TRINITY RIVER FISHING REPORT –September 8, 2024
From Willow Creek, CA. By E. B. Duggan “D” Fishing, 707-599-2357 at yen2fish@yahoo.com
AFTER 100 YEARS THE KLAMATH FLOWS FREELY
On August 30th the last of the Coffer Dam was removed to allow the Klamath River to flow freely from top to the mouth. This means that the last of the Dams on the Klamath have been removed to allow the river to flow freely for the first time in 100 years. This will open up another 100 miles of in-river spawning plus spawning in many of the streams that feed that portion of the Klamath. Is this a good thing? Only time will tell. In the meantime, the Upper Klamath will experience some dirty water for a short time. As the Dam area is flushed out and the silt from the construction and Dam removal are wash out the water is going to be a bit murky. It would be wise to make a few calls before you plan to fish that area.
Now that it is cooling down some, we should be seeing some fish moving. There is plenty of ½-pounder action on the Trinity River at this time but not many adults yet. You have to be careful as there are still a few Salmon stragglers in the river. Catch and Release is the best way to stay out of trouble. When doing C & R be sure to NOT take the Salmon out of the water as it will stress the fish even more with this warm water.
The Big Rock area of the Trinity River is now open and the Boat Ramp is free to be used for launching and take-outs. This is great as it will make the Big Rock to Tish Tang run shorter and extend the South Fork/Sandy Bar run. Fishing the Big Rock to Tish Tang has been a bit cooler but you have to be careful due to the lower flows and the Hoopa weir is in at the take-out.
Junction City Weir summary: Julian Week 35, 2024, ending Sept. 2, 2024: Chinook Salmon; 1- jacks, 1-adults, total 2, season total 119; Coho Salmon; 0-jacks, 0-adults, total 0, season total 0; Steelhead; 0-1/2lbs, 5-adults, total 4, season total 42; 0-Brown Trout, season total 18.
The Willow Creek Weir was installed Julian Week 34 and started trapping fish right away while trying to get it “dialed in” said Mary-Claire Kier, CDFW Fish Biologist in charge of the Trinity River Weirs. Mary-Claire has been a great source for fish information on the Trinity River and I appreciate it very much. Mary-Claire provided some very important information we should take care and understand.
“Here’s some stuff we need to be aware of;”
1. They normally close the weir traps before sunset and trap overnight, working the fish up the next morning, if all goes well,
throughout the morning open the trapping when done counting;
2. The water temperature in the Lower Trinity (where the Willow Creek Weir is) has been elevated this past week. Our upper water
temperature threshold for trapping is 70F degrees or 21C degrees, which has precluded from trapping overnight every night.
3. Because of the evening water temperatures have been too high to trap, the crew has been checking water temps upstream of the trap every
morning, and if it has been
under those thresholds, they have been setting the trap for a few hours of morning trapping.
4. They love to trap fish (and get tags on them) but they will never trap if the trapping is going to put the fish in danger.
5. They have not had a single tagged fish “wash back” dead this season.
6. When the water is warm(er), fish tend to hang in deeper holes/refugia and not move upstream a lot. Water temperature is far lower in the upper
Trinity (where the Junction City weir is located), Fall fish are waiting to move upstream until cooler water entices them upstream.
Willow Creek weir summary: The Willow Creek weir was installed Julian Week 34 Aug. 20, 2024 and started counting. Julian Week 35 ending Sept. 2, 2024; Chinook Salmon, 4-jacks, 20-adulta, total 75, season total 75; Coho Salmon, 0-jacks, 0-adults, season total 0, Steelhead, 5-1/2-pounders, 114-adults, total 119, season total 276. It looks like we are having a great stating of the Fall run Steelhead!
Fishing: It looks like they have most of the local fires under control and there is good access to the Trinity River both up river and the lower river. So come on up and try your had at some Steelhead fishing. Remember to only Catch & Release all Salmon and not remove them from the water. Do be sure and remove the tags and turn them in for the rewards before you release them. Fishing for Steelhead is best early mornings or later in the afternoons when it cools down. Fishing for Steelhead is good right now using hardware, spinners and spoons are working very good right now. Blue Fox in numbers 3 and 4 with red, blue or green bodies with silver spinner. Fly fishing is also starting to pick up in the upper river and should be working in the lower river also. A nice 32lbs Salmon was caught and released by Adam Eckanwiler up by the Susie Q hole. I am sorry I couldn’t download the picture for some reason. He caught it on a #4 Blue Fox spinner. To bad he couldn’t keep it.
