Changes to Trinity River Fishing Report

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 reports, www.norcalfishreports.com/news/archive.php?author_id=945 ; later or new reports will now be at www.norcalfishreports.com/spots/1896/trinity-river—willow-creek-weir,php . For all of you that do follow my reports, please bookmark your computers so that you can keep up with the Trinity River Fishing Reports. I thank you all for your loyalty.

Weather, I am sure I don’t have to tell you that it is raining up here in the Trinity Valley. We need the rain but the area has yet to receive a real good flushing. The rains we have been getting are good for the river and the land but it only raises the river a few inches or a foot per storm. The area is supposed to receive a good snow by the middle of the week and then a possible storm that could flush out the Trinity and hopefully the Klamath too. The weather forecast shows a storm that could drop up to 6 inches or so, but we will have to wait and see what it really brings. If it does bring a really good flushing that should send the message out to the ocean for the winter run to really make their return to their spawning areas up the rivers. I know the Trinity River upper sections have been pretty boney waters for drift boats which makes for hard fishing. In the mean time the lower sections of the river have been muddy, each time a new storm comes in. When it starts to clear just a little bit, we get some small runs but not the main push of the winter steelhead run. I hope I have better news next week.

Trinity River Hatchery: No report this week. Julian week 52 ending Dec. 31; Fall Chinook, 1-jacks, 8-adults, total 9, season total 6,064; Coho, 1-jacks, 24-adults, total 25, season total 607; steelhead, 27, total 27 ,season total 43.

Trinity River Redds survey: Looks like we might be all through for Redd counts. Julia week 49 week ending Dec. 9; survey sections 01- 05 Lewiston through Douglas City; sections 09 and 10 Big Bar, total 17 total Redds counted 44, total season Redds surveyed to date 1,525.

Fishing: The Trinity River has been hard to fish lately due to the small rain storms. The upper sections have been shallow and clear while the bottom sections have been muddy. This pas week Junction City down to Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) has been dirty due to the different slides on the main stem and then the South Fork has been fairly dirty due to a possible new slide. The old slides are still pumping is mud as usual whenever the drainage gets a hard rain. It depends if it is the slide up in Hyampom or Coon Creek slide as to what color the rive will be. On my way over to Redding this last week the upper sections of the Trinity look great and I saw some rafts and drift boats on the river. How they did I am not sure because I didn’t see anyone with a hookup.

Upper Klamath fish video counts: Julian week 52 ending Dec.30, Bogus Creek, Chinook salmon 0, total 974; Coho 0, total 53; Scott River, Chinook salmon 0, total 1,505, Coho 0, total 334; Shasta River, Chinook salmon 1, total 5,867, Coho 1, total 61.

Mid-Klamath: The Klamath at Weitchpec is flowing about 7,431cfs. The Klamath is going up and down as each storm comes in and subsides. I didn’t get a chance to talk to my contacts on the upper sections of the Klamath this week so I am not sure what the fishing conditions were. Sorry!

Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 85% of capacity (a decrease of 1%) with inflows of 388cfs and releasing 326cfs on to Keswick and the Sacramento River. Shasta is 73% of capacity (an increase of 0% plus 0ft) with inflows of 4,830cfs and releasing 4,442cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 82% (a decrease of 10%) with inflows of 4,826cfs and releasing 5,045cfs into the Sacramento river. Oroville Lake is 60% of capacity (an increase of 3% plus 2ft) with inflows of 3,176cfs with releases of 2,5661cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 50% of capacity (a decrease of 2% minus 2ft) with inflows of 1,605cfs with releases of 2,349cfs into the American river.

Trinity Lake: The lake is 32ft below the overflow (an increase of 1ft) and 80% of capacity (an increase of 0%) and inflows of 548cfs and releasing 540cfs into Lewiston Lake with 247cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing 5,099cfs into the Sacramento River.

Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is 96% of capacity (an increase of 2%) and water releases are 293cfs with water temperatures of 43.4 degrees, as of :00pm today Sunday January 12,2020. Limekiln Gulch is 4.73ft at 332cfs. Douglas City is 6.38ft and flows of 376cfs. with air temps of 48 water temperatures of 42.8 degrees. Junction City is 1.90ft at 424cfs. Helena is 8.58ft at 522cfs with water temps of 42.3 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 3.53ft at 851cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 3.29ft at 452cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 1,303cfs and air is 48 degrees and water at 43.4 degrees. Hoopa is 14.11ft at 2,999cfs and water is 44.1 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath are estimated to be 7,431cfs.

