It’s a New Year for fishing

2020 brings in a new year, a new fishing season and possibly some new regulations. The one thing we all need to do is turn in our steelhead report cards and salmon harvest cards. These are important items for the coming fishing season. For one thing it helps in determining what the quotas will be for the coming seasons. There is a new easy way to send in our steelhead Report Card electronically; www.dfg.ca.gov/steelheadcard . I’m sorry I don’t have the electronic address for the salmon Harvest Card, but you can send it in by mail or possibly find the electronical address on the bottom of your card.

Don’t forget, it is a new year and you need a new fishing license. The proposed “Year-Round” regulation is under study and not in affect yet, so please don’t get caught trying to use last year’s fishing license thinking it was good for one year from purchase.

The weather has really been playing heck with the fishing this past week. It has rained and snowed most of the week and the rives have been up and down all week. Right now, the Trinity is starting to drop and turning a “pea green” which means that it is starting to clear up some. There are some scattered shows predicted for next week but no major storms. This past storm did the Trinity some good as it helped to flush out the river. I just hope it did not destroy the Redds that we in the river. Although there were quit a few Redds reported down in the Hoopa area below the Hoopa weir. With the high water it could possibly wash out those Redds.

Don’t forget the new “Online 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 book mark your computers so that you can keep up with the Trinity River Fishing Reports. I thank you all for your loyalty.

Trinity River Hatchery: Julian week 23 ending Jan. 14; Fall Chinook, 0-jacks, 0-adults, total 0, season total 1,586, combined total 6,064; Coho, 0-jacks, 0-adults, total 0, season total 649; steelhead, 8, total 8 ,season total 64.

Fishing: The Trinity River is blown out on the lower end and high on the upper sections but is dropping at the present time. The upper sections could be fishable down to Evans Bar if we don’t have a heavy rain in the next week. Those that were fishing the upper section of the Trinity were using flies, beads, streamers and small plugs. Quite a spread for choices but bank fishers usually like plugs, spinners or bait. The South Fork is not fishable dur to the slides up in Hyampom and Coon Creek. Whatever slide is bleeding into the river the most determine what color the river will be. Right now the Willow Creek section is too high and dirty to fish but that doesn’t mean the fish are not heading up river.

Upper Klamath fish video counts: Julian week 2 ending Jan. 14, Bogus Creek, Chinook salmon 0, total 974; Coho 0, total 56; Scott River, Chinook salmon 0, total 1,565, Coho 0, total 369; Shasta River, Chinook salmon 0, total 5,867, Coho 0, total 66.

Mid-Klamath: The Klamath at Weitchpec is flowing about 7,720cfs. The Klamath is going up and down as each storm comes in and subsides. Just about any fishing right now would be above I-5 in the Hornbook to dam section. The best person to contact for fishing up in that area would be Scott Caldwell through SC Guide Service.

Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 86% of capacity (a decrease of 0%) with inflows of 310cfs and releasing 340cfs on to Keswick and the Sacramento River. Shasta Lake is 74% of capacity (an increase of 1% plus 4ft) with inflows of 6,241cfs and releasing 4,494cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 85% (an increase of 2%) with inflows of 8,454cfs and releasing 5,004cfs into the Sacramento river. Oroville Lake is 60% of capacity (an increase of 1% plus 3ft) with inflows of 3,050cfs with releases of 2,601cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 49% of capacity (a decrease of 1% minus 2ft) with inflows of 1,696cfs with releases of 1,961cfs into the American river.

Trinity Lake: The lake is 32ft below the overflow (an increase of 0ft) and 80% of capacity (an increase of 0%) and inflows of 490cfs and releasing 418cfs into Lewiston Lake with 72cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing 5,004cfs into the Sacramento River.

Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is 99% of capacity (an increase of 9%) and water releases are 299cfs with water temperatures of 432.4 degrees, as of 11:00pm today Sunday January 19,2020. Limekiln Gulch is 4.75ft at 343cfs. Douglas City is 6.43ft and flows of 402cfs. with air temps of 37 and water temperatures of 41.7 degrees. Junction City is 1.98ft at 455cfs. Helena is 8.75ft at 574cfs with water temps of 41.4 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 3.72ft at 935cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 3.62ft at 593cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 1,583cfs and air is 43 degrees and water at 42 degrees. Hoopa is 14.30ft at 3,07cfs and water is 43.2 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath are estimated to be 7,720cfs.

