Trinity River in summer flows
The Trinity River is in summer flows now and will drop to winter flows in October. The river is flowing steady at around 450cfs with water temperatures in the low 60s. We had a little bit of sprinkles this morning but not enough to get you wet. We are expecting some rain tonight but not enough to change the water flows for the river. The Lower Trinity is flowing at summer swimming and tubing time. You have to be careful while swimming as the current is stronger than it looks and you want to keep a close eye on young children when playing around the river. It is best to have a life vest on all children when they are playing in the river as it only takes a second for them to be swept away of drown. Every year we lose a couple of people to the river, don’t let it be one of yours!
The state of California is proposing $1.5 Billion for the purposes of buying out “Senior Water Rights” from farmers in order to leave more water in the rivers to provide cooler water for fish. The purposes are to hopefully increase spawning and survival of young fish to help increase the fisheries and fishing both in the rivers and ocean. Commercial fisheries have decreased over the last several years to the point that many commercial fishermen have gone out of business. This is a loss of Billions of dollars to the economy for coastal and inland communities.
Scott River screw trapping summary: estimate of 419,717 age 0+ Chinook Salmon have out-migrated from the Scott River to date and 78,083 age 1+ Coho have out migrated. June 10, 2022; 28,779 age 0+ and 67 age 1+ Chinook; 461 age 0+ and 1,705 age 1+ Coho salmon have out-migrated this week.
Shasta River screw trapping summary: an estimated1,497,650 Chinook salmon aged 0+ and 2,37 Coho aged 1+ have outmigrating form the Shasta River. June 10, 2022; 380,365 aged 0+ and 31 aged 1+ Chinook salmon have outmigrated; 245 aged 0+ and 549 aged 1+ Coho migrated out last week.
Junction City weir summary: Julian week 22 ending June 3,2022; 45 adult Chinook salmon; 0 Coho salmon; 1steelhead; 0 Brown trout.
Fishing: The Trinity River in in summer water flows and the lower river is clear. I have not seen much fishing but a lot of sunbathing. Some tubing has been going on in the Willow Creek area but all of the schools are not out for summer break yet. With the heat in the low 90s in the valley fishing has ben kept to the early early mornings. Most fishermen that are fishing hit the river right after daylight and are on their way or at home by the time the sun hits the water. The upper river is quite right now but will come alive soon as some early springers have been counted at eh Junction City weir.
Mid-Klamath to Happy Camp: The Klamath River at Weitchpec is flowing 6,574cfs. This is a decrease of 268cfs. Iron Gate Dam is releasing 1,065cfs. The Orleans area has not been seeing very much fishing lately because of the high-water flows. I would expect that to change as the summer water flows are flowing at Weitchpec and the river is dropping. Happy Camp should be seen some fair too good trout fishing in the early mornings or late evenings. Above I-5 area should start to be better tout fishing as the summer progresses. If you are interested in fishing this area you should contact Scott Caldwell fishing.
Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 97% of capacity (a decrease of 1%) with inflows of 425cfs and releasing 505cfs in to Spring Creek. Shasta Lake is 40% of capacity (a decrease of 0% minus 0ft) with inflows of 3,219cfs and releasing 3,714cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 93% (an increase of 2%) with inflows of 4,375cfs and releasing 3,949cfs into the Sacramento River. Oroville Lake is 53% of capacity (a decrease of 1% minus 3ft) with inflows of 3,337cfs with releases of 5,711cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 88% of capacity (a decrease of 1% minus 1ft) with inflows of 1,855cfs with releases of 2,105cfs into the American river.
Trinity Lake: The lake is 148ft below the overflow (an increase of 0ft) and 30% of capacity (a decrease of 0%) with inflows of 584cfs and releasing 812cfs into Lewiston Lake with 374cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing 3,949cfs into the Sacramento River.
Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is 94% of capacity (a decrease of 2%) and water releases are 438cfs into the Trinity River, with water temperatures of 55.5 degrees, as of 11:00am today Saturday June 11, 2022. Limekiln Gulch is 4.88ft at 443cfs. Douglas City is 6.54ft with flows of 473cfs with water temperatures of 60.4 degrees. Junction City is 2.00ft at 484cfs. Helena is 9.09ft at 694cfs with water temps of 62.3 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 3.92ft at 1,054cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 2.76ft at 347cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 1,398cfs and air is 79 degrees and water at 64.3 degrees, the river is gen clear and at summer flows. Hoopa is 13.08ft at 2,017cfs and water is 66.8 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath in Weitchpec are estimated to be 6,574cfs a decrease of 268cfs.
Klamath River flows and conditions: Iron Gate is releasing 1,065cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.92ft at 1,799cfs. Indian Creek is 4.37ft at 315cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 2,114cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 3,191cfs, and the Salmon River is 3.34ft at 1,366cfs. Orleans is 4.49ft at 4,557cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 10.73ft at 7,997cfs and water temps are 65.1 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jed Smith are 6.49ft with flows of 1,802cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 13.53 ft at N/A cfs
Temperatures for the Valley last week had a high of 93 and a low of 48 degrees. Rain for the week was 0.06in (just a trace) with a water year total to date of 54.73 inches and 5.0in of snow in Willow Creek. We have been experiencing some late spring showers. The predicted weather for next week is high of 81 and a low of 5 with the possibility of a few spring showers Thursday but mostly just cloudy skies and sunshine in between.