Fall Run Chinook Salmon

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 9^th. 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. Part of the problem was the heat during the early part of August but I believe it was mostly low water flows for that time period. The increased water flows for the Tribal Ceremonies last week helped but we need more water in the rivers to help get the salmon to move up the rivers. A real good short flush from both dams would really help move fish into the Klamath and up the river. Usually by the second week of August we are seeing salmon staging at the mouths of Hopkins and Bluff Creek. These are their cooling off areas after Blue Creek and before the Fall salmon go backdown to the Trinity or head on up Iron Gate and Bogus Creek. We will soon see what is going to happen on the Trinity because the Willow Creek weir is in and operating.

Trinity River Hatchery: “The Trinity River Hatchery started letting fish up the ladder last week” Mary Claire Kier, fish biologist CDFW. 201 adult Chinook salmon moved up into the holding tanks and another 1,213 adults were put into the round tanks to “ripen” for JW36 TRH count.

Junction City Weir counts: Julian week 36 the week ending Sep.9; Chinook salmon, 0-jack, 1-adult, total 1, season total 459; Coho 0; steelhead ½-lbs 0, adults 1, season total 91; Brown Trout 0, season total 22. The Junction City weir only trapped one day and was closed down and removed Sep. 8^th.

Willow Creek Weir counts: The Willow Creek Weir was installed Sep. 9^th so the first nights trapping will not show up until next week.

Fishing: Fishing the Lower Trinity has been slow but half-pounders are being caught down in Hoopa at Red Rock, up behind the shopping center and at Tish Tang. Most of the people I have talked to were fly fishing. I did see a fisherman down by the mouth of Willow Creek throwing iron but I couldn’t see if he had landed any fish. One of my fishing buddies that fly fishes said he had fished Kimtu Beach last week but all he caught was down running smolt. Up river fishing has also been slow but early Fall Run Chinook salmon are being caught. In fact, one of the first early Fall salmon caught and brought into camp at the Del Loma RV and Campground was a nice 8lb salmon by Harold of San Diego. It’s a shame that us “old timers” are the ones that have to be the first at most things including catching fish! The coming week is predicted to cool down with some possible thunder storms and rain showers. If that happens, I would suspect that a good influx of fresh Fall Run Chinook will be the talk around the campfires. There are also some older dark spring run salmon being caught in the upper sections of the river.

Lower Klamath Creel Counts: Below Highway 101Bridge; Julian week 36 ending Sep. 9; jacks 82, adults 173 total 255, season total 545.
Above Highway 101 Bridge; Week ending Sep. 9; jacks 854, adults 404, total 1,258, season total 1,696. Lower Klamath season total count 2,150.

Mid-Klamath: The Klamath at Weitchpec is flowing about 2,065cfs and the river is looking very good for fishing. John from E Ne Nuck, hasn’t said anything how the fishing is down there but I heard that the Indians at Weitchpec have put out their nets expecting a good run of fish to be coming in. I sure hope so because if the fresh Fall Run Salmon don’t start coming in soon people are going to pack up and go home.
With the releases from Iron Gate increasing up to 1,076cfs the trout fishing from Happy Camp up Iron Gate should be explant. A call to Scot Caldwell of SC Guide Service should let you know how that area is fishing. If you are interested, I am sure he can put you onto some great fishing from Iron Gate down to I-5 if you want to book him. Flows at Seiad Valley are 1,230cfs. so, fishing above I-5 should still be great and fishing down around Happy Camp should also be in the best of conditions. A call to Marble Mountain Adventures, Doug or Heidi Cole at 800-552-6284 should get you the information of how good the fishing for trout is.

Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 99% of capacity (an increase of 0%) with inflows of 61cfs and releasing 155cfs on to Keswick and the Sacramento River. Shasta is 77% of capacity (a decrease of 2% minus32ft) with inflows of 1,600cfs and releasing 8,147cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 94% (an increase of 4%) with inflows of 8,589cfs and releasing 8,485cfs into the Sacramento river. Oroville Lake is 69% of capacity (a decrease of 8% minus 9ft) with inflows of 3,236cfs with releases of 12,037cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 74% of capacity (a decrease of 1% minus 1ft) with inflows of 2,227cfs with releases of 5,67cfs into the American river.