Klamath River flows and conditions: Iron Gate is releasing 1,009cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.50ft at 1,470cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 1,734cfs, the Salmon River is 3.06ft at 883cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 3,549cfs. Orleans is 4.46ft at 4,432cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 12.31ft at 13,353cfs and water temps are 45.3 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jedia Smith are 11.55ft with flows of 9,579cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 17.40ft at N/A cfs.

Temperatures in the Valley last week had a high of 58 and a low of 34. Rain for the week was 2.78in with a water year to date of 25.32 inches, with only a trace of snow in willow Creek, snow of 0.0in. in the valley to date. Forecasts for next week are for temperatures in the highs of 57 and lows of 34 with some rain and scattered showers during the first part of the week and by Wednesday there should be snow on all of the passes. The weather forecast is snow down to 3,000ft and possibly lower in some areas. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of next week could possibly be some fair fishing if the rivers are not blown out. If you plan to try and come up you might want to check for road conditions before you travel.

Happy New Year 2020

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 flushing which brings in the next run of fish. Instead the river received many small runs, just small pods of 3 to 8 steelhead per run, coming into the Trinity and going up river. Because I was gone, I was not able to make contact with my usual fishermen to receive up to date fishing reports. I did get to see some fishermen fishing as I drove home but it appears that there were not many people out fishing. Sad news because this is the time of year that many of the steelhead fishermen really begin to hit the rivers for the winter run steelhead. The good news is that there are some steelhead in the Trinity, it is just hard to find them because they are moving to find their spawning streams. Most of the fishermen I have made contact with are saying they are able to hook some fresh fish just not numbers per days of fishing. Although we have had some substantial rain the valley has not had the big rains that flush the rivers and start the Winter Run steelhead moving into the Klamath Trinity River Basin. Yes, the Upper Klamath has been having some very good fishing but the Trinity is not up to the normal run of winter fish yet. The rivers need rain and the mountains need more snow.

The first snow surveys have come out and it was very encouraging as it said that the Sierra Nevada snowpack was in good condition for this time of year. The Phillips Station near Sierra-at-Tahoe ski resort in El Dorado county measured 33 inches deep with a water contend of 97%. This is great news for California for an early January snow reading. It appears that the drought may be over and we can get back to normal water for the coming summer. We are not out of the woods yet but it is a good start.

It is 2020 and a new fishing season so be sure that you get your new license and salmon harvest card and steelhead report cards. It is also time for you to send in your salmon harvest card and steelhead report cards. The addresses are on the back or bottom of the cards. Let’s hope that the new fishing license are good for a whole year from the date of purchase starting this year.

Trinity River Hatchery: Julian week 52 ending Dec. 31; Fall Chinook, 1-jacks, 8-adults, total 9, season total 6,064; Coho, 1-jacks, 24-adults, total 25, season total 607; steelhead, 27, total 27 ,season total 43.

Trinity River Redds survey: Julia week 49 week ending Dec. 9; survey sections 01- 05 Lewiston through Douglas City; sections 09 and 10 Big Bar, total 17 total Redds counted 44, total season Redds surveyed to date 1,525.

Fishing: The Trinity is running steelhead green right now with a good flow. Fishing on the other hand is slow at best. We need rain in the valley, a lot of rain. The Trinity has of yet to have a good flushing and we are in need of one badly. There are a few people out fishing but not a lot. The Winter Run of steelhead are late mostly due to a lack of a good heavy rain. (about 1in overnight) My buddy Paul C from up-river came down to fish from South Fork to Kintu with his son and fishing buddy Saturday and they were only able to hook four half-pounders, no adults, fly fishing. That is not good! His son came down to try out the South Fork last week and was able to hook into a nice LARG Brown Trout but that was it. I know this is about the time that the sea run Browns start to show up but the best time is late February or March. I hope you all got your Christmas wish for some new fishing gear and that next week I can have some better news for fishing.

