Ocean salmon fishing out of Crescent City has gotten off to a slow start, but it’s still pretty early in the season, with many anglers waiting for next week’s May 15 groundfish opener to hit the salmon hard.

Eureka-based charter boats are catching more salmon, but that fleet is also at half-staff in this early part of the season.

Crescent City salmon fishing

When weather finally cooperated, about 17 fishing boats went for salmon out of Crescent City on Monday, but only two salmon were caught among the whole gang, according to Craig Strickhouser, of Tally Ho Sportfishing.

The rest of the week wasn’t much better, with anglers catching maybe half a fish per boat, according to Chris Hegnes of Englund Marine.

Strickhouser said he plans more trips starting May 15, when he can also take clients out for rockfish and lingcod.

Eureka salmon

At least some of the charter boats that have started salmon fishing out of Eureka have been privileged to quick limits and some 20-plus-pound king salmon. 

Reel Steel Sportfishing was able to get salmon limits for clients  as early as 10:30 and 8:30 a.m. on fishing days earlier this week, and even found some larger salmon Wednesday near Trinidad.

DNHS football meeting May 15

The Del Norte High football staff is holding an informational meeting for parents on Wednesday, May 15, at 6 p.m. in the Del Norte High School multipurpose room.

Discussion topics will include spring and summer weight room availability, summer camps, spring and fall practices, physicals and other player information. All parents are encouraged to attend, especially the parents of incoming freshmen interested in playing football.

Seeking names for DNHS Hall of Fame

Nominations for the 2013 Del Norte High School Athletic Hall of Fame are now available at the following locations:

• Del Norte High School main office, 1301 El Dorado St., Crescent City

• Western Family Insurance, on the corner of 3rd and K Streets, Crescent City

The Dream Team won the Del Norte County Recreation Department Teen League Lower Division basketball championship Monday night at Del Norte High School. Del Norte Triplicate / Robert Husseman

In the Upper Division championship game, Bar-O Boys had the ball for one last possession against Big Wave Dave with the score tied at 64 and 4.3 seconds left on the clock.

Derrick C. of Bar-O Boys drove the length of the court and connected on a 15-foot floater as the buzzer sounded to send the Bulldogs to victory, 66-64.

Big Wave Dave held a seven-point halftime lead before Bar-O Boys outscored Big Wave Dave 21-11 in the third quarter to regain momentum.

Derrick led all scorers with 28 points. Doug Ovick had a team-high 25 points for Big Wave Dave.

The Lower Division Championship game also came down to the wire in regulation. Tied at 59 with 30 seconds remaining, Steven Maready of The Dream Team made one of two free throws to give his team a 60-59 edge over the Basket Brawlerz.

Niano Santos of the Brawlers was fouled with 7.3 seconds left and sent to the free throw line. He also made one of two attempts, and the game was sent to overtime.

Del Norte High sports this week 

The Del Norte High baseball and softball teams travel to McKinleyville High on Wednesday to face the Panthers. Both games are slated to begin at 4 p.m.

Warriors golfer Kobie Lockwood competed in the California Interscholastic Federation North Coast Section Division 2 Championships at Rooster Run Golf Course in Petaluma on Monday. Results were unavailable at press time.

DNYF sign-ups beginning today

Del Norte Youth Football and Cheer is holding its first sign-up period for the 2013 season on Tuesday, May 7, from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Del Norte County Department of Health and Human Services building at 880 Northcrest Drive, Crescent City.

Kayla Costello (second from left), Maddie Critz (third from left) and the Del Norte High girls placed third in the freshman/sophomore division at the Grants Pass Rotary Invitational Track & Field Meet, held Saturday at Grants Pass (Ore.) High School. Del Norte Triplicate / Bryant Anderson

The Grants Pass Rotary Invitational Track & Field Meet saw 37 schools from Oregon and California descend upon Grants Pass High School on Saturday.

Del Norte found success in the meet’s freshman/sophomore girls division, with the Warriors taking third place (57 points) behind Roseburg (Ore.) High (152.5) and Crater High (Central Point, Ore.) (60). Del Norte finished 15th in the varsity girls division (15 points).

“There was tough competition,” Warriors head coach Samuel Escobar said. “If you didn’t place in the top eight, it’s okay because you got there (in the first place).”

Case in point: Warriors senior Katelynn Rowe ran the 400 meters in 58.84 seconds, a personal-best time by nearly half a second — and finished seventh in the varsity race.

“It was an outstanding time, but she just got beat,” Escobar said. “It was good that she had (competitors) in front of her — they pulled her along.”

Del Norte High’s Katelynn Rowe, left, and Eureka High’s Kya Nyborg race to the finish of the 4x100-meter relay at the Humboldt-Del Norte League Qualifier meet Thursday at Del Norte High School. Nyborg and Eureka won the race in 50.27 seconds; the Warriors finished second (50.43). Del Norte Triplicate / Bryant Anderson

Each of those individuals placed eighth or better in one or multiple events at the Humboldt-Del Norte League Qualifier meet Thursday at Del Norte High School. 

“The kids that got there earned it,” Warriors coach Samuel Escobar said.

The next step for the Warriors is the Humboldt-Del Norte League Finals meet — the White Star meet — which comes to Fortuna High School on Friday, May 10.

Those who finished in the top six are automatically eligible for the Redwood Empire Area Track & Field Championships, coming Saturday, May 18, to Santa Rosa High School.

The Arcata High girls (145 points) and the Fortuna High boys (136 points) were the meet champions. Del Norte finished second to the Tigers in the girls’ team race with 97 points and third to the Huskies and McKinleyville High in the boys’ team race, with 86 points. The Panthers tallied 100 team points.