Lewiston Lake: Fishing up river has been a hit and miss situation right now but should start to pick real soon as the Trinity starts to cool down. For fishing the upper river; Lewiston Lake and Trinity Lake information you can call, Pine Cove Marina, Matt or Louise (530)778-3878, for the river you can call Indian Creek Lodge, Cory, (530)623-6294 or Junction City Store, Butch, (530)623-2803.
Mid-Klamath to Happy Camp: The Klamath River at Weitchpec is flowing 2,329cfs. This is a decrease of 966cfs. Iron Gate- Bogus Creek area is flowing 982cfs an increase of 102cfs from last time. The Upper Klamath is flowing good but has a lot of silt and dirt in the water after they removed the coffer dam. The coffer dam was put into place so they could change the flow to finish removing the old dam. Fishing above I-5 should start to improve as the flows clear the Iron Gate Dam Area Fishing has been scarce due to the fires. It seems that many fishermen are staying away from the Upper Klamath until the river clears up more.
Seiad Valley is flowing 1,144cfs so the river is up from last time. If you are interested in fishing the Klamath you might call the Marble Mountain Guest Ranch (800) 522-6284, or Scott Caldwell, SC Guide Service (530)905-0758
Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 99% of capacity (a decrease of 0%) with inflows of 1,535cfs with releases of 1,356cfs into Spring Creek. Shasta Lake is 65% of capacity (a decrease of 1% and minus 3ft) with inflows of 3,729cfs and releasing 7,633cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 96% of capacity (an increase of 1%) with inflows of 9,450cfs and releases of 9,83cfs into the Sacramento River. Oroville Lake is 65% of capacity (a decrease of % and minus 8ft) with inflows of 3,299cfs with releases of 13,520cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 50% of capacity (a decrease of 2% and minus 1ft) with inflows of 2,058cfs with releases of 2,597cfs into the American river. Trinity Lake storage is 1,800,097AF a decrease of 24,561AF of storage.
Trinity Lake: The lake is 43ft below the overflow (an increase of 1ft) and 74% of capacity (a decrease of 1%) with inflows of 127cfs and releasing 1,846cfs into Lewiston Lake with 1,367cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown and on to the Keswick Power Plant while releasing 9,183cfs into the Sacramento River.
Trinity River flows and conditions: Trinity Lake is 74% of capacity (a decrease of 1%) and 43ft below the overflow an increase of 1ft. Lewiston Dam is 94% of capacity (a decrease of 2%) and water releases of 479cfs into the Trinity River, with water temperatures of 49.7 degrees, as of 12:00pm today Sunday September 8, 2024. Limekiln Gulch is 4.92ft at 472cfs. Douglas City is 6.72ft with flows of 051cfs with water temperatures of 53.8 degrees. Junction City is 1.96ft at 511cfs. Helena is 8.86ft at 592cfs with water temps of 59.1 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 2.00cfs and flowing 29cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 621 and air is 85 degrees and water at 66 degrees, Hoopa is 11.54ft at 828cfs with water at 70.1 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath in Weitchpec are estimated to be 2,329cfs a decrease of 825cfs.
Klamath River flows and conditions: Iron Gate/Bogus Creek flows are 982cfs, an increase of 102cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.03ft flowing at 1,144cfs. Indian Creek is 3.49ft at 57cfs. Happy Camp is estimated to be 1,201cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 1,309cfs, and the Salmon River is 1.48ft at 192cfs. Orleans is 2.20ft at 1,501cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 7.97ft at 2,631cfs and water temps are 71.4degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jediah Smith are 4.74ft with flows of 279cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 11.41ft at N/A.
Temperatures for the Valley last week had a high of 102 and a low of 52 degrees. Rain for the week was 0.00in with a water year total to date of 54.47 inches and 0.40in of snow in Willow Creek. The predicted temperatures for next week are for high of 95 and a low of 52. The weather predicted for the next week is predicted to cool down some showers maybe for Wednesdays and scattered clouds then sunshine.
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, info@willowcreekchamber.com