From Willow Creek

by

E.B. Duggan
530-629-3554
yen2fish@yahoo.com

Websites:

www.willowcreekchamber.com,
www.fishtrinity.com, www.myoutdoorbuddy.com

Trinity Lake is 54ft below the over flow and 67.9 percent of capacity.
Average inflow to the lake is 2,441cfs and 457cfs is being released to the
Sacramento River.
Trinity River @ Lewiston is 2,700cfs with water Temps of 48.4 - air 58
degrees at 10:00AM today. Limekiln Gulch is 2,610cfs at 7ft.
Douglas City is 2,760cfs at 5.3ft. water Temps of 48.7- air 64. Helena/North
Fork is 3,100cfs at 13.3ft water Temps 49.3-air 62 degrees.
Cedar Flat is 3,790cfs at 8ft. Willow Creek estimated at 34,790cfs and water
Temps at 52-air 60 degrees at 10:00 AM today.
Hoopa is 6,560cfs at 16.7ft and water Temps of 53 degrees. Mouth of Trinity
River at Klamath is 18.6K cfs water at 53degrees.
Klamath River releases at Iron Gate are 2,770 cfs. Seaid Valley is 4,850cfs
at 5.7ft. Happy Camp is estimated at 5,630cfs.
Somes Bar estimated at 8,850 cfs. Orleans is 12.1K cfs at 5.5ft. Klamath at
101is 21.9K at 14.1ft water Temps of 53 degrees.

Last week's temperatures for the Trinity Valley were 80/40 degrees with 0.45
inches of rain for a total of 78.5 inches of rain for the
season to date. Forecasts for next week are for 75/39 with possible showers
next Sunday. The rest of the week it is to be cloudy mornings with some sun
in the afternoons. The spring water releases should reach their peak by May
6, 2008. As of today the Trinity is very cloudy with low visibility and
higher water, basically not very fishable.

If you have not sent an email to the Fish & Game Commission you have until
Tuesday to do so or attend the meeting in Monterey to let you wishes be
known. I intend to be there and try to persuade them that the Trinity and
Klamath Rivers will need some type of liberal regulation for the harvesting
of the Fall Chinook Salmon for 2008 the season. I am requesting 3-Chinook
per day, of which 2 may be an adult over 22 inches with a total of 9-
Chinook in possession, of witch 6 may be an adult over 22 inches. All I can
say is keep your fingers crossed and hope they hear what we have to say.

Up until these last last few days one could go down to Gray's Falls and with
a little bit of work you could hook a Spring Salmon, but as of today I would
not recommend that you make the effort as the water is very high and
dangerous. There just might be one place you could fish the Lower Trinity
right now and that would be to use the Tunnel Flat Trail. The U S Forest
Service has made a very nice parking area there and the trail head is the
old road out to the point. I did not hike out there but it used to be a
fairly good trail down the mountain to the river. I will say that it is a
pretty tough clime back out if you have two fish to lug out with you but it
is doable if you take your time on the way back out. I know it used to have
several very good fishing holes and a nice Steelhead section but to be
honest I haven't fished that area for several years now.

I was down at Big Rock in Willow Creek the other day and was very pleased at
the new parking lot, picnic area and the GREAT NEW boat ramp. Bob Hemus of
the U S Forest Service acquired a "Boats and Water Ways" grant last year and
put it to good use by improving the "Big Rock Access". There are a few
things we need to try and get the Lower Trinity Ranger district to do and
that would be to open the boulders so some of the elderly fishermen could
could drive down to the gate before they hike down to the river or it is
going to be a very long walk to fish the lower end of the old W.C. airport.
This has always been a very good fishing spot for the older fishermen and
many fly fishers love to go down to work the riffles at that end of Big
Rock. My hats off to the USFS for a job well done!

The Mid Klamath is not in much better fishing condition than the Trinity as
the snow melt has started and it is on the rise. From what I could find out
there was a lot of high water this past week. Oh well this just gives you a
chance to inventory your fishing tackle and replace any old line and update
some of the lures you may have lost last season. It will also be a good time
to replace last years fishing line with some new fresher line that may be
frayed. I find that it is beneficial to go through my reels and change any
line that may have been held over from last year that way I know I have good
fresh line for the coming season and I don't have to worry if one of those
big fresh lunkers decides to jump onto my line. Until next time---

Good Fish'en -----Good Luck and remember: "Keep you Tip up and a tight line
lands fish"

