Middle Fork Smith River

Fishing the Middle Fork Smith River

The Middle Fork is the Smith's highway fork, a clear freestone stream that follows Hwy 199 through Six Rivers National Forest until it meets the South Fork near Hiouchi and becomes the main river. Like the rest of the Smith, it has no dam anywhere above it, drains hard bedrock that sheds little silt, and runs an emerald green that clears quickly after a storm, so it often fishes while other coastal rivers are still brown. The main Smith River and the South Fork Smith River each have their own pages. The top of the water covered here is Patrick Creek Campground, across the road from Patrick Creek Lodge, where the river is pocket water, small holes and riffles, and Patrick Creek enters below a bridge over shallow holes. Heading down, the Sandy Beach turnout, Howard Griffin Memorial Bridge and Madrona Access each put you on pools, riffles or pocket water within a short walk, and Grassy Flat Campground has smaller pools. Around Panther Flat a bridge access road reaches a gravel bar with riffles, and Panther Creek Campground has a deep pool beside a big boulder bar. At Gasquet the North Fork comes in over riffles into a large pool. Below that the Middle Fork passes Mary Adams Peacock Bridge and the Hardscrabble Creek mouth on its way to the Niels Christensen Slant Bridge, then on to the forks near Hiouchi. Across the Smith, Chinook salmon season runs from September, best through mid-November, with some fish still around in January; kings average 20 to 40 pounds. Winter steelhead show up in late fall, overlap the last of the salmon, and peak from late January into early February, with a few fish in the system all year. Most steelhead weigh 8 to 12 pounds, and the 27 lb 4 oz California record came from the Smith. Half-pounders arrive in September and October, and sea-run cutthroat trout come in to spawn from April through September, when few people are fishing. This is bank and wading water. Work the gravel bars, the pocket water and the tails of the deeper pools, and roll cast where brush crowds the edge. Early in the fall, half-pounders take a silver hilton, a brindle bug or a bead head assassin on the swing; fly anglers then switch to big dark patterns, black and blue popsicles or pink and blue intruders, from November through March. Gear anglers drift roe or run Kwikfish and spinners. Because the river drops and clears so fast once the rain stops, the first days after a storm are the ones to plan around. Regulations change and differ by section, so check the current California regulations before you go.