Trinity Lake: The lake is 23ft below the overflow (an increase of 0ft) and 85% of capacity (a decrease of 0%) and inflows are 216cfs and releasing 401cfs into Lewiston Lake with 0cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing 8,485cfs into the Sacramento River.

Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is 79% of capacity and releases are 504cfs and water temperatures of 55.6 degrees and air at N/A as of 12:00pm today Sunday September 15, 2019. Limekiln Gulch is 4.94ft at 454cfs. Douglas City is 6.56ft and flows of 475cfs. with air temps of 76 water temperatures of N/A degrees. Junction City is 2.03ft at 492cfs. Helena is 8.60ft at 490cfs with water temps of 58.1 degrees and water turbidity at 1.20. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 2.72ft at 527cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 2.06ft at 79cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 606cfs and air is 77 degrees and water at 63 degrees. Hoopa is 11.46ft at 775cfs and water is 66.8 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath are estimated to be 2,065cfs.

Klamath: Iron Gate is releasing 1,076cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.16ft at 1,230cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 1,281cfs, the Salmon River is 1.89ft at 208cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 1,087cfs. Orleans is 2.54ft at 1,290cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 8.36ft at 2,414cfs and water temps of 69.6 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jedia Smith is 4.72ft and flows of 229cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 11.65ft at N/A cfs.

Temperatures in the Valley last week were a high of 88 and a low of 51. 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 again with a high of 94 with a low of 49. Thunder storms are predicted for Monday and Wednesday of this week and sun for the coming weekend. Hopefully we will also have some good fish’en.

River is still dirty!

The River Restoration project above Junction City is still providing lots of turbidity for that area of the river and makes for bad fishing. Will it do to or for any in-river spawning? Years ago, before the Dam the mining turned the river into a “river of mud” but the salmon had plenty of clean up-stream area to spawn in. If the river restoration is supposed to provide more spawning area for the Chinook salmon where are the reports of increased production of the salmon? I have not seen any nor is there any listed report of an increase of Chinook salmon for the upper Trinity River. The Trinity Hatchery produces 3 million Chinook, 280,000 steelhead (reduced from 500,000) and 300,000 (reduced from 500,000) Coho salmon but no reports from the TRRP of in-river spawning production. There is a report of in-river salmon Redds but no follow up of how they do. So, what does the TRRP do other than spend $15 million per year on “river restoration” that does not improve the fishing opportunities.

I will have more on the Hoopa weir next week as I am waiting for a response from the Hoopa Tribe as to how they plan to manage the weir.

Junction City Weir counts: Julian week 31 the week endingAug. 5; Chinook salmon, 5-jack, 48-adult, total 53, season total 124; Coho 0; steelhead ½-lbs 0, adults 16, season total 16; Brown Trout 3, season total 13.

Fishing: Fishing above the Round house is still very good. Both Todd LeBoeuf, Tiger T guide service, has reported great fishing above the Round House. Last week Todd took out Dana and Chris Dase of Oregon and was able to get them limits of salmon with the largest being 18lbs. They were also able to hook up and release a couple of nice adult summer run steelhead to finish off their trip.
Summer releases have arrived and Lewiston is now releasing 444cfs into the river. The extra water releases for the Hoopa Boat Dance should be released sometime around Sept. 3^rdfor the ceremonies. (This is the odd year, even years is Yurok’s)
Just 20 more days before the Fall Chinook salmon season opens! Labor Day weekend starts Aug. 31^st but Sept. 1^st is Sunday of that weekend. You salmon fishermen had better get in your reservations now if you want to hopefully get a guide and a place to stay.

Mid-Klamath: The Klamath at Weitchpec is flowing about 2,622cfs and the river is a nice green now. John Harlan from E Ne Nuck, reported that the moss has dissipated and the river is green again. The problem being that the salmon have not shown up yet at Bluff Creek. Usually they start to show up around the first week of August. He did state that he saw plenty of nice steelhead at the mouth of Hopkin’s Creek. That would be natural because Hopkin’s Creek is nothing but cold water coming down off of the mountain. The fish love to take a break there and cool off some before the head on up the Klamath or turn around and go up the Trinity.

Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 98% of capacity (an increase of 0%) with inflows 1,574cfs and releasing 1,628cfs on to Keswick and the Sacramento River. Shasta is 8% of capacity (a decrease of % minus 4ft) with inflows of 2,829cfs and releasing 9,799cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 93% (a decrease of 0%) with inflows of 11,668cfs and releasing 11,107cfs into the Sacramento river. Oroville Lake is 84% of capacity (a decrease of 3% minus 7ft) with inflows of 3,062cfs with releases of 11,288cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 8% of capacity (a decrease of 2% minus 2ft) with inflows of 1,917cfs with releases of 1,917cfs into the American river.

Trinity Lake: the lake is 17ft below the overflow (an increase of 2ft) and 89% of capacity (a decrease of 1%) and inflows are 5cfs and releases are 1,674cfs into Lewiston Lake with 1,372cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing 10,903cfs into the Sacramento River.

Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam releases are 444cfs and water temperatures of 54.8 degrees and air at N/A as of 12:00pm today Saturday August 10, 2019. Limekiln Gulch is 4.89ft at 366cfs. Douglas City is 6.54ft and flows of 464cfs. with air temps of 69 water temperatures of N/A degrees. Junction City is N/Aft at N/A cfs due to turbidity. Helena is 8.75ft at 445cfs with water temps of 59.7 degrees and water turbidity of 1.40 (Hi was 4.30 @ 10am). Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 2.97ft at 623cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 2.40ft at 145cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 768cfs and air is 67 degrees and water at 66 degrees. Hoopa is 11.71ft at 929cfs and water is 69 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath are estimated to be 2,622cfs.

Klamath: Iron Gate is releasing 1,093cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.29ft at 1,319cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 1,408cfs, the Salmon River is 2.25ft at 357cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 1,336cfs. Orleans is 2.84ft at 1,693cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 8.64ft at 2,938cfs and water temps of 71.7 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jedia Smith is 5.07ft and flows of 368cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 11.42ft at N/A cfs.

Temperatures in the Valley last week were 100 hi with a low of 53. Rain for the week was 0.23in with thunder and lightning storms and total rain for the 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 mid to hi 90s and sunshine for the coming weekend. We had rain and thunder and lightning storms come through last week which cooled things down a bit.

Dirty River

TRRP: The Trinity River Restoration Program is working on restoration project. I have been receiving reports of the river being dirty from just below the Round House down to below Junction City area of the river. From what I could find out was that the TRRP is working in that area. The problem is the work is causing large amounts of turbidity in the river. This used to be prohibited and all of the material were pre-washed before it could be used in or along the river. Who is the watch dog now? It appears that the Trinity Management Council and the TRRP can just do whatever they choose to do to the river without some repercussion. I would hope that our representatives, both State and Federal, would look into this and maybe call for an audit of the restoration program to see what our $15million per year is doing because I surly do not see any large production of steelhead, Coho salmon and Chinook salmon going out and returning to the Trinity River. This was the original intent of the program. The river restoration program has gotten totally out of control ever since the TAMWG (public input) portion of the restoration program was not funded and thereby disbanded in 2017. (TAMWG was where the public could make comment and ask for changes to any proposed river restoration) The turbidity in the river can cover up spawning beds and smother the eggs.

Hoopa weir: Is to be installed the week of August 5^th depending upon water flows in the river. It is supposed to take about a week to be installed at the up-river area of Tish Tang beach. Hoopa Tribal Fisheries will be in charge of the weir and fishing the area. The Tribal Fisheries stated that they plan to harvest 3,000 fall chinook salmon and some of the tail end of the spring run. They plan to harvest all Broun Trout as they are and invasive species that kill juvenile salmon; all adipose fin clipped hatchery steelhead; all hatchery clipped Coho salmon. Operations are to be completed when the 3,000 fall Chinook salmon goal is reached. 32,000 fall Chinook salmon are available to be harvested by the Hoopa and Yurok Tribal members with 6,400 available to the Hoopa’s. The problem I see is, “what will the Trinity River Hatchery do for hatchery Coho salmon spawning is all of the hatchery marked Coho are taken at the Hoopa weir?” From what I have been able to find out is that the program for this weir has not been approved by NOAA or NMFS nor has BIA ok’ed the use of this weir!