Trinity Lake is 55ft below the over flow and 67.3 percent of capacity.
Average inflow to the lake is 2,920cfs and 766cfs is being released to the
Sacramento River.
Trinity River @ Lewiston is 1,250cfs with water Temps of 48.1 - air 66
degrees at 11:00AM today. Limekiln Gulch is 1,320cfs at 5.8ft.
Douglas City is 1,370cfs at 3.8ft. water Temps of 48.7- air 72. Helena/North
Fork is 1,760cfs at 11.6ft water Temps 50.4-air 70 degrees.
Cedar Flat is 2,6.6cfs at 5.5ft. Willow Creek estimated at 3,500cfs and
water Temps at 51-air 70 degrees at 11:00 AM today.
Hoopa is 5,240cfs at 15.9ft and water Temps of 53 degrees. Mouth of Trinity
River at Klamath is 16.2K cfs water at 53degrees.
Klamath River releases at Iron Gate are 2,880 cfs. Seaid Valley is 4,600cfs
at 5.5ft. Happy Camp is estimated at 5,290cfs.
Somes Bar estimated at 8,180 cfs. Orleans is 11K cfs at 5.5ft. Klamath at
101is 20.1K at 13.7ft water Temps of 53 degrees.

Last week's temperatures for the Trinity Valley were 80/35 degrees with 2.2
inches of rain for a total of 83.9 inches of rain for the
season to date. Forecasts for next week are for 70/35 with possible showers
Tuesday & Saturday. The rest of the week it is to be cloudy mornings with
some sun in the afternoons. The spring water releases are flowing and
fishing on the Trinity is going to be hard for the next month or so. One
might be able to fish with hardware if you can find some good back eddies or
slow moving water in long stretches.

It Is Now Time: we now have to write the Fish & Game Commissioners and let
them know how we would like to try and harvest the generous Fall Chinook the
PFMC gave us. We do have a problem and that is that the ONLY Rivers that you
will be able to retain Fall Chinook is the Smith, Klamath and Trinity. The
In-River Sports Fishing was granted a generous allotment but in order for us
to harvest those fish will be if the FGC allows for some type of equitable
harvest program. If the commissioners agree to 3 Chinook per day with
2-adults and possession of 9- Chinook with no more than 6-adults it would
allow for fishermen to have plenty of salmon and not go under the 40,700
escapement goal. I am recommending that you letter/ email contain the
following;

President Rogers, Fish and Game Commission,

I support a regulation that would allow for the keeping of, two (2) Hatchery
Steelhead per day and four (4) Hatchery Steelhead in possession. This would
help alleviate some of the problem straying of Hatchery Steelhead competing
with Native Steelhead in spawning waters and allow an increase to the Native
Steelhead production.

Because of the generous allotment of Fall Chinook Salmon that has been
allotted to the Klamath River Basin I would also support a regulation that
would allow for, three (3) Fall Chinook Salmon per day with no more than two
(2) adults over 22 inches, a possession limit of nine (9) Fall Chinook
Salmon with no more than six (6) adults over 22inches. A harvest regulation
of this nature would allow for fishermen to harvest the Fall Chinook Salmon
and still stay within the 40,700 escapement goal that the PFMC has
recommended for the Klamath River system. Be sure to use your name,
address and whether you are a business or a guide or a sport fisherman.

Send these letters and emails to: Fish & Game Commissioners, Neil Manji, DFG
Larry Hanson, DFG

<mailto:fgc@fgc.ca.gov> fgc@fgc.ca.gov
<mailto:nmsnji@dfg.ca.gov> nmsnji@dfg.ca.gov
<mailto:LKhanson@dfg.ca.gov> LKhanson@dfg.ca.gov

The Fish & Game Commissioners will be meeting in Monterey, Ca. May 8th & 9th
to hear decide on these regulations. I intend to be there to present these
recommendations for the Klamath & Trinity Rivers on your behalf. I can use
all of the support I can get so please send emails and letters.

The Trinity is starting to see some early Spring Salmon but the main run is
not due to show up for another couple of weeks. For those diehards that
just have to fish I would recommend fishing the slower water and back eddies
with spinners and spoons or try small chunks of roe. You will have to use
some extra weight as the river is already up in the lower section of the
Trinity. Now the upper Trinity is still not too high but it is on the high
side so if you plan to fish up there I recommend caution.

The Mid Klamath is in fair condition and not flowing real high but it is
higher than normal. As of today I don't have very much fishing info for the
Orleans area but as you go farther up river the Klamath gets better and I
have heard that a trout or two can be landed. Sinners are working OK but
night crawlers and pink rubber worms are doing a little better. Pink Rubber
Worms? Yes believe it or not they do work. The trick is to make sure you
thread them onto the leader with a small corky or bead to keep them from
sliding back over the hook and tearing off. I have found out that the four
inch ones work pretty well once you learn how to put them on your leader. I
pre-string mine. Right now the Klamath is not flowing as strong as the
Trinity so anywhere above the confluence would be better fishing. If you can
get above the Salmon River up by Somes Bar is even better as the water flows
are not as strong. Until next time---

Good Fish'en -----Good Luck and remember: "Keep you Tip up and a tight line
lands fish"