Mid-Klamath: The Klamath at Weitchpec is flowing about 5,310cfs. The Klamath is still dropping but fishable. It is clear and fish are moving, just not in volume. Steelhead are hard to locate in the lower and mid sections of the Klamath but the upper section is good fishing for trout and some steelhead. We need good rain instead of this light rains and showers we have been getting. It looks like I am going to have to do some traveling to try and find out where the fish are so I can at least tell you some places to fish. It looks like we can expect some snow flurries this coming weekend.

Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 91% of capacity (an increase of 2%) with inflows of 337cfs and releasing 269cfs on to Keswick and the Sacramento River. Shasta is 72% of capacity (an increase of 1% plus 2ft) with inflows of 6,122cfs and releasing 2,943cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 85% (a decrease of 5%) with inflows of 4,974cfs and releasing 5,053cfs into the Sacramento river. Oroville Lake is 57% of capacity (an increase of 2% plus 6ft) with inflows of 9,344cfs with releases of 3,087cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 53% of capacity (an increase of 2% plus 3ft) with inflows of 6,257cfs with releases of 2,598cfs into the American river.

Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is 94% of capacity (a decrease of 3%) and water releases are 293cfs with water temperatures of 43.1 degrees, as of 1:00pm today Sunday January 5,2020. Limekiln Gulch is 4.73ft at 327cfs. Douglas City is 6.35ft and flows of 360cfs. with air temps of 44 water temperatures of 42.7 degrees. Junction City is 1.85ft at 405cfs. Helena is 8.62ft at 497cfs with water temps of 43.3 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is ft at 733cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 3.00ft at 300cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 1,033cfs and air is 48 degrees and water at 44 degrees. Hoopa is 12.91ft at 1,820cfs and water is 44.3 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath are estimated to be 5,310cfs.

Klamath River flows and conditions: Iron Gate is releasing 1,014cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.48ft at 1,456cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 1,681cfs, the Salmon River is 2.71ft at 626cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 2,864cfs. Orleans is 3.80ft at 3,490cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 10.47ft at 7,244cfs and water temps are 45.6 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jedia Smith are 7.94ft with flows of 2,827cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 14.72ft at N/A cfs.

Temperatures in the Valley last week had a high of 51 and a low of 40. Rain for the week was 2.16in with a water year to date of 22.54 inches, with only a trace of snow in willow Creek, snow of 0.0in. in the valley to date. Forecasts for next week are for temperatures in the highs of 57 and lows of 37 with some rain and scattered showers during the week and possible snow flurries predicted for the weekend. You might want to check for road conditions before you travel.

Be aware of Winter Travel

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 and lots of rocks on the road so you have to be careful when traveling 299 in either direction. Hwy 96 in the Happy Camp area is not much better as the highway has been blocked several times in the past week. Crews are on the problems as fast as possible but it has caused some closures at different times. The rains have brought up lots of nice adult steelhead on both the Klamath and Trinity Rivers. The problem being rocks on the highways. We need the rains, but the rocks on the highway from the rains make traveling dangerous. If you plan on coming up for fishing over the Holidays please be careful when driving on Hwy 299 or Hwy 96. The great part is that plenty of adult steelhead are moving in both rivers.

Another problem is mounting with water releases from the Trinity Dam. The Trinity River Restoration Project (TRRP) and the Trinity Management Council (TMC) have made a decision without public input (no TAMWG) to write letters to the Department of Interior for spending money for repairs on the dam and maintenance of the release gates. Again, passing up public input or public hearings (bypassing the Brown Act). For a public agency that spends tax monies in the millions of dollars with NO public hearings or public input this is outrageous! I ask everyone to write their legislators and complain about this act. The TMC By Laws state they are to have public input by the TAMWG (local stakeholders) yet they operate without following their own rules.

Last week I asked all fishermen to write letters or emails to their legislators and the Secretary of Interior to stop the Westland’s Water District guaranteed permanent water delivery of 1.15 Million Acre Feet of water per year. You still have time to do this, I know it is the Holidays but January is upon us and we are running out of time.

Trinity River Hatchery: Julian week 49 ending Dec. 9; Fall Chinook, 28-jacks, 139-adults, total 167, season total 1,540; Coho, 3-jacks, 96-adults, total 99, season total 341; steelhead, 1, total 1 ,season total 15.