Klamath River flows and conditions: Iron Gate is releasing 998cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.60ft at 1,546cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 1,758cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 3,606cfs, and the Salmon River is 3.09ft at 907cfs. Orleans is 4.51ft at 4,561cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is N/Aft at N/A cfs and water temps are N/A degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jedia Smith are 11.69ft with flows of 9,925cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 17.88ft at N/A cfs.

Temperatures in the Valley last week had a high of 47 and a low of 34. Rain for the week was 5.32in with a water year to date of 30.64 inches, with snow in willow Creek, snow of 1.45in. in the valley to date. Forecasts for next week are for temperatures in the highs of 62 and lows of 41 with some rain and scattered showers during the first part of the week and with light rain predicted for Monday and Tuesday. The Highways are clear of snow but there is some snow along the roadsides. If you plan to try and come up you might want to check for road conditions before you travel.

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.

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 779.

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!

What happened to the fish?

There are salmon and steelhead down in the Hoopa Valley but none up river! By now, there should be lots of fish in the Upper Trinity but no one has been able to find them. There are Redds, but not as many as usual in the Lewiston to Helena section of the river. This year’s (2019) salmon return was 2016 and 2017 smolt out migration for Fall Chinook salmon. The adult Chinook salmon that are being caught on the Trinity are much smaller this year than normally. Why is that? Basically, the reason you have small salmon for the return is because the ocean conditions were not good for krill production and that is what the salmon feed on to grow and get fat for their trip up the rivers. That explains the smaller size but not the quantity of the return.
Did the Hoopa Weir cause the loss of salmon? Many fishermen seem to think so but if the weir was removed a week ago then why are we not seeing a large run of fish going through Willow Creek? I have not seen the expected huge rush of fish come through nor have the fishermen I have talked to seen it. Sooo, just maybe the PFMC made a big mistake in their calculations of the amount of salmon that would return to the Klamath River Basin. But then we see the great steelhead fishing that is going on in the Upper Klamath. Who can explain that? I wish I cold find the answers for you. Maybe next week!

Trinity River Hatchery: Julian week 45 ending Nov. 11; Fall Chinook, 9-jacks, 57-adults, total 25, season total 340; Coho, 0-jacks, 316- adults, total 16, season total 16; steelhead, 0, total 0 ,season total 8.

Willow Creek Weir counts: Julian week 45 ending Nov. 11; Fall Chinook salmon, 7-jacks, 18-adults, total 25, season totals 1,519; Coho salmon, 2-jacks, 32-adults, total 34, season total 124; steelhead, 0-1/2-pounders, 3-adults, total 3, season total 709.

Fishing: The Trinity is still running low, cold and very clear. You have to use stealth in your presentations to get strikes. This week I found two fishermen fishing Kimtu and one fishing the Campora Hole and no one landing fish. Right now, it is foggy in the mornings and the sun is not hitting the water until noon. Hawkins Bar was almost the same except one fishier caught and released a half-pounder. Up river it was hard fishing also. We need rain; but the weather bureau says that there is no rain in the near future. Over the years I have found out that when it is this dry in the valley, we need at least three inches of rain to get the river moving and bring in fish. Pray for rain!

Upper Klamath fish video counts: Julian week 45 ending Nov. 11, 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 2,307cfs. Fishing below Orleans is slow right now but the further up the river the better the fishing. Above I-5 it is a HOT BITE trout and steelhead!

Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 85% of capacity (a decrease of 0%) with inflows of 574cfs and releasing 719cfs on to Keswick and the Sacramento River. Shasta is 71% of capacity (a decrease of 0% minus 0ft) with inflows of 3,179cfs and releasing 4,331cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 92% (an increase of 2%) with inflows of 5,070cfs and releasing 5,116cfs into the Sacramento river. Oroville Lake is 5% of capacity (a decrease of 3% minus 3ft) with inflows of 3,381cfs with releases of 4,569cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is % of capacity (a decrease of 6% minus 6ft) with inflows of 1,429cfs with releases of 2,881cfs into the American river.

Trinity Lake: The lake is 33ft below the overflow (an increase of 1ft) and 79% of capacity (a decrease of 1%) and inflows are 42cfs and releasing 905cfs into Lewiston Lake with 620cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing 5,091cfs into the Sacramento River.

Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is 92% of capacity (an increase of 2%) and water releases are 293cfs with water temperatures of 46.2 degrees, as of 2:00pm today Sunday November 17, 2019. Limekiln Gulch is 4.72ft at 327cfs. Douglas City is 6.28ft and flows of 325cfs. with air temps of 64 water temperatures of 47.2 degrees. Junction City is 1.70ft at 376cfs. Helena is 8.11ft at 351cfs with water temps of 48.5 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 2.41ft at 419cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 2.17ft at 88cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 507cfs and air is 61 degrees and water at 50 degrees. Hoopa is 11.23ft at 643cfs and water is 52.2 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath are estimated to be 2,765cfs.

Klamath: Iron Gate is releasing 1,139cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.55ft at 1,508cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 1,561cfs, the Salmon River is 1.88ft at 205cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 1,917cfs. Orleans is 2.91ft at 2,122cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 8.82ft at 3,294cfs and water temps are 52.5 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jedia Smith is 4.77ft with flows of 247cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 11.72ft at N/A cfs.

Temperatures in the Valley last week had a high of 64 and a low of 42. Rain for the week was 0.03in with a water year to date of 2.41 inches, with snow of 0.0in. in the valley to date. Forecasts for next week are for temperatures of highs of 70 and lows of 45 with mornings overcast and sunny afternoons. Fishing for the coming weekend is looking better for the Lower Trinity and Upper Klamath. We really need some rain to bring in more fresh fish and improve river conditions.

Winter like weather is steelhead weather

Sorry about no report last week but my area was on “Safety Power Shut Off” due to PG&E for Northern California.
It appears that this is going to happen more often when we have high winds, dry weather and Red Flag conditions. The reasoning for that is to try and stop/reduce disastrous fires in California.

With the cold winter like weather we are experiencing in the Trinity Valley the water temperatures are dropping to a point where the steelhead are moving up to their spawning grounds. This is good because we are starting to see more adult steelhead go through the Willow Creek area. At the present time we are seeing about a 25% drop in returning adult hatchery steelhead at the Willow Creek Weir as compared to last year at this time, but we are seeing an increase in adult native steelhead. I don’t know if this is good or bad yet because I am not sure of what it takes for the Trinity River Hatchery egg count for the rearing and release of steelhead into the Trinity River. I do know that the Klamath River Hatchery has not been able to reach their hatchery steelhead release for several years so the Upper Klamath has become a “catch and release fishery for steelhead for some time. The good part is that the Willow Creek Weir count of steelhead has increased over last year’s return by about 33% for this time of year. It’s just later this year than last year’s return.

I know many of you are concerned about the low amount of salmon that have retuned to the Trinity for salmon fishing this year and all I can say is that I am looking into it and hope I can have something soon. I am trying to find an answer but, in the meantime, I would advise you to write letters to your congressman about the pour fishing conditions on the Trinity River and request an investigation into the Trinity River Restoration Program and the placing of a second weir in the river on the Hoopa Reservation. Letters do help, complaints to me and other fishermen does nothing. You can write your representative. U.S. Senate, Dianne Feinstein: Hart Senate Office Building, Room 331Washington, D.C. 20510; U.S. Representative Jared Huffman: 1630 Longworth House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515; Huffman.house.gov, the Secretary of Commerce and the Director of NOAA.

We are also having a serious problem on the South Fork of the Trinity River. The return of spring run Chinook salmon for this year is drastically low, only 12 – 14 spawning salmon were counted this year and that makes that run genetically limited and could possibly go extinct. What is the TRRP doing with the $2million watershed money they are supposed to be using for watershed restoration. Spending it on the Upper Trinity destroying in-river salmon spawning! Again, letters and emails to our representatives are the only thing that will make a change.

Trinity River Hatchery: Julian week 43 ending Oct. 28; sub-total for Spring Chinook, jack totals 532, adult totals 3,946, for a total of 4,478; Coho 0, Steelhead 2, season total 9.

Junction City Weir counts: ended on Julian week 40 Oct. 7; Chinook salmon, 3-jack, 2-adult, total 5, season total 546; Coho 0; steelhead ½-lbs 0, adults 1, season total 118; Brown Trout 0, season total 23.

