The new fishing Regulations are out! July 1, Trinity River opens to fishing for Spring Chinook salmon; 1salmon (period) per day 2 in possession above the South Fork of the Trinity to Old Lewiston Bridge. September 1, Trinity opens to fishing for Fall Chinook salmon; 2 salmon per day, 1 adult and 1 jack…
With the COVID-19restrictions still in place where does one go to fish? That is the question? The water releases are on their way down but will still have some increases from rain and bump-ups for the Trinity releases. Right now, it is a hard answer for me as I have not heard from any of…
Spring water releases are still in effect and much of the Trinity is unfishable at this time. The valley had a little rain this pas t week but not enough to really help the river or the garden. The coronavirus pandemic is still raising heck with the fishing on the Trinity and Klamath Rivers. The government…
Both the Klamath and the Trinity are releasing water into the rivers making it almost impossible to fish and on top of that the coronavirus has us on “shelter in place”. This is a predicament I wouldn’t wish on anybody that fishes. How does one get to the rivers or the ocean when the government…
The coronavirus pandemic appears to be slowing down for the U.S. and California. At least there is some consideration of lessoning the “shelter-in-place” restrictions in some areas. Let’s hope that the peak has arrived and we are on the mend. For those who are worried about CDFW Director Charles Bonham’s ability to “Delay” some fishing seasonopenings his…
Happy Easter! Today we are celebrating Easter at home! The COVID–19 virus has us all in a “shelter in place” situation that requires us to stay at home on our properties. The part that is hard is that they say fishing is a safe thing to do but the state closes practically all of the…
It seems as though I made a mistake about the Trinity River Hatchery releases last week and I would like to correct them. The 2019 TRH egg recovery for 2019 Fall run Chinook salmon was 980,459 of the 6 million eggs needed. (correction) TRH usually collects around 6 million eggs to be able to rear 3.8 million Fall…
With the Trinity River Hatchery returns and the egg collection there is a question of whether Fall Run Chinook salmon, Coho salmon and steelhead will be sustainable on the Trinity River. If this happens how is the National Marine Fishery Service (NMFS) going to plan for the recovery of the Klamath River Basin Fishery? Coho…
Because of the COVID 19 virusthe PFMC meeting in Vancouver Washington has been changed to a webinar type of meeting so it is going to be hard to get public input for us In-River Sports Fishermen. I am trying to contact some of my old contacts I used to meet with when I attended the…
The first results for PFMC Options for this coming salmon season are out for review. You can go to www.pcouncil.org or https://wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/ocean/Regulations/Salmon/Pre-Season to review what they might be. I have not seen the 3 Options yet so I will not comment as to what is going to happen. I do hope that the PFMC does not cancel the March…
Over the past 20 to 30 years, I have attended many of the Klamath Fisheries Management Council (KFMC now federally sunset) Pacific Fisheries Management Council (PFMC) National Fisheries Management Service (NFMS) California Department Fish and Game Commissioners meetings plus being on the Trinity Adaptive Management Working Group (TAMWG part of the TRRP) for over 16yrs plus…
As you know, I attended the salmon meeting in Sana Rosa last Thursday February 27th. It was very enlightening and the prognosis was not very good for the Klamath River Basin In-River Sports Fishermen. The beginning estimate for In-River Sports Fishing for the Klamath River Basin was 900 to a 1,000 returning fall salmon to be split…
I am already seeing daffodils blooming, big leaf maple trees with sap flowing and fruit tree buds swelling. These are all signs of spring. SOOO, I ask again “Is winter over”? It has been suggested that we are going into a drought again because of the snow pack in the sierras is so low for…
Winter steelhead fishing is fair to good depending on when the fish are moving up the Trinity. I have received phone calls about why the steelhead and salmon fishing are so bad this season. One of the major problems this year is that the ocean conditions were so bad this last year. The conditions were…
This weekend was Super Bowl and I would expect that many of you were watching the game instead of fishing and that is ok but winter steelhead fishing is here and the Trinity River is dropping daily which is a good sign that fishing will get better than it has been. This coming week is…
January usually brings weather! What kind is the question? According to the National Weather Service we are supposed to see a break in the weather this next week. Because of the rain that is melting the snowpack most of the creeks feeding the Trinity are flowing very good but are starting to drop which allows…
2020 brings in a new year, a new fishing season and possibly some new regulations. The one thing we all need to do is turn in our steelhead report cards and salmon harvest cards. These are important items for the coming fishing season. For one thing it helps in determining what the quotas will be…
I hope this doesn’t upset you, my readers. I do appreciate your continued support and readership. The New Year brings with it, new changes. My Outdoor Buddy has merged with NorCal Fishing Reports and my Fishing Report newsletter will now be carried on the NorCal Fishing Reports page. The new location will be at: Archive…
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a Happy New year. As usual I had our Christmas down south with the Duggan Clan. It just keeps growing! While I was gone, we had lots of rain and the river went up and down with each storm. The problem the river didn’t get a good…
I wish all a great Christmas and a Happy New Year with some great winter steelhead fishing. It is winter steelhead fishing time and the weather is making travel hard up here on the north coast. Both Highway 299 and 96 are having rock slides causing travel difficulties. Hwy 299 is seeing small rock slides…
I hope all had a great Thanksgiving with family and hope you are getting ready for Christmas. I was away for Thanksgiving and with family down south and stuffed myself with turkey and pie. The north state had a bit of weather while I was away and it looked like the area tried to catch…
We have a small weather depression last week that brought a few showers. Enough to make the ground wet! The good part was that the Hoopa Weir was removed and the weather depression started the fish down in Hoopa to start moving up river. In one week’s, time, many of the fish that had been…
There are salmon and steelhead down in the Hoopa Valley but none up river! By now, there should be lots of fish in the Upper Trinity but no one has been able to find them. There are Redds, but not as many as usual in the Lewiston to Helena section of the river. This year’s…
Sorry about no report last week but my area was on “Safety Power Shut Off” due to PG&E for Northern California.It appears that this is going to happen more often when we have high winds, dry weather and Red Flag conditions. The reasoning for that is to try and stop/reduce disastrous fires in California. With…
Fall weather patterns are in the valley. Nights are chilly and the water in the river is really cooling down. The trees are taking in their autumn colors and leaves are falling. The big question is where are the fish? The Trinity River Hatchery has been taking in good numbers of Spring Run Chinook salmon…
As I am writing this report it is raining! In the last several days it has been overcast, showers and cloudy in Willow Creek. This type of weather pattern usually brings in fish, both at the mouth of the Klamath and into the Trinity. This is great news for the fishermen that have been waiting for…
The Trinity River Valley has fallen into the old weather patterns of years ago. We are experiencing weather patterns like in the 1950s and 1960s, rain in September now if that continues into October like back then we should see a lot more fish. (Both salmon and steelhead) I remember when everybody used to have…
The Trinity River Fall Run Chinook salmon are now starting to trickle in, but very slowly! The Lower Klamath has only harvested 2,241 Fall Chinook salmon as of September 9th. We should have seen about twice that number move through the system by now as we are looking at the third week of September already….
The Trinity River Willow Creek Weir is supposed to be starting installation Monday Sept. 8th. The river is in summer flow now so we will see what happens. I plan to check both the Willow Creek installation on Monday. I also plan to see when the Hoopa Weir is going to be installed. With the…
The Trinity River Fall Chinook salmon fishing season opened Sunday September 1st. You are allowed two salmon per day with one adult over 22 inches, Six salmon in possession with no more that three adults. Right now, the weather is cooling down a bit from the three-digit temperatures we have been having and some Fall…