 miles of coastline, several major rivers, lagoons, lakes, and bays, Humboldt County has some of the greatest freshwater and ocean fishing in the state. Excellent freshwater fishing can be found on several rivers in and nearby Humboldt County. The Van Duzen, Mattole, Eel, Mad, Klamath, and Trinity Rivers together with all of their tributaries, provide thousands of miles of excellent fishing for: salmon, steelhead, cutthroat trout, shad, and sturgeon.
All of the rivers are well known for steelhead and salmon although the Mattole is primarily a steelhead river and has several fishing restrictions. The Klamath River, the 3rd largest river on the west coast behind Washington's Columbia River and the Sacramento River, is known for cutthroat trout, shad, and sturgeon as well as salmon and steelhead.
The lagoons in northern Humboldt — Big Lagoon and Stone Lagoon — are known for cutthroat trout, steelhead and starry flounder. Freshwater Lagoon is stocked with rainbow trout with ocean surf fishing across the highway — a popular catch being redtail perch.
Ocean fishing is popular in early summer for salmon and a variety of bottom fish such as halibut. Charter trips out of Trinidad produce fine catches of salmon and rock cod, and crabbing with gear included. In season, chinook (king) and coho (silver) salmon can be taken from boats and the harbor jetties in Eureka. Fishing from the jetties, piers, and boats also yields: kelp bass, snapper, ling cod, perch, redtail perch, halibut, shark, and crab. Dungeness and rock crabs can also be taken in the bays as well as clam digging on beaches at King Salmon and Humboldt Bay.
Water Fowl
Two popular hunting areas for water fowl are the Hookton Slough Wildlife Refuge, a few miles northwest of Fortuna, and the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge. Waterfowl, snipe, and coot hunting occurs on five of the seven units of the Humboldt Bay Refuge. Only hunting within the 330-acre hunt area of the Salmon Creek unit is tightly controlled, with hunting allowed only 2 days per week until 1 p.m., with 12 hunting blinds, a lottery draw, and a paid permit process. An estimated 1,000 hunters utilize the refuge annually.
For licensing, regulations, and maps visit the Department of Fish and Game web site or call (888) 773-8450.