Fishing: Fishing above the Round House has been very good. Both Todd LeBoeuf, Tiger T guide service and Liam Gogan, Trinity River Outfitters, have reported great fishing with limits of salmon and summer steelhead being put into the boat. Last Wednesday Todd took out Robert Thompkins and Dave Ivis in the upper river and was able to get them both a nice bright salmon and hookup a steelhead or two. Ivis salmon was 12lbs. The problem is trying to get customers to come over to the Trinity to fish for one salmon when a person can fish the ocean or the Sacramento and catch two salmon. Liam told me he was having the same problem even though he is able to limit his customers out. Well the good news is that Sept, 1^st is just 25 days away for the Fall Run salmon fishing to kick-in and then you can have 1 adult and 1 jack plus 2 steelhead.

Summer river releases are just a few days away just as the Labor Day weekend hits us the Boat Dance water releases for the Trinity will happen. I am not sure how much water is going to be released but in the past it has a significant amount and really got the salmon coming up the river.

Mid-Klamath: The Klamath at Weitchpec is flowing about 2,918cfs and the river is a nice green but will probably start to change as the river drops a little more for the summer flows. We should see more salmon as the river drops and the fall run starts showing up. Aug. 15^th the Fall salmon fishing opens for the Lower Klamath. (Below the Weitchpec Bridge) Right now there are very few fishermen out on the Mid- Klamath, mostly locals. River temperatures are starting to climb a little bit right now but hopefully the water releases for the Boat Dance will help cool it down some.

Junction City Weir counts: Week endingJuly 29; Chinook salmon, 1jack, 1adlt, total 49, season total 71; Coho 0; steelhead 33, season total 46; Brown Trout 5, season total 10.

Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 98% of capacity (an increase of 1%) with inflows 1,604cfs and releasing 1,641cfs on to Keswick and the Sacramento River. Shasta is 88% of capacity (a decrease of 1% minus 2ft) with inflows of 3,3555cfs and releasing 9,494cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 93% (a decrease of 1%) with inflows of 11,457cfs and releasing 10,903cfs into the Sacramento river. Oroville Lake is 87% of capacity (a decrease of 3% minus 7ft) with inflows of 2,881cfs with releases of 10,597cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 85% of capacity (a decrease of 2% minus 2ft) with inflows of 2,784cfs with releases of 3,938cfs into the American river.

Trinity Lake: the lake is 15ft below the overflow (an increase of 1ft) and 90% of capacity (a decrease of 1%) and inflows are 151cfs and releases are 1870cfs into Lewiston Lake with 1,372cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing 10,903cfs into the Sacramento River.

Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam releases are 498cfs and water temperatures of 54.8 degrees and air at N/A as of 12:30pm today Saturday August 3, 2019. Limekiln Gulch is 5.17ft at 545cfs. Douglas City is 6.71ft and flows of 567cfs. with air temps of 89 water temperatures of N/A degrees and turbidity of 3.60. Junction City is N/Aft at N/Acfs. Helena is 9.06ft at 541cfs with water temps of 62.9 degrees and water turbidity of 3.60. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 3.27ft at 742cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 2.44ft at 154cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 896cfs and air is 89 degrees and water at 64 degrees. Hoopa is 12.07ft at 1,108cfs and water is 66 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath are estimated to be 2,918cfs.

Klamath: Iron Gate is releasing 949cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.00ft at 1,125cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 1,176cfs, the Salmon River is 2.15ft at 349cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 1,4611cfs. Orleans is 2.93ft at 1,810cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is N/Aft at N/Acfs and water temps of N/A degrees. (gauge is out) Flows for the Smith River at Jedia Smith is 4.96ft and flows of 321cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 11.84t at N/A cfs.

Temperatures in the Valley last week were 98 hi with a low of 54. Rain for the week was 0.00in with total rain for the water year to date of 67.7 inches, with snow of 4.5in. in the valley to date. Forecasts for next week are for temperatures in the mid to hi 90s and lots of sunshine after the weekend. I know I would like some cooler weather and cooler water so the summer steelhead and the beginning of the Fall run would make a run for their holding waters.

PFMC Preliminaries

I hope everyone had a safe and Happy Saint Patrick’s Day.

