The Trinity River Weirs; the Junction City weir is working as usual and should be removed sometime around Sept 1st, but the Willow Creek weir will not be installed until sometime after Sept. 8th because of high water flows. The Hoopa weir will not be installed until after the Tribal Ceremonial “Boat Dance” which will be Sept. 3rd. (In my Aug. 3rd I reported that the Hoopa weir would be installed the week of Aug. 5th. I apologize for the misinformation! (The Hoopa White Deer Skin Ceremonies of which the “Boat Dance” is part of, will take president over the weir installation.)
Increase Water Releases: Every year now for some time there has been extra water releases for the Hoopa “Boat Dance”, a portion of the Tribal Ceremonies. This year the water releases will start on Sept. 1st at 5pm and run from summer releases of 450cfs up to 2,650cfs by 7pm Sept. 2nd and then gradually decrease back to summer releases of 450cfs by 7pm Sept 5th. Please be aware of the highwater flows during Labor Day weekend as the river will dangerous.
Junction City Weir counts: Julian week 33 the week endingAug. 19; Chinook salmon, 16-jack, 87-adult, total 103, season total 397; Coho 0; steelhead ½-lbs 0, adults 7, season total 78; Brown Trout 5, season total 18.
Fishing: Fishing in the Junction City area has improved some due to less turbidity in the area. The rive clarity improves the further down river from the Dutch Creek Bridge one fishes. River clarity from Evens Bar down to the Round House is good but the better fishing is in the upper sections of the river. On Friday Aug. 23 Todd LeBoeuf, of Tiger T Guide service, took out Kent Brown of Santa Cruz and was able to get him a good-sized spring salmon on roe. On Saturday Aug. 24, Todd was able to get Harrison Tinsley a nice salmon on roe and Dave Tinsley a beautiful salmon with a sardine wrapped kwikfish, both Dave and Harrison were from Lake Tahoe. So, there are still some very good fishing for springers in the upper river but most of the salmon are in the 7lbs to 10lbs range. I have noticed that the salmon are starting to turn dark but still good for smoking. Liam Gogan of Trinity River Outfitters told me that there are still plenty of salmon staging in the upper river but the bit is early and I man early morning and late evening.
In talking with a few local fishermen they said that this is one of the best spring fishing at the Falls section of the river then there has been for a long time. I asked if the new slide above Grays Falls made fishing difficult and they said somewhat but if you moved down a bit and fished the at the end of the white water you were able to land a nice springer.
Mid-Klamath: The Klamath at Weitchpec is flowing about 2,237cfs and the river has cleaned up now. John from E Ne Nuck said that everything on the Mid-Klamath is looking great but the problem is that it is three weeks into August and there are still very few salmon showing at the Bluff Creek hole. I have had reports of really warm water down in the estuary, if that is the case then we need some cooler water before we will see a good run of salmon in the Weitchpec area.
The “Dog Days of August” has always been a hard time for the fishermen but I hope that the increased water flows for the Hoopa Ceremonies will start the salmon to head up the Klamath. John said that Hopkin’s Creek is still holding steelhead but Hopkin’s Creek is known for its cold water and the fish like to hold there to cool off before heading on up river.
I have not heard anything from up river yet but above Happy Camp should be fairly good fishing as flows at Seiad Valley gauge is reading 1,093cfs. That shows me that some of the cold-water streams in the upper river are still feeding some cold water into the river.
Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 98% of capacity (an increase of 0%) with inflows of 1,201cfs and releasing 1,669cfs on to Keswick and the Sacramento River. Shasta is 82% of capacity (a decrease of 4% minus 6ft) with inflows of 3,490cfs and releasing 8,403cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 91% (a decrease of 2%) with inflows of 10,416cfs and releasing 10,489cfs into the Sacramento river. Oroville Lake is 77% of capacity (a decrease of 7% minus 18ft) with inflows of 1,592cfs with releases of 9,357cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 79% of capacity (a decrease of 4% minus 4ft) with inflows of 3,028cfs with releases of 3,678cfs into the American river.
Trinity Lake: the lake is 20ft below the overflow (an increase of 3ft) and 87% of capacity (a decrease of 2%) and inflows are 268cfs and releasing 1,615cfs into Lewiston Lake with 505cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing 10,489cfs into the Sacramento River.
Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam releases are 456cfs and water temperatures of 53.7 degrees and air at N/A as of 12:00pm today Sunday August 25, 2019. Limekiln Gulch is 4.95ft at 401cfs. Douglas City is 4.55ft and flows of 470cfs. with air temps of 86 water temperatures of N/A degrees. Junction City is N/Aft at N/A cfs due to turbidity of river restoration. Helena is 8.57ft at 481cfs with water temps of 61.8 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 2.82ft at 564cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 2.20ft at 108cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 672cfs and air is 85 degrees and water at 65 degrees. Hoopa is 11.51ft at 804cfs and water is 69 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath are estimated to be 2,237cfs.
Klamath: Iron Gate is releasing 960cfs. Seiad Valley is 1.95ft at 1,093cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 1,152cfs, the Salmon River is 1.98ft at 357cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 1,192cfs. Orleans is 2.64ft at 1,433cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 8.45ft at 2,579cfs and water temps of 72.8 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jedia Smith is 4.80ft and flows of 258cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 11.73t at N/A cfs.
Temperatures in the Valley last week were a high of 99 and a low of 56. Rain for the week was 0.00in with a water year to date of 67.93 inches, with snow of 4.5in. in the valley to date. Forecasts for next week are for temperatures in the high of 107 and sunshine for the next week and coming weekend. It is projected to be hot for the coming week, so please be prepared.
