Rain – Snow – Germs
Sorry I missed last week but the GERMS got to me. All I can say is that you want to make sure you stay dry, warm and away from people who have the flu or a cold!
Looking ahead for the weather it shows rain and / or snow with lots of scattered showers. My advice to you is come prepared for rain and very cold mornings. Of course this IS winter steelhead time and this is the type of weather when it is best fishing for those elusive big bucks. At the present time the Trinity and Klamath are dropping but I can see that changing very soon with the weather that is forecasted in the coming week or so. All I can say is be sure you have plenty of hot coffee at the car if you are fishing from the bank. The rain is going to make it hard to fly fish but if you step up your line weight one weight you should be able to do well casting. To me right now is the best time to float a worm.
I have not seen very much about the final counts for salmon returns but I am trying to be as optimistic as possible. The PFMC is collecting all of the data and will come out in March sometime with return numbers. Let’s hope for good returns.
Trinity River Hatchery: For the week ending Jan. 14 ; Fall Run Chinook salmon , jacks 0, adults 0, total 0, season total 5,632, Coho salmon, jacks 0, adults 0, total 0, season total 418; steelhead 116, season total 917.
Klamath Iron Gate: For the week ending Jan. 9; Bogus Creek, Chinook season total 2,247, Coho 0, season total 68; Scott River, Chinook salmon 0, season total 2,279, Coho 382; Shasta River, Chinook salmon season total 9,935, Coho season total 38.
Fishing: With the crazy weather it has been hard to get good numbers on the fishing. At present with the rivers on the drop expect to see a big change when the rain starts to show an increase in the water flows. Once this storm comes through there should be a good influx of fresh fish. I know I am looking forward to it. Up river is still producing some nice adults but kind of slow in the lower part of the Trinity.
Mid-Klamath: Iron Gate Dam is releasing 958cfs. This is a slight decrease from a week ago but it didn’t seem to change fishing on the Klamath above I-5. Fishing in the Happy Camp Area was steady as Seiad Valley was flowing 1,967cfs. The Orleans area was seeing an increase of water flows from some the feeder streams and fishing is more difficult for the bank anglers. Weitchpec has seen a great increase of water and flowing 10,061cfs at present.
Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 88% of capacity (an increase of 3%) with inflows of 262cfs and releasing 218cfs into Clear Creek and on to Keswick. Shasta is 72% (an increase of 1% and 2ft) with inflows of 5,602cfs and releasing 3,154cfs, Keswick is 83% of capacity (a decrease of 6%) with inflows of 3,179cfs and releasing 3,773cfs; Oroville Lake is 38% capacity (a increase of30% & minus 8ft), inflow is 5,534cfs and releases are 1,252 cfs; Folsom Lake is 59% of capacity (plus 42% & plus 2ft.) inflows are 2,917cfs and releases are 2,938cfs.
Trinity Lake: The Lake is 47ft below the overflow (increase of 1ft) and 72% of capacity (1% increase) Inflow to Trinity Lake is 997cfs and Trinity Dam is releasing 519cfs to Lewiston Lake with 168cfs going to Whiskeytown Lake and on to the Keswick Power Plant and it is releasing 3,773cfs to the Sacramento River.
Trinity River Flows and Conditions: Lewiston Dam releases are 310cfs with water temps of 43.8 and air is 39 degrees at 12:00pm today. Limekiln Gulch is 4.7ft at 355cfs, water temps of 43.6 degrees. Douglas City is 6.3ft at 388cfs, water temps of 43.6, air is 39. Junction City is 1.8ft at 446cfs. Helena is 9ft at 548cfs with water temps of 42.2. Cedar Flat is 4ft at 1,097cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 1,976cfs air is 41 and water at 43. Hoopa is 14.9ft at 3,802fs with water temps of 44.8. Flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at Klamath River are estimated to be 10,061cfs.
Klamath: Iron Gate Dam releases are 958cfs. Seiad Valley is 3.1ft at 1,967fs. Happy Camp is estimated at 2,390fs, Salmon River is 3.7ft at 1,653cfs, Somes Bar is estimated at 4,606cfs and Orleans is 5.9ft. at 6,259cfs and the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 12.8ft at 15,464cfs, with water temperatures of 45.4 degrees. Flows at Smith River, Dr. Fine Bridge are 10ft at 6,120cfs.
Temperatures in the Valley last week were 58/42 degrees with 3.75in of rain with a season total of 25.75in of rain and 0.0in of snow. The temperatures for next week are expected to be 56/31 degrees with scattered showers with snow mid-week and then scattered showers the rest of the week and weekend. This could be the rain the river needs for fresh fish.