From Willow Creek, CA. By E. B. Duggan “D” Fishing, 707-599-2357 at yen2fish@yahoo.com
IS IT WINTER OR SPRING?
With this crazy weather we don’t know if it is still Winter or is it Spring. One thing we do know is it is “Spring Forward” time to change our clocks forward one hour for “Daylight Savings” time! This weather has the Spring Flowers blooming like mad and the fruit trees starting to bud. This is not good as we could still have some freezing temperatures ahead of us which will hurt the fruit set and cause farmers loss of valuable fruit sales. For sure it has helped the many reservoirs to fill to a point that water has to be released for the “Safety of Dams” to prevent a disaster to the downstream areas. This is not good news to those people as many areas have already experienced some flooding.
Crazy Trump/Musk orders? President Trump orders “More water released to Southern California” and then Musk fires the people responsible for the control of releasing that water. Now what happens? The water is released into the rivers to flow out to sea, exactly what President Trump was complaining about. “Stop the waste of water by releasing the water down the rivers to save fish!” Fish over People, water for fish or water for farming or water to fight fires? Now we are back to the water wars everybody wants to stop. This year looks like the possibility that there could be enough water for both if there was a serious and considerate look at the possibilities. We are at the verge of losing Salmon fishing with the low returns we have been experiencing lately. We cannot afford to lose our fishing industry as it is a vital source of food the and to the economy, the same as farming is. A pause to this none since would go a long way for everything.
Lewiston Lake: The Lewiston marina must be close for the winter as I have not received a report for several weeks now, I suspect the marina has closed for the winter. For the upper river you can call Indian Creek Lodge, Andy or Hannah, (530)623-6294), Junction City Store, Butch, (530)623-2803.
Willow Creek: Fishing the Willow Creek area has been up and down lately but now that the river is dropping down runners are starting to appear. These are Steelhead the have already spawned and are headed back to sea. They are a lot of fun to catch and release. They go after bait mostly but will strike hardware sometimes. You want to be sure you release these fish properly so the4y will survive and return in a couple of years to produce more Steelhead.
Mid-Klamath to Happy Camp: The Klamath River at Weitchpec is flowing 25,057cfs. This is a decrease of 35,971cfs. The Iron Gate/Bogus Creek area is flowing 3,150cfs a decrease of 580cfs from the last report. The Upper Klamath has been flowing high with all the rain but is now starting to drop which is good for fishing. I have not received very much fishing information form that area so if you wish to fish that area, I suggest you call Marble Mountain Guest Ranch (800) 522-6284, or Scott Caldwell, SC Guide Service (530)905-0758 to get proper fishing information to fish the Upper Klamath.
Lake Conditions: These readings are for March 8 & 9, 2025. Whiskeytown is 96% of capacity (an increase of 2%) with inflows of 430cfs with releases of 314cfs. Shasta Lake is 80% of capacity, an increase of 2% and plus 6ft with inflows of 9,922cfs and releasing 6,696cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 91% of capacity (an increase of 1%) with inflows of 6,486cfs and releases of 6,072cfs into the Sacramento River. Oroville Lake is 84% of capacity, an increase of 0% and plus 1ft, with inflows of 8,309cfs with releases of 8,831cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 64% of capacity, a decrease of 2% and minus 4ft, with inflows of 3,762cfs with releases of 4,907cfs into the American River. Trinity Lake storage is 2,022,138AF an increase of 9,334AF of storage.
Trinity Lake: The lake is 28ft below the overflow, a decrease of 0ft and 83% of capacity (an increase of 1%) with inflows of 2,235cfs and releasing 3,192cfs into Lewiston Lake with 00cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown and on to the Keswick Power Plant, still releasing 6,072cfs into the Sacramento River.
Trinity River flows and conditions: Trinity Lake is 83% of capacity, an increase of 1% and 28ft below the overflow an increase of 0ft. Lewiston Dam is 98% of capacity, an increase of 1% and water releases of 3,561cfs into the Trinity River, with water temperatures of 44.3 degrees, as of 12:15pm today Sunday March 8 & 9, 2025. Note; the release information is from Midnight and 12:15) Limekiln Gulch is 7.65t at 3,692cfs. Douglas City is 9.92ft with flows of 3,889cfs with water temperatures of 45.2 degrees. Junction City is N/Aft at N/Acfs. Helena is 14.17ft at 4,362cfs with water temps of 46.4 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is N/Aft at 0.00cfs (Gauge is still out of order). South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 6.43 at 2,354cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 6,714cfs, air is 66 degrees and water at 46.5 degrees, Hoopa is 18.36ft at 10,294cfs with water at 46.7 degrees.
Klamath River flows and conditions: Flows at the Iron Gate/ Bogas Creek are 3,150cfs, a decrease of 580cfs. Seiad Valley is 6.97ft at 7,069cfs. Indian Creek is 5.48ft at 654cfs. Happy Camp is estimated to be 7,743cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 11,605cfs, and the Salmon River is 4.86ft at 3,158cfs. Orleans is 9.69ft at 14,763cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 15.99ft flowing at 28,391cfs with water temps of 47.3 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jediah Smith are 22,89ft with flows of 57,795cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 28.35ft at N/A.
Temperatures for the Valley last week had a high of 71 and a low of 31 degrees. Rain for the week was 0.59in with a water year total to date of 43.90 and 1.75in of snow in Willow Creek. The predicted temperatures for next week are for high of 67 and a low of 37. The weather predicted for the next week is looking like we could have some scattered showers with intermitted sunshine towards the weekend. Remember these are predicted not for certain.
Good Fishin and Good Luck but remember; “keep your tip up with a tight line lands fish”
Websites: www.norcalfishreports.com/spots/1896/trinity-river—willow-creek-weir.php, willowcreekchamber.com
