It looks like the Trinity River Valley is going to be HOT HOT HOT!! According to the weather forecast for the coming week we are going to see temperatures of 100 up to 106. (looks like Lake time) Usually sometime during the month of July it seems like we always get a week or two of triple digit weather and right now it appears to be this coming week. I know whenever this happens, we seem to have people with heat problems and/or water rescue problems. People come up to the river to cool off and have fun but forget to take caution and overdo the sunshine and the cold water makes them more fatigued than they think and end up in trouble. Another problem is NOT keeping a close eye on youngsters. It only takes a second and they are gone! IT IS SUMMER!! So please use caution.
Heat makes for poor fishing on the Trinity so I would expect that for the next week or two we are going to see early morning fishing, I mean like at the crack of dawn type of fishing because once the sun heats the water it is going to be too hot for the fish and they are going to look for deep pools to cool off.
Still no word of when the reservations will open for non-residents to go off main streets and into river accesses. As of right now the only launches I know of on the Lower Klamath below the Weitchpec Bridge are the Requa and Klamath Glen public launches. Most areas of the Yurok Reservation below the Weitchpec Bridge are still closed to non-residents because of the Covid-19 problems. The Hoopa Reservation is still under “the stay at home” quarantine. The Spring salmon fishing is only open from the mouth of the South Fork of the Trinity up to the Old Lewiston Bridge so it really doesn’t matter if the Hoopa Reservation is closed to non-residents because you can’t fish for Spring salmon down there anyway.
Junction City Weir: Julian week 26 ending July 1, 2020; Chinook salmon, 4-jacks, 95 adults, total 99, season total 120; Coho 0; steelhead, ½ lbers 0, adults 12, total 12, season total 18; Brown trout 0, season total 0.
Fishing: I am still having trouble getting fishing reports about the Upper Trinity. I did hear about a guide Kyle Catanese, fishing yesterday on the upper river and that he was able to land two adult steelhead and lost a salmon but that is all I have been able to find out. Sorry, I am trying to find more fishing info but it just isn’t out there right now. Patrick of Del Loma RV and campgrounds is full right now but is hoping for some openings in the near future. If you are looking to go camping you might want to give him a call at 1-800-839-0194. It appears that most campers and fishermen are going up to the lakes.
Mid-Klamath to Happy Camp: The Klamath River at Weitchpec is flowing @ 2,567cfs. This is a decrease of 222cfs from the last week. Iron Gate Dam is releasing 917cfs as of this morning. Fishing will be hard because of the high temperatures, mostly in the early mornings. Fishing above I-5 will probably be slow until they start to release more water. The Orleans area has been very hard fishing but basically because no one is fishing the area right now. I have no work from the Happy Camp area right now.
Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 999% of capacity (an increase of 1%) with inflows of 1,714cfs and releasing 1,822cfs on to Keswick. Shasta Lake is 65% of capacity (a decrease of 3% minus 4ft) with inflows of 3,546cfs and releasing 10,458cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 96% (an increase of 6%) with inflows of 12,555cfs and releasing 12,330cfs into the Sacramento river. Oroville Lake is 58% of capacity (a decrease of 2% minus 7ft) with inflows of 1,381cfs with releases of 7,606cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 67% of capacity (a decrease of 4% minus 4ft) with inflows of 2,189cfs with releases of 4,365cfs into the American river.
Trinity Lake: The lake is 50ft below the overflow (an increase of 2ft) and 70% of capacity (a decrease of 1%) with inflows of 286cfs and releasing 1,823cfs into Lewiston Lake with 1,362cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing 12,330cfs into the Sacramento River.
Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is 93% of capacity (a decrease of 3%) and water releases are 461cfs into the Trinity River, with water temperatures of 52.4 degrees, as of 10:30am today Sunday July 12, 2020. Limekiln Gulch is 4.92ft at 445cfs. Douglas City is 6.54ft with flows of 473cfs. with air temps of 79 and water temperatures of 58.3 degrees. Junction City is 1.98ft at 574cfs. Helena is 8.57ft at 543cfs with water temps of 62.7 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 2.81ft at 561cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 2.21ft at 122cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 683cfs and air is 71 degrees and water at 67 degrees. Hoopa is 11.63ft at 883cfs and water is 70.6 degrees.
Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath in Weitchpec are estimated to be 2,576cfs a decrease 222cfs.
Klamath River flows and conditions: Iron Gate is releasing 917cfs. Seiad Valley is 1.95ft at 1,093cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 1,164cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 1,396cfs, and the Salmon River is 1.87ft at 296cfs. Orleans is 2.69ft at 1,693cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 8.62ft at 2,892cfs and water temps are 69.8 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jedia Smith are 5.36ft with flows of 549cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 12.13ft at N/A cfs.
Temperatures in the Valley last week had a high of 93 and a low of 50 degrees. Rain for the week was 0.00in with a water year to date of 42.47 inches, with snow in Willow Creek of 1.45in. Forecasts for next week are for triple digits with highs of 106 and lows of 66. The temperatures for next week are expected to reach into triple digits for most of weekend. The high of 106 for the week is on Wendsday July 15th so please be prepared, use lots of sun screen, drink lots of water and try to stay cool.
