I hope everyone had a great Mothers Day and those of you who do fish just maybe you had a great day of fishing.
The last couple of weeks the water flows have been like a yo-yoing, up/down up/down and now they on their way back up again. These water flows are great for rafting but not very friendly for fishing. I have not seen any fishermen out fishing nor have I been able to find anyone fishing. The Trinity is looking very good for color but is kind of high for any type of fishing so I can’t say very much about fishing. The Klamath is about in the same condition right now. There are down runners heading back out to sea and some spring salmon are trying to come into mouth of the Klamath but with the high water on the Lower Klamath I would imagine that it is very hard to fish right now. I have been watching the river here in Willow Creek and it looks really great for fishing but the current is flowing so fast your bait would look like a racing car going down the river. In the next couple of days the Trinity is going to get a couple of spike releases of 1,700cfs and 1,600cfs. This will NOT be very conducive for fishing. The good part is that it will maybe start some Springer’s to find their way into the river and start up river. I sure hope so as I am getting tired of just looking at the river instead of fishing the river.
Notice; The Fish Lake “Kids Fish Derby” is schedule for June 23, 2018, so you might want to mark your calendar. The USFS is having some troubles with the water systems for the camp grounds right now but I really hope that this will be cleared up by the time comes for the “Kids Fishing Derby”.
Fishing: Right now fishing will be very difficult due to the fluctuating water releases. The best opportunities will be when the water releases start dropping sometime around June 12th – 14th. The upper Trinity will be the best area first for any type of fishing and then as the river drops you will able to move down river to your favorite area. When fishing high water I usually have used larger hardware such as #4 or 5 spinners or 5/8th oz spoons. Best colors for me are Orange body w/silver blade or florescent green body w/silver blade or spoons to match the same colors. Also work the slower back eddies and the shallow waters.
Mid-Klamath: Iron Gate Dam is releasing 2,959cfs today. That is an increase of 1,534cfs from two weeks ago. Fishing the Upper Klamath from I-5 to the dam would be a very hard fish for the Memorial Day weekend. Many of the lakes in northern Calif. are not full but with the coming sunshine they just might become fuller with snow melt.
Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 95% of capacity (a decrease of 1%) with inflows of 525cfs and releasing 197cfs into Clear Creek and on to Keswick. Shasta is 89% (a decrease of 3% and 4ft) with inflows of 2,518cfs and releasing 8,713cfs, Keswick is 90% of capacity (an increase of 5%) with inflows of 8,878cfs and releasing 9,243cfs; Oroville Lake is 69% capacity (a decrease of 1% & plus 2ft), inflow is 2,661cfs and releases are 3,191cfs; Folsom Lake is 96% of capacity plus 4% & plus 3ft.) inflows are 4,073cfs and releases are 1,986cfs.
Trinity Lake: The Lake is 36ft below the overflow (a decrease of 1ft) and 78% of capacity (1% decrease) Inflow to Trinity Lake is 999cfs and Trinity Dam is releasing 1,962cfs to Lewiston Lake with 226cfs going to Whiskeytown Lake and on to the Keswick Power Plant and it is releasing 9,243cfs to the Sacramento River.
Trinity River Flows and Conditions: Lewiston Dam releases are 1,736cfs with water temps of 51.1 degrees and air is 68 at 12:00pm today. Limekiln Gulch is 6ft at 1,408cfs, with water temps of 53.1 degrees. Douglas City is 7.7ft at 1,450cfs, water temps of 53 degrees and air is 71. Junction City is 6.6ft at 1,490cfs. Helena is 11.5ft at 1,795cfs with water temps of 54.4. Cedar Flat is 5.9ft at 2,245cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 2,797cfs and air is 66 with water at 58. Hoopa is 14.6ft at 3,437cfs with water temps of 60.3. Flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at Klamath River are estimated to be 10.5Kcfs.
Klamath: Iron Gate Dam releases are 2,959cfs. Seiad Valley is 5.1ft at 4,192cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 4,442cfs, Salmon River is 3.5ft at 1,472cfs, Somes Bar is estimated at 5,602cfs and Orleans is 6.3ft. at 7,074cfs and the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 11.8ft at 12.9Kcfs, with water temperatures of 61.1 degrees. Flows at Smith River, Dr. Fine Bridge are 6.3ft at 1,330cfs.
The low temperatures for Valley last week were 46 to 50 and the high was 83 with 1.05in of rain with a season total of 68.05in of rain with a total of 4.15in of snow. Temperatures in the valley next week are expected get up to 86/49 degrees with some scattered showers and maybe a little sunshine in the following week.