Trinity Lake is 58ft below the over flow and 66.2 percent of capacity.
Average inflow to the lake is 2,365cfs and 766cfs is being released to the
Sacramento River.
Trinity River @ Lewiston is 310cfs with water Temps of 48.9 - air 42 degrees
at 11:00AM today. Limekiln Gulch is 362cfs at 4.7ft.
Douglas City is 520cfs at 2.3ft. water Temps of 46.6- air 45. Helena/North
Fork is 890cfs at 10ft water Temps 45.4-air 43 degrees.
Cedar Flat is 1,790cfs at 5.5ft. Willow Creek estimated at 2,860cfs and
water Temps at 46-air 45 degrees at 11:00 AM today.
Hoopa is 4.6k cfs at 15.4ft and water Temps of 47 degrees. Mouth of Trinity
River at Klamath is 15.9K cfs water at 47.5 degrees.
Klamath River releases at Iron Gate are 2,900 cfs. Seaid Valley is 4,810cfs
at 5.6ft. Happy Camp is estimated at 5,510cfs.
Somes Bar estimated at 8.3K cfs. Orleans is 11.3K cfs at 8.6ft. Klamath at
101is 19K at 13.8ft water Temps of 49.5 degrees.

Last week's temperatures for the Trinity Valley were 84/34 degrees with 0.65
inches of rain for a total of 81.6 inches of rain for the
season to date with snow on all of the summits and passes. Forecasts for
next week are for 71/34 with scattered showers Monday thru Wednesday and
snow flurries for higher elevations. For the rest of the week it is to be
cloudy mornings with some sunny afternoons. As you can see by the water
flows listed above that both rivers are not increasing their flows by much
until April 20.

NOTICE: The Spring Water releases start at midnight tonight. They will reach
their peak flows of 6,100 cfs by May 6th and then have an eight day bench
before the flows start to descend. From May 6 to Jun 6 the water releases
will continue to decline until they reach 2,000cfs, from June 6th to July
7th will stay at 2,000cfs at which time they will drop to 700cfs by July
14th, by July 28 the water flows will be 450cfs and remain there through the
summer.

PFMC-NMFS: You have probably already read about there not being any "Ocean
Sport" fishing for salmon this (2008) season and I have wrote about the
proposed quotas several times. Well now that PFMC-NMFS did restrict the
Ocean Salmon Fishing the Klamath basin received some more fish. As it stands
right now the In-River Sport fishing allotment IS 22,500 Fall Chinook and
the Tribal harvest is 27,000 Fall Chinook. This is going to make a big
change in how the Fish & Game Commission will be looking to regulate the
IN-River Harvest regulations for Fall Chinook. I will be sending and posting
some possible fishing regulations as soon as I can so you can write letters
to the Commissioners as to what you might want for regulations. Now with all
of these Salmon for the Klamath-Trinity Rivers, what will it mean to us the
fishermen? It could be a great boost to the IN-River economy but it could
also mean that In-River Sport fishing conditions could go back to the early
days of "COMBAT FISHING". If fishermen don't use good "River Etiquette" we
could see the possibility of a serious law enforcement problem or possibly
even a restricted fishery as to how many fishers or drift boats can be on or
fish a particular section of the river. Even though we would have good
numbers of Salmon in the river to fish for serious restrictions would
discourage people to come up and fish. We must try to work together or DFG,
BLM and USFS will tell us how and when we will fish.

Because of the changes in the allotment of harvestable Chinook the Fish and
Game Commission will have the hearings for Salmon Regulations in Monterey
May 8th & 9th. I hope to have more information before they meet so you can
make some choices or write letters. The final adoption will be in Sacramento
by June.

As of mid-night tonight the Trinity was good fishing but now that the
"Spring Releases" have started fishing will be very limited on the Trinity
River until June 9th. Right now there is some Springer's being caught in the
Falls area. The problem is that with the rain and snow hiking down to Gray's
Falls is hazardous and forget Burnt Ranch Falls as it is to dangerous
because of slippery trails. After it stops raining I would suggest trying
the upper area of Hawkins Bar or up by Cedar Flat for a good chance at a
fresh Springer. Another good place is down in Hoopa at Red Rock. There are a
few places up river that one could fish for Springer's and that would be
Hell Hole or 18 mile hole. There are several other places one could try for
these delicious fish also. Until next time---

Good Fish'en -----Good Luck and remember: "Keep you Tip up and a tight line
lands fish"

SPECIAL NOTICE: Trinity River Flow Schedule changes. Just received, EBD

Wed Apr 23, 2008 01:00 am 300cfs to 400cfs
Wed Apr 23, 2008 03:00 am 400cfs to 500cfs
Wed Apr 23, 2008 05:00 am 500cfs to 750cfs

Thurs Apr 24, 2008 01:00 am 750cfs to 1000cfs
Thurs Apr 24, 2008 03:00 am 1000cfs to 1200cfs