Willow Creek Weir counts: Julian week 48 ending Dec. 2; Fall Chinook salmon, 1-jacks, 0-adults, total 1, season totals 1,589; Coho salmon, 0-jacks, 0-adults, total 0, season total 153; steelhead, 0-1/2-pounders, 3-adults, total 3, season total 717. The Willow Creek Weir was pulled after the last count.

Fishing: The Trinity was running muddy but has been clearing right after each storm passes. The steelhead have been going up river steady in small pods. Last week Opie McBroom and his Dad fished down in the Hoopa Valley and were very successful, they had a 17 fish day between the two of them. Now I would say that was some good steelhead fishing. We have been experiencing one storm right after another but the good part is that the river has been clearing very fast.

Don’t forget Christmas is coming and you can now purchase 2020 fishing licenses. They make a great Christmas present.

Upper Klamath fish video counts: Julian week 49 ending Dec. 8, Bogus Creek, Chinook salmon 0, total 977; Coho 0, total 26; Scott River, Chinook salmon 2, total 1,501, Coho 33, total 93; Shasta River, Chinook salmon 1, total 5,860, Coho 2, total 33.

Mid-Klamath: The Klamath at Weitchpec is flowing about 9,736cfs. The Klamath was muddy but the river is clearing up as it drops. The in-flowing steams are also starting to drop and clearing. clearing up for the weekend. Fishing below Orleans is non-existent right now because of high muddy water. As the river clears fishing starts picking up around the mouth of the Trinity and up to Slate Creek. This week we are expecting light rains and both river s should be good fishing for the first part of Christmas week. Up river in the Happy Camp to I-5 section there will be much better fishing as adults move up river. Above I-5 we had snow last week and I would expect some possible light snow flurries this coming week. After this storm blows through fishing should really get good.

Trinity Lake: The lake is 33ft below the overflow (an increase of 0ft) and 80% of capacity (an increase of 1%) and inflows of 1,155cfs and releasing 292cfs into Lewiston Lake with -1cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing 5,035cfs into the Sacramento River.

Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is 97% of capacity (an increase of 2%) and water releases are 293cfs with water temperatures of 45.2 degrees, as of 2:00pm today Sunday December 15, 2019. Limekiln Gulch is 4.78ft at 360cfs. Douglas City is 6.46ft and flows of 419cfs. with air temps of 45 water temperatures of 43.9 degrees. Junction City is 2.04ft at 480cfs. Helena is 9.12ft at 652cfs with water temps of 44.7 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 4.37ft at 1,246cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 3.80ft at 665cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 1,911cfs and air is 48 degrees and water at 45 degrees. Hoopa is 14.70ft at 3,700cfs and water is 46.1 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath are estimated to be 9,736cfs.

Klamath River flows and conditions: Iron Gate is releasing 1,025cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.93ft at 1,810cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 2,206cfs, the Salmon River is 3.43ft at 1,208cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 4,855cfs. Orleans is 5.42ft at 6,0361cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 12.73ft at 15,033cfs and water temps are 46.8 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jedia Smith are 9.47ft with flows of 5,181cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 15.91ft at N/A cfs.

Temperatures in the Valley last week had a high of 55 and a low of 44. Rain for the week was 5.18in with a water year to date of 17.63 inches, with only a trace of snow in willow Creek, snow of 0.0in. in the valley to date. Forecasts for next week are for temperatures in the highs of 60 and lows of 39 with some light rain towards the end of the week and a possible clear weekend.

It is winter steelhead fishing time

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 up with the rain fall. While I was gone the area had lots of rain and plenty of snow in the higher elevations. This was good for the rivers and streams but also sent message to the fish. Get up river for spawning you are late! Fishing was really slow for salmon on the Trinity this year but it looks like it could be a great steelhead fishing year. By the way don’t forget to buy your new fishing license and steelhead harvest card for the beginning of next year’s fishing. Right now, with all the rain the rivers are muddy but as I make out this report the rivers are on the retreat, meaning that they will be clearing and dropping fast! From what I am seeing the Trinity should be ready to fish this weekend with lots of steelhead throughout the river. The fish are moving fast even in the mud so get your tackle and gear ready, change your lines and leaders and be ready to head out at the first clear skies.