The PFMC (Pacific Fisheries Management Council), posted their preliminary estimate for fall run Chinook salmon for the west coast from their March 6^th -12^th meeting and posted three options for the Klamath River salmon quotas. The PFMC estimates that there is an estimate of 5,230 to 7,900 Klamath River Basin salmon that will return to the Klamath River and its tributaries. Last years’ return was 3,490. They also estimate that there are 274,222 Klamath River and 379,632 Sacramento River fall Chinook salmon swimming around in the ocean for this years’ salmon fishing season. Now you have to subtract natural spawning returns for the Klamath and Sacramento Rivers then divide the remainder by Tribal harvest, Ocean Commercial, Ocean Sport and In-River Sports fishing. The question is the Tribal share is 50% of the harvestable surplus and the Hoopa Tribe left the PFMC meeting with a letter stating they were going to harvest 50% of the Klamath fall Chinook when the Yurok’s were given an 80% share of the Klamath Chinook salmon in the Jesse Short case by a Federal Ruling. That amounts to 130% of the Klamath Chinook salmon. How will the rest of the fishing community fare? Are we going back to the fishing wars of the 1970s? I sure hope not!

The CDFW held a meeting last week in Del Norte about the Klamath River Spring Chinook fishery and another meeting will be held March 26^th at CDFW Redding offices (601 Locust Street), from 1 to 3pm, to gather public input for potential options for Spring Chinook fishing. The California Fish and Game Commission has accepted a petition for the listing of Spring Run Chinook and has directed the CDFW to gather public input for the potential harvest of Spring Chinook this year. This sounds like a hurry-up job to me. How is the public (fishermen) able to provide input when they are not notified in a timely manner? The answer is; you were asked for your input and you didn’t give any so we decided for you.
NOAA/NMFS “Because the Upper Klamath/Trinity Rivers (UKTR) Chinook salmon Evolutionary Significant Unit (ESU) includes both the Klamath and Trinity Rivers, Chinook from both the Klamath and Trinity river basins are included when considering, and would be affected by, a listing decision. However, no decisions have been made with regards to the listing or not listing. An additional consideration is that, as currently delineated, the UKTR Chinook salmon ESU includes both fall-run and spring Chinook salmon”.
So, you might ask, what did they say? I don’t believe that NOAA has received the petition yet and are waiting for CDFW to come up with some guidelines.
Here again I ask you to write letters to CDFW to post public hearings in a timely manner and in areas affected by the proposed rulings so that the public (fishermen) can testify and make public input!

Salmon Regulations in effect for the Klamath River; closed to the “TAKE” of Spring Run Chinook salmon from the mouth of the river to Iron Gate from Feb. 21 to Aug. 14^th (subject to the approval of the Office of Administrative Law); Trinity River main stem from the mouth to the Bridge at Hwy 299 at Cedar Flat, Feb. 21 through August 31^st; from Feb.22to Oct. 15 no salmon shall be TAKEN from the Old Lewiston Bridge to the Bridge at Hwy 299, Cedar Flat.

Fishing: We have had sunshine for the last week and the rivers have been dropping at a steady rate. The weather forecast for the coming weekend is cloudy with rain showers but no significant amount of rain that would bring the rivers back up. The Trinity is in very good condition throughout the upper sections and there are still some fresh steelhead around but there are also some down runners in the mix. As for the Lower sections we are seeing high clear water all the way down to the South Fork. As usual the South Fork is bleeding the milky slate and the river is a milky green from the South Fork to Hoopa. There should be some sea run Browns working their way up the river now but I have not had the opportunity or luck to find any.

Mid-Klamath: Iron Gate Dam is releasing 1,930cfs. at this time. Fishing above I-5 is doing well as Scot Caldwell has been reporting. Fishing has been reported as fair to good in the Happy Camp area but the river is still very high in the Orleans area. From Weitchpec down to the mouth the Klamath is very high right now.

Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 91% of capacity (a decrease of 3%) with inflows 1,156cfs and releasing 1,672cfs on to Keswick and the Sacramento River. Keswick is 91% (an increase of 3%) with an inflow of 29,850 and releasing 29,310, Shasta is 8% of capacity (a decrease of 5%) with inflows of 27,339cfs and releasing 27,104cfs into the Sacramento river. Oroville Lake is 75% of capacity (an increase of 3% plus 8ft) with inflows of 10,783cfs with releases of 6,588cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 65% of capacity (an increase of 2% minus 3ft) with inflows of 7,176fs with releases of 6,712cfs into the American river.

Trinity Lake: the lake is 23ft below the overflow (a decrease of 1ft) and 75% of capacity (an increase of 1%) inflows are 2,191cfs and releasing 611cfs into Lewiston Lake with N/A cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing 29,850cfs into the Sacramento River.

Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam releases are N/A cfs and water temperatures of N/A degrees and air at N/A as of 11:00am today Sunday Mar. 17, 2019. Limekiln Gulch is 5ft at 485cfs and water temps of 43.7 Douglas City is 6.95ft and flows of 800cfs. with air temps of 53 and water at 45.4 degrees. Junction City is 3.20ft at 1,140cfs. Helena is 11.08ft at 2,519cfs with water temps of 445.9 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 6.48ft at 2,516cfs. South Fork of the Trinity is 7.04ft at 3,102cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 5,621cfs and air is 50 degrees and water at 46 degrees. Hoopa is 17.28ft at 8,032cfs and is 46 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath are estimated to be 18,007cfs.

Klamath: Iron Gate is releasing 1,930cfs. Seiad Valley is 5.07ft at 4,112cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 5,051cfs, the Salmon River is 4.44ft at 2,641cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 7,506cfs. Orleans is 7.91ft at 9,975cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 14.50ft at 23,163cfs and water temps of 46.9 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jedia Smith is 8.43ft and flows of 3,501cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 14.77ft at 3,520 cfs.

Temperatures in the Valley last week were 63 hi with lows of 33. Rain for the week was 0.25in with total rain for the water year to date of 53.91 inches, with snow of 4.5in. in the valley to date. We will be seeing sunshine during the next week with a little scattering of rain showers.

Chinook Salmon Season – Trinity River

The 2018 Fall Chinook adult salmon quotas for the Trinity River could possibly be met by October 10 if there is not a large in flow of Fall Chinook salmon. I say that could be a possibility but with the low counts this past week at the Willow Creek weir I don’t think it will happen. The CDFW has been looking at the low counts and are entertaining the possibility of extending the time if counts don’t start to increase for adult Chinook salmon. Why or what could be the reason for such low returns to hatchery and the Willow Creek weir? Could the weir in Hoopa be holding up the fish? Is the Hoopa Tribe harvesting more fish than allotted? CDFW has no count of the Hoopa harvest yet. Is the higher water flows cooling the water temperatures and the salmon holding up in the lower parts of the river? Did the Trinity River lose too many juveniles during the outbreak of disease two years ago? The returns should be much higher than it is at this time of the fishing season. I have seen low returns in the past but this time doesn’t make since to me. There are too many unanswered questions as to why the Fall Chinook salmon run is so low. It will be very interesting to hear what conclusions CDFW will have when they tally up the final reports!

For years I have been advocating for and In-river hatchery Coho fishery on the Trinity but NMFS and NOAA plus the CDFW have been against this idea because the benefit to fishermen for the effort to make a program that would allow the harvest of in-river hatchery Coho was not worth the effort. I now ask why are these people allowing the harvest/reduction of hatchery Coho at the Hoopa weir? Maybe someone should look into this. The idea of in-river harvesting of hatchery Coho came about because several years ago the hatchery Coho returns reached 10,000 and was surprisingly interesting with the spawning of native Coho salmon.
NOTICE: The Trinity Center boat ramp will be closed September 24, 2018 through May 1, 2019 for major improvements. This is good news as the group at Trinity Center was able to acquire a $1.64 million US Forest Service grant for the long needed improvements. I can see where this is going to make a great difference to the community and improve the launching abilities for the area.

Lower Klamath Count: I have still not been have been able to open Dan Troxel’s report for the Lower Klamath but I am working on it and hope to bring it to you soon.

Klamath Iron Gate: For the week of Sept. 10 – Sept.173; Shasta, Chinook salmon 353, season total 925; Bogus Creek, Chinook salmon 0, season total 0; Scott, Chinook salmon 0, season total.

Trinity River Hatchery; for the week of Sept.10 – Sept 16; Chinook salmon, jacks 55, adults 123 total 178, season total 199; Coho 0; steelhead, ½-lbs 0, adults 0, total 1, season total 1.

Junction City weir trapping: week of Sep. 10 – Sep. 16; Chinook salmon; jacks 1, adults 18, total 19, season total 905. Coho, jacks 0, total 0, season to date 0; Steelhead; 1/2lbs 0, adults 5, total 5, season to date 45; Brown Trout 0 total 0, season to date 20.

Willow Creek weir trapping: week of Sep. 10 – Sep. 16; jacks 14, adults 39, total 53 season total 171; Coho, jacks 0; adults 0, total 0, season 0. Steelhead, ½-lbs 0, adults 16, total 16, season total 103.

