The Trinity River Willow Creek Weir is supposed to be starting installation Monday Sept. 8th. The river is in summer flow now so we will see what happens. I plan to check both the Willow Creek installation on Monday. I also plan to see when the Hoopa Weir is going to be installed. With the ceremonies over and the water flows back to summer flows, I would expect the Tribe would try to install their weir but with the new administration and the shake-up going on I am not sure what is going to happen. I really hope the Tribe waits for approval from NOAA before they install the weir but it is on the reservation and they have sovereignty it is hard to tell just what will happen about the weir. All we can do is wait and see.
The valley is going through a cooling period right now with cooler water temperatures and cooler days, so I would expect to see more fish moving up the Trinity now. The water flush from the increase water releases should have signaled the fish down at the mouth of the Klamath to start their run up the river to reach their spawning grounds. We have seen a few small pods of salmon with steelhead right behind them, coming through but not the main run yet.
Junction City Weir counts: (I haven’t received the fish counts yet) Julian week 35 the week ending Sep.2; Chinook salmon, 4-jack, 13-adult, total 17, season total 458; Coho 0; steelhead ½-lbs 0, adults 4, season total 91; Brown Trout 1, season total 22.
Fishing: With the Labor Day weekend over and the crowds gone I would expect to see more fishermen out on the river but that is not the case down here in Willow Creek. Del Loma RV and Campground is starting to fill up so I guess there will be some fishing up that way now. I know some fishing was going on up in the Indian Creek Lodge area but I haven’t heard how the fishing was over the weekend. This coming weekend is looking good for both weather and water temperatures, now all we need is for the salmon and steelhead to arrive.
There is still some turbidity in the Junction City area during the week while work is going on but the river work should be coming to a close very soon. It used to be that all river construction had to be finished by September 15th but the construction on the river banks could go into October sometime if the rains didn’t come. Let pray for rain!
Lower Klamath Creel Counts: (Sorry didn’t get he counts yet) Below Highway 101Bridge; Julian week 34 ending Aug. 26; jacks 2, adults 18 total 20, season total 52. Prior to Fall salmon season starting the spit area caught a total of 48 salmon, 46 adults, 2 jacks.
Above Highway 101 Bridge; Julian Week 34 ending Aug. 26; jacks 48, adults 5, total 29, season total 77.
Mid-Klamath: The Klamath at Weitchpec is flowing about 2,125cfs and the river is looking good for fishing. John from E Ne Nuck hasn’t said how the fishing is down there but I heard that the Indians have put out their nets expecting a good run of fish to be coming in now that the flush has over with. There is still some fish hanging out at the mouth of Hopkins and Bluff Creeks so some fish are moving just not the main fall run yet.
With the releases from Iron Gate increasing still up to 1,053cfs the trout fishing from Happy Camp up Iron Gate should be good. 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 want to book him. Flows at Seiad Valley are 1,250cfs. so, fishing above I-5 should still be great.
Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 99% of capacity (an increase of 0%) with inflows of 1,172cfs and releasing 1,117cfs on to Keswick and the Sacramento River. Shasta is 79% of capacity (a decrease of 1% minus 2ft) with inflows of 4,600cfs and releasing 6,848cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 90% (an increase of 1%) with inflows of 8,148cfs and releasing 8,497cfs into the Sacramento river. Oroville Lake is 72% of capacity (a decrease of 3% minus 8ft) with inflows of 1,434cfs with releases of 7,367cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 75% of capacity (a decrease of 2% minus 2ft) with inflows of 1,946cfs with releases of 7,240cfs into the American river.
Trinity Lake: the lake is 23ft below the overflow (an increase of 2ft) and 85% of capacity (a decrease of 1%) and inflows are -514cfs and releasing 1,511cfs into Lewiston Lake with 1,1,044cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing 8,497cfs into the Sacramento River.
Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is 95% of capacity and releases are 467cfs and water temperatures of 54.2 degrees and air at N/A as of 12:00pm today Sunday September 8, 2019. Limekiln Gulch is 4.94ft at 458cfs. Douglas City is 6.57ft and flows of 481cfs. with air temps of 77 water temperatures of N/A degrees. Junction City is 2.03ft at 492cfs. Helena is 8.64ft at 503cfs with water temps of 57.6 degrees and water turbidity at 5.80. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 2.82ft at 564cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 2.06ft at 79cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 643cfs and air is 78 degrees and water at 63 degrees. Hoopa is 11.49ft at 792cfs and water is 66.7 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath are estimated to be 2,125cfs.
Klamath: Iron Gate is releasing 1,053cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.19ft at 1,2250cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 1,302cfs, the Salmon River is 1.91ft at 219cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 1,114cfs. Orleans is 2.57ft at 1,333cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 8.40ft at 2,487cfs and water temps of 68.8 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jedia Smith is 4.75ft and flows of 240cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 11.67ft at N/A cfs.
Temperatures in the Valley last week were a high of 93 and a low of 53. 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 in the low 90s and for the coming weekend temperatures in the high 80s, with overcast and sunshine for the week and weekend. It has started to cool down some which should help with fish movement and fishing.