There has been some controversy going on about the salmon fishing for the Trinity River. Some are saying the Hoopa Weir has allowed the tribe to take to much salmon and not leaving enough salmon to spawn for the next spawning. I have been looking into this and have found out that it has been a multitude of things that has caused the lack of salmon on the Trinity. 1. The PFMC made a mistake about how many salmon would be available for sharing the harvest; 2. The fish had a bad year out in the ocean for feed; 3. This is the beginning of the returns that the Klamath and Trinity Rivers had very bad conditions with hot water, Ich and Shasta-C causing a loss of 80 to 90% of out migrating smolt; 4. Possible over-harvesting of our salmon by Tribes. I am sure that there are several other conditions that I have missed that could have also caused the loss of our returning salmon for the Klamath River Basin. My best recommendation is that you write your congressmen and senators to start a through and complete investigation about these problems so that we don’t lose our fishing. Letters and email do help and we are going to need lots of them if you want o keep fishing the Klamath and Trinity Rivers.
We have the “Fox guarding the Hen House”. When it comes to Secretary of Interior David Bernhardt, the previous chief lobbyist for Westland Water District. The new water contract would give them a permanent deliver of 1.15 Million Acre Feet of water per year, enough water to supply 2 million households with water for one year. All of that at a cheap rate that Westland’s can sell at a great profit. We had better be writing some emails and letters about that or the Trinity will not have enough water for the fish to swim.

Trinity River Hatchery: Julian week 48 ending Dec. 2; Fall Chinook, 27-jacks, 106-adults, total 133, season total 1373; Coho, 4-jacks, 123-adults, total 127, season total 242; steelhead, 0, total 0 ,season total 14.

Trinity River Redds survey: Julia week 47 week ending Nov. 26; survey sections 01- 02 Lewiston 8; 06 – 07 Junction City and Helena 6, total 15; total reach on Trinity River Lewiston to Weitchpec 1,481 Redds surveyed.

Fishing: The Trinity is running muddy right now as I write this report but the good news is that the rivers and streams are on their way down and look to be dropping most of the first part of the week. There have been a lot of steelhead moving on the Trinity prior to the muddy water and I am sure that they continued to move during this muddy water. During the mining days I have read that the salmon would swim up the Trinity even when the river was so thick with mud from the hydraulic mining that one could practically walk across the river and not get your pants wet. So, I am sure that the steelhead were not detoured buy this little bit of dirty water. The Thanksgiving holiday storm sent the message and this set of storms has got them moving. Last week Dec. 3^rd, Brian Clemens and a friend of his fly fished from the South Fork to Big Rock section the Willow Creek run and was able to hook five adult natives up to 6lbs. On Dec. 6^th Brian and another guide, Rob Salkow, fly fished the Hawkins Bar to Kimtu section down here and were able to hook 6 adult natives and a couple of half-pounders. The good news is that they saw several pods of adult Iron Heads moving up river during their trip. This tells me that steelhead are on the move to their up-river spawning grounds. It also states that there is going to be some very good fishing in the upper sections of the Trinity very soon! If I were going to think about fishing for winter steelhead in the near future, I would be booking me a guide for next week.

Upper Klamath fish video counts: Julian week 47 ending Nov. 25, Bogus Creek, Chinook salmon 0, total 973; Coho 0, total 5; Scott River, Chinook salmon 14, total 1,490, Coho 5, total 23; Shasta River, Chinook salmon 3, total 5,848, Coho 1, total 23.

Mid-Klamath: The Klamath at Weitchpec is flowing about 11,393cfs. Right now, the Klamath is muddy but with the river and in-flowing steams starting to drop the river should be clearing up for the weekend. Fishing below Orleans is non-existent right now because of high muddy water. After the river clears the fishing should start picking up around the mouth of the Trinity and up to Slate Creek. Up river, Happy Camp to I-5 there will be better fishing as more adults move into the system. Above I-5 I would expect “all bets are off” for trout and steelhead fishing because fishing should be very good.

Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 89% of capacity (an increase of 4%) with inflows of 3,482cfs and releasing 268cfs on to Keswick and the Sacramento River. Shasta is 71% of capacity (an increase of 0% plus 1ft) with inflows of 20,322cfs and releasing 4,352cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 90% (a decrease of 1%) with inflows of 5,277cfs and releasing 5,034cfs into the Sacramento river. Oroville Lake is 55% of capacity (an increase of 0% plus 2ft) with inflows of 9,295cfs with releases of 2,397cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 51% of capacity (a decrease of 1% minus 3ft) with inflows of 2,729cfs with releases of 2,373cfs into the American river.

Trinity Lake: The lake is 33ft below the overflow (an increase of 0ft) and 79% of capacity (a decrease of 0%) and inflows of 4,287cfs and releasing 209cfs into Lewiston Lake with -84cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing 5,034cfs into the Sacramento River.

Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is 94% of capacity (a decrease of 4%) and water releases are 293cfs with water temperatures of 45.5 degrees, as of 1:00pm today Sunday December 8, 2019. Limekiln Gulch is 4.93ft at 451cfs. Douglas City is 6.70ft and flows of 560cfs. with air temps of 53 water temperatures of 45.7 degrees. Junction City is 2.58ft at 736cfs. Helena is 10.01ft at 988cfs with water temps of 46.1 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 5.66ft at 2,038cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 5.17ft at 1,669cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 3,707cfs and air is 55 degrees and water at 46.1 degrees. Hoopa is 16.90ft at 5,952cfs and water is 47.2 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath are estimated to be 11,393cfs.

Klamath: Iron Gate is releasing 1,003cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.63ft at 1,569cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 1,986cfs, the Salmon River is 3.23ft at 999cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 4,442cfs. Orleans is 5.03ft at 5,441cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 12.30ft at 13,273cfs and water temps are 47.8 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jedia Smith is 9.37ft with flows of 5,005cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 15.91ft at N/A cfs. Prior to these rains the Salmon River was almost dry with only wet sand. (Bad News)

Temperatures in the Valley last week had a high of 55 and a low of 42. Rain for the week was 9.98in with a water year to date of 12.43 inches, with only a trace of snow in willow Creek, snow of 0.0in. in the valley to date. Forecasts for next week are for temperatures of highs of 64 and lows of 32 with some scattered showers and possible clear weekend weather.

What happened to the fish – they are moving!

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 held up below the Hoopa weir made their way past Willow Creek and up into the Burnt Ranch Canyon. This is good news for the Lewiston, Steel Bridge, Poker Bar and Douglas City fishers as they will start to have fresh steelhead in the upper sections of river. We still need to have three inches or so of rain in a short period of about a week to get the fish holding up down near the mouth of the Trinity to start to move up the river. We are way past the normal time of the salmon and steelhead to be moving up the Trinity. It looks like the area will have some light rain or maybe some showers in the next week, but there are no big rain events in the near future.

I have received several emails about the Hoopa Weir and how they believe there should be some type of oversight, accountability and/or cooperation with stakeholders. Yes, the Tribes are allotted a quota of salmon/fish to harvest for subsistence and livelihood but we the rest of the public, whether it be ocean or in-river fishing should be allowed to harvest their quota of salmon/fish also. Don’t forget that all of us must allow for the necessary natural spawning escapement within the rivers in order to sustain the fishery.

The Upper Klamath has seen a very good return this year for both salmon and steelhead and the fishing has shown that. Water releases on the Klamath this year has been very good because the return has shown “fish need water”. If we are to sustain the fishery on the Klamath and Trinity Rivers, we must have cooperation amongst ALL stakeholders if we are to have any type future for the fishery. It easy to look at the moment and be greedy but to have a fishery we have to look to the future as well. My short time here (45yrs) I have seen one river fishery die and another two dying, with no concern as to what to do for the future of the rivers.

Trinity River Hatchery: Julian week 46 ending Nov. 18; Fall Chinook, 158-jacks, 392-adults, total 550, season total 890; Coho, 2-jacks, 29- adults, total 31, season total 47; steelhead, 13, total 13 ,season total 21.