Willow Creek Weir counts: Julian week 43 ending Oct. 28; Chinook salmon, 15-jacks, 13-adults, total 28, season totals 1,493; Coho salmon, 1-jacks, 19-adults, total 20, season total 89; steelhead, ½-pounders – 18, adults -19, total 37, season total 704.

Fishing: Right now the Trinity is running low and cold with very little fishing pressure. It is hard to find anyone fishing on the river. The few that are fishing are having a good time catching and releasing steelhead with some good-sized adults amongst the jacks. It is true that 75% of the steelhead landed are native fish, but it is still fun hooking into one of those feisty fish. From the Willow Creek Weir counts the main part of this run happened last week down here so I would expect that those fish should be arriving in the upper part of the river by this weekend. The low flow (293cfs Lewiston releases) of the river and clarity of the water makes it hard to just walk up and drop a line in without spooking the fish. So, I recommend stealth and patients to land those Iron Heads.

Upper Klamath fish video counts: Julian week 43 ending Oct. 29, 11, 16; Bogus Creek, Chinook salmon 1,062; Coho 0; Scott River, Chinook salmon 1,000, Coho 1; Shasta River, Chinook salmon 5,592, total 6,093, Coho 0.

Lower Klamath Creel Counts:) Julian week 43 ending Oct. 28, Below Highway 101 Bridge; jacks 0, adults 14, total 14, season total 1,006.
Above Highway 101 Bridge; 4-jacks, 11- adults, total 14, season total 4,820. Lower Klamath season total count 5,826. The Lower Klamath river quota has not been met yet so one can still keep adult salmon below the Wetchpec Bridge.

Mid-Klamath: The Klamath at Weitchpec is flowing about 2,712cfs. Fishing below Orleans has slowed for salmon with the colder water but has picked up somewhat for steelhead. The Happy Camp to I-5 has really turned hot for steelhead fishing. The area below the dam has been hard for salmon as the salmon a re very dark, but fishing for trout and steelhead has picked up with the colder weather and cooler water.

Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 85% of capacity (a decrease of 5%) with inflows of 532cfs and releasing 541cfs on to Keswick and the Sacramento River. Shasta is 72% of capacity (a decrease of 1% minus 3ft) with inflows of 2,359cfs and releasing 5,398cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 94% (an increase of 3%) with inflows of 6,020cfs and releasing 5,741cfs into the Sacramento river. Oroville Lake is 57% of capacity (a decrease of 2% minus 7ft) with inflows of 1,240cfs with releases of 4,484cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 66% of capacity (a decrease of 6% minus 6ft) with inflows of 1,306cfs with releases of 2,953cfs into the American river.

Trinity Lake: The lake is 31ft below the overflow (an increase of 1ft) and 80% of capacity (a decrease of 1%) and inflows are 113cfs and releasing 901cfs into Lewiston Lake with 608cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing 5,741cfs 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 43.6 degrees and air at N/A as of 12:00pm today Sunday November 3, 2019. Limekiln Gulch is 4.72ft at 327cfs. Douglas City is 6.27ft and flows of 320cfs. with air temps of 55 water temperatures of 45.4 degrees. Junction City is 1.69ft at 373cfs. Helena is 8.09ft at 346cfs with water temps of 46.2 degrees and water turbidity at 0.90. 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 50 degrees and water at 46.3 degrees. Hoopa is 11.27ft at 665cfs and water is 46.8 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath are estimated to be 2,712cfs.

Klamath: Iron Gate is releasing 1,308cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.67ft at 1,600cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 1,656cfs, the Salmon River is 1.92ft at 219cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 1,828cfs. Orleans is 3.06ft at 2,047cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 8.74ft at 3,134cfs and water temps are 49.2 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jedia Smith is 8.46ft with flows of 820cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 11.78ft at N/A cfs.

Temperatures in the Valley last week had a high of 68 and a low of 31. Rain for the week was 0.00in with a water year to date of 2.38 inches, with snow of 0.0in. in the valley to date. Forecasts for next week are for temperatures of highs of 85 and lows of 46 with some clouds at first and then sunshine for the rest of the week. Fishing for the coming weekend is looking better on the Klamath but with more steelhead on the Trinity. We need some rain to bring in more fresh fish and improve fishing.

It’s a New Year for fishing

It is winter steelhead fishing time

What happened to the fish – they are moving!

What happened to the fish?

Winter like weather is steelhead weather

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