Fishing: Lewiston Dam is now releasing flows of 450cfs. at 12:00pm Sunday Sept. 23. Friday September 21 BOR lowered the water releases from Lewiston Dam back to the regular summer flows of 450cfs. Now that regular summer flows are being released into the Trinity River I am expecting the Trinity to see an increase of adult Fall Chinook salmon. This is yet to become fact but the lowering of the water flows usually starts a surge of adult salmon to swim up river to reach their spawning waters. Last week on my way down river I saw more fishermen fishing from the bank so I stopped in at the Del Loma RV Park and campground to see if the regular salmon camper/fishermen had arrived. Yes they arrived and I was able to talk to them. They said that they had only started to fish and that they were hooking a lot of juveniles but not very many adult salmon. This made me wonder if the other fisherman I saw were having the same problem. I cannot guarantee my predictions but having fished the Trinity for over 22yrs I have a pretty good knowledge of how the fishing goes, plus having good relations with the local CDFW scientist that work the river I am able to collect better information than regular fisherman. The records on the Trinity River fishery are very interesting and show how the harvest patterns have happened on the Klamath –Trinity River Basin since 1974.

Mid-Klamath: Iron Gate Dam is releasing flows of 1,041cfs. This is a good increase for the Upper Klamath and should really help the fishing from I-5 up to the dam. As for the Mid – Klamath I did not receive a report from John at E Ne Nuck / Perch Creek so I don’t have good info on the fishing above Orleans. The Wetchpec section of the river has dropped off some but reports from the mouth are good and I would expect by the time you have read this report fishing would have picked up. Last week I helped three fishermen from the bay area float from Tish Tang down and through the Hoopa Gorge to Old Village on the Klamath and they were able to hook a lot half-pounders but not many adults. They did report that they saw a lot of adult salmon in the Gorge but because they were fly fishing they were unable to hook any. This sounds good for the Trinity.

Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is N/A% of capacity (an increase of 0%) with inflows of N/Acfs and releasing N/Acfs into Clear Creek and on to Keswick. Shasta is 54% of capacity (a decrease of 2% and 3ft) with inflows of 2,053cfs and releasing 6,733cfs, Keswick is 96% of capacity (an increase of 6%) with inflows of 7,850cfs and releasing 7,570cfs; Oroville Lake is 40% capacity (a decrease of 2% & minus 6ft), inflow is 2,156cfs and releases are 5,987cfs; Folsom Lake is 49% of capacity (minus 1% & minus 1ft.) inflows are 1,634cfs and releases are 2,040cfs.

Trinity Lake: the Lake is 66ft below the over flow (an increase of 1ft) and 62% of capacity (1% decrease) Inflow to Trinity Lake is 94cfs and Trinity Dam is releasing 1,125cfs to Lewiston Lake with 658fs going to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing 7,570cfs into the Sacramento River.

Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam releases are 467cfs with water temps of 53.1 degrees and air at 74 at 12:00pm today Sunday Sep. 23. Limekiln Gulch is 5ft at 485cfs, with water temps of 51.3 degrees. Douglas City is 6.4ft at 481cfs, water temps of 53.9 degrees and air is 72 Junction City is 1.9ft at 461cfs. Helena is 8.8ft at 475fs with water temps of 56.7; Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 2.7ft at 525cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 575cfs and air is 74 with water at 68. Hoopa is 11.3ft at 574cfs with water temps of N/A.
Flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at Klamath River are estimated to be 2,57300cfs.

Klamath: Iron Gate Dam releases are 1,041cfs. Seiad Valley is 2ft at 1,183cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 1,220cfs, Salmon River is 1.5ft at 155cfs, Somes Bar is estimated at 1,626cfs and Orleans is 2.8ft. at 1,781cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 7.8ft at 2,289cfs, with water temperatures of 64.1 degrees. Flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 4.5ft at 220cfs.

The temperatures in the Valley last week were in the high 40s and the high was 84s with 0.00in of rain and a season total of 68.45in of rain and a total of 4.15in of snow. Temperatures in the valley next week are expected to run in 95/48 degrees with sunshine the first part of the week then turning to cloudy and the possibility of scattered showers Monday & Tuesday

Fall Run Chinook Salmon

River is still dirty!

Dirty River

PFMC Preliminaries

Chinook Salmon Season – Trinity River

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