In the girls’ races, Del Norte senior Katelynn Rowe set a personal best of 59.30 seconds in the 400 meters, good for second behind Arcata’s Lauren McCoy (57.90 seconds). At 800 meters, junior Guadalupe Gonzalez set a personal best by over two seconds in a runner-up finish (2:26.54).

The Warriors benefited from a 2-3-6 finish in the triple jump by freshman Joely Tynes (32 feet, 4.5 inches), sophomore Katelyn Eninger (31-3.5) and junior Kaitlyn Clemann (30-11). Del Norte sophomore Kayla Costello led the Warriors in the 300-meter hurdles to a 2-3-7 performance; Costello clocked 47.24, followed by Rowe (47.36) and then Clemann (50.43).

The Del Norte High baseball and softball teams began the second half of their Humboldt-Del Norte Big 5 League seasons with mixed results.

In softball, the Warriors defeated Fortuna High, 5-4, in the first game of a road doubleheader Friday but lost the second game, 5-3. Del Norte’s overall record stands at 10-10-1 (5-3 HDN Big 5).

The Fortuna High baseball team scored two runs off Warriors pitcher Luke Seats in the bottom of the seventh inning in the first game, walking off with a 3-2 victory.

Del Norte applied a Steven Maready RBI single  in the fourth inning and a Chris Bray RBI triple in the fifth inning toward a 2-1 lead. A trio of singles by the Huskies sunk the Warriors in the seventh inning.

In the second game, Del Norte built a 6-0 lead in its first three innings before Fortuna scored seven runs in the bottom of the third inning. 

Austin Healy forced Maready in on a walk to tie the game in the fifth inning, but the Huskies added three more runs in the fifth to put Del Norte away.

Maready went 2 for 4 with an RBI single. Casey Nelson and Jonathan Calderon also hit RBI singles for the Warriors.

Both teams continue their seasons at McKinleyville High on Wednesday. The games will begin at 4 p.m.

Reach Robert Husseman at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Jacob McIntire of Gold Hill, Ore., holds his first ever salmon, a spring chinook he caught and released Sunday on the lower Rogue River using an anchovy combined with a size 4 gold Hilderbrandt spinner blade. Courtesy of Andy Martin / Wild Rivers Fishing

Ocean forecast off Crescent City

According to reports from commercial fishermen, ocean conditions are ripe for great sport fishing this summer season.

Indicators like birds and whales feeding and lots of shrimp caught offshore show that “the ocean is very healthy out there right now,” said Chris Hegnes of Englund Marine Supply.

The big picture

About 1.6 million chinook salmon are predicted to be in the ocean this year with a forecast of 727,600 Klamath River fall-run chinooks, the third-highest on record. Some 834,000 adult Sacramento River fall-run chinooks are predicted to be in the ocean.

Anglers should be ready to catch the big ones, as a large portion of the predicted Klamath fish, 331,200, are 4-year-old chinooks, more than four times the amount of 4-year-olds in the forecast last year.

Englund Marine fishing contest

Once again, Englund Marine Supply in Crescent City Harbor will be awarding one rod-and-reel combo each to the angler who catches the biggest salmon and the biggest lingcod of the season.

For much of its 2013 season, the Del Norte High boys tennis team struggled to put together a full lineup of six singles players and three doubles teams.

Those that did participate made the most of their seasons.

Senior Blair Westbrook and sophomore Alec Westbrook earned White Star honors by advancing to the No. 1 doubles final at the Humboldt-Del Norte League Doubles Championships, held on April 19. The Westbrook brothers lost to Max Bass and Josh Hancock of Eureka, 6-1, 6-2.

The Warriors came up short in the Humboldt-Del Norte League Singles Championships, held April 13 at Del Norte High School. Four players won one game apiece to advance to the tournament’s semifinals, but the Warriors were unable to make the finals in any spot.

Del Norte finished match play with a 2-9 overall record.

Blair Westbrook won five matches as the Warriors’ No. 1 singles player, a title his brother will likely inherit. His overall level of play and consistency improved over the course of the season.

“Tennis is a mental game,” Blair Westbrook said. “With any single-person sport, you have your ups and downs. We made the most of it.”

Seniors Doug Ovick and Daniel Quick joined the team at the convincing of Blair Westbrook, who was a teammate of both Ovick and Quick on the Del Norte basketball team. The pair found their niche in doubles,  as the longtime friends used their communication and athleticism to stifle opponents. Ovick and Quick won one match at the HDN doubles championships.

Freshmen Joely Tynes, left, and Rachel Rowe, center, will compete for Del Norte at the Humboldt-Del Norte League Qualifier track and field meet Thursday at Del Norte High School. Del Norte Triplicate / Robert Husseman

“We want kids to be safe in terms of their relay exchanges and safe in terms of not scratching on their jumps or their attempts in the field events,” Escobar said. “Any type of disqualification just keeps them from going forward.”

What lies ahead: Berths to the Humboldt-Del Norte League Championships — the White Star meet — on May 10 at Fortuna High School for the top eight placers in each event. The top six placers will be eligible to compete at the Redwood Empire Area Track and Field Championships, to be held at Santa Rosa High School on May 18.

The Qualifier meet will test the mettle of Del Norte’s many first-year track and field athletes who are unaccustomed to running, jumping and throwing with such large stakes in play.

Junior David Sathe, a wide receiver and cornerback on the Del Norte football team, joined the track team this season for extra conditioning work and found a home in the 800 meters.