Willow Creek Weir counts: Julian week 46 ending Nov. 18; Fall Chinook salmon, 16-jacks, 37-adults, total 53, season totals 1,572; Coho salmon, 0-jacks, 26-adults, total 26, season total 150; steelhead, 0-1/2-pounders, 17-adults, total 17, season total 726.

Fishing: The Trinity is still running very low for this time of the year. The water has been cold and very clear. In order to hook any fish, you have to use stealth in your presentations. This past week it has been hard to find fishermen working the lower river and I believe it has been because of the weather depression that caused the fish to start moving up the river and getting ready to spawn. The upper river has not been much better. There are fishermen being able to hook some nice steelhead up to 10 pounds but not a lot. I am hoping for enough rain over the Thanksgiving Holidays (not a very popular wish) to start fish to move up the rivers.

Trinity River Redds survey: Julia week 45 week ending Nov. 11; survey sections 01- 08 Lewiston to Helena 122; 08 – 10 Big Bar to Burnt Ranch 60 total 182; total reach on Trinity River Lewiston to Weitchpec 1,369 Redds surveyed.

Upper Klamath fish video counts: Julian week 45 ending Nov. 11, (no report) Bogus Creek, Chinook salmon -20, total 1,015; Coho 0, total 4; Scott River, Chinook salmon 13, total 1,382, Coho 4; Shasta River, Chinook salmon 11, total 5,752, Coho 1 total 5.

Mid-Klamath: The Klamath at Weitchpec is flowing about 2,533cfs. Fishing below Orleans is still slow. Up river, Happy Camp to I-5 there is better fishing. Above I-5 the BITE IS HOT for trout and steelhead!

Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 85% of capacity (a decrease of 0%) with inflows of 537cfs and releasing 473cfs on to Keswick and the Sacramento River. Shasta is 71% of capacity (a decrease of 0% minus 0ft) with inflows of 3,496cfs and releasing 4,375cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 91% (a decrease of 1%) with inflows of 4,978cfs and releasing 4,997cfs into the Sacramento river. Oroville Lake is 55% of capacity (a decrease of 0% minus 2ft) with inflows of 2,0311cfs with releases of 2,633cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 53% of capacity (a decrease of 2% minus 2ft) with inflows of 1,588cfs with releases of 2,918cfs into the American river.

Trinity Lake: The lake is 33ft below the overflow (an increase of 0ft) and 79% of capacity (a decrease of 0%) and inflows are 147cfs and releasing 859cfs into Lewiston Lake with 560cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing 4,997cfs into the Sacramento River.

Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is 98% of capacity (an increase of 6%) and water releases are 293cfs with water temperatures of 43.6 degrees, as of 11:00am today Saturday November 23, 2019. Limekiln Gulch is 4.72ft at 327cfs. Douglas City is 6.28ft and flows of 325cfs. with air temps of 43 water temperatures of 43.2 degrees. Junction City is 1.69ft at 373cfs. Helena is 8.10ft at 349cfs with water temps of 42.4 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 2.41ft at 419cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 2.19ft at 91cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 510cfs and air is 42 degrees and water at 44.5 degrees. Hoopa is 11.24ft at 649cfs and water is 46.5 degrees. (only an increase of 1.8) Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath are estimated to be 2,533cfs.

Klamath: Iron Gate is releasing 1,065cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.35ft at 1,360cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 1,410cfs, the Salmon River is 1.88ft at 205cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 1,694cfs. Orleans is 2.75ft at 1,884cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 8.66ft at 2,977cfs and water temps are 48.6 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jedia Smith is 4.77ft with flows of 247cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 11.71ft at N/A cfs.

Temperatures in the Valley last week had a high of 68 and a low of 33. Rain for the week was 0.04in with a water year to date of 2.45 inches, with snow of 0.0in. in the valley to date. Forecasts for next week are for temperatures of highs of 69 and lows of 29 with some future scattered showers in the coming week. It looks like it might be getting cold in the early mornings if temperatures get down to 29 degrees so I would come prepared to see morning ice and possible warming in the afternoons. If we are to see those temps, I would expect the fish to be lethargic in the mornings and ready to eat later in the day.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and stay warm!

Changes to Trinity River Fishing Report

Happy New Year 2020

Be aware of Winter Travel

It is winter steelhead fishing time

What happened to the fish – they are moving!

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