How do we manage the water supply? One thing that is NOT considered is the population to water need! As the population grows our water supply stays stagnate. The state has not increased water storage in over 30 years that I know of, yet the population in the state has grown by almost 20 million or just about doubled. The need for water has increased in comparison yet no added water storage. Because the population has increased so much the need for food has also increased. To grow food, you need water. To grow fish, you need water. So how do we grow more food and fish with less water? Something to think about. Do we stop people from coming to California, how do we control growth? All of these things need water yet the state does not increase water storage nor decrease water usage except when we have a drought then there is NO WATER. Some thing for our legislators to seriously consider.
Correction; last week I made the mistake of not checking out my source about the monitoring of the fish up at Junction City weir. I apologize and have corrected that problem.
According to the weather prediction for the coming week it looks like we will be getting some rain. I said SOME not a lot. The weather report says we should be having some rain for the next weekend. This will help the fish and maybe start the steelhead to start coming into the river system. If the weather prediction is correct, we could see some rain and possible snow in the higher elevation. We need more snow pack for later water.
Junction City Weir summary: Julian week 47 ending on Nov. 25, 2021 for Fall Run Chinook; 1-jack, 9- adult, total 10, season total 1,859; Coho, 0-jacks, 35-adi;ts, total 35, season total 296; steelhead,0-1/2-pounders, 1-adult, total 1,season total 196, Brown Trout 0, season total 11.
Trinity River Hatchery summary: Spring Run Chinook salmon totals; 452-jacks, 1,553 adults; totals 2,005; Fall Run Chinook Salmon Julian Week 5 ending on Nov. 18, 2021; 47-jacks, 1,937-adults, total 1,984, season total 4,825.
Fishing: The Lower Trinity looks good for fishing with medium flows and clear water. One has to be a bit careful when approaching possible holding water because of the clear water. Stealth is the right manner to fish this kind of water. Depending on the manner in which you fish whether fly, hardware or bait you want use smaller presentation in order to no spook the fish. I am to see some of the fishing guides from up river work the lower part of the river now because there is too many fishing the upper rive and is crowded. When fishing that kind of water, one has the use “river edict” to get along and I am hearing that some of the new younger guides do not know what that is. I am sorry to hear that as when I was guiding, we all respected the bank fisherman as they had to walk into the area to fish while we had plenty of other water to fish.
Mid-Klamath to Happy Camp: The Klamath River at Weitchpec is flowing 3,301cfs. This is a decrease of 501cfs. Iron Gate Dam is releasing 1,014cfs. With the temperatures in the mid-50s to low-60s and the river in the high 40s. Right now, the Klamath is fishable from Weitchpec up to Iron Gate. With Weitchoec water flows lowering Weitchpec/Orleans area is very fishable but finding the fish is a bit harder. Clear water is always heard to fish but using stealth and smaller presentations helps one to get more hookups.
Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 86% of capacity (an increase of 0%) with inflows of 238cfs and releasing 428cfs in to Spring Creek. Shasta Lake is 25% of capacity (an increase of 0% plus 0ft) with inflows of 2,129cfs and releasing 1,271cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 92% (an increase of 6%) with inflows of 3,341cfs and releasing 3,302cfs into the Sacramento River. Oroville Lake is 30% of capacity (an increase of 0% plus 0ft) with inflows of 1,219cfs with releases of 1,002cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 37% of capacity (an increase of 1% plus 1ft) with inflows of 1,354cfs with releases of 621cfs into the American river.
Trinity Lake: The lake is 152ft below the overflow (a decrease of 0ft) and 29% of capacity (an increase of 0%) with inflows of 338cfs and releasing 442cfs into Lewiston Lake with 151cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing 3,303cfs into the Sacramento River.
Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is 97% of capacity (an increase of 1%) and water releases are 291cfs into the Trinity River, with water temperatures of 51.6 degrees, as of 1:00pm today Saturday December 4, 2021. Limekiln Gulch is 4.64ft at 287cfs. Douglas City is 6.26ft with flows of 332cfs with water temperatures of 47.8 degrees. Junction City is 1.70ft at 326cfs. Helena is 8.19ft at 404cfs with water temps of 47.5 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 2.67ft at 502cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 2.79ft at 250cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 752cfs and air is 50 degrees and water at 46 degrees and the river is gin clear. Some rain could help. Hoopa is 11.93ft at 1,078cfs and water is 46.5 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath in Weitchpec are estimated to be 3,301cfs a decrease of 501cfs.
Klamath River flows and conditions: Iron Gate is releasing 1,014cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.22ft at 1,252cfs. Indian Creek is 3.81ft at 164cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 1,562\\\416cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 1,804cfs, and the Salmon River is 2.01ft at 419cfs. Orleans is 2.75ft at 2,223cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 9.12ft at 4,117cfs and water temps are 48.3 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jed Smith are 5.95ft with flows of 942cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 12.73 ft at N/A cfs.
Temperatures for the Valley last week had a high of 56 and a low of 34 degrees. Rain for the week was 0.00in with a water year total to date of 17.77 inches and 0.0in of snow in Willow Creek. The predicted weather for next week is high of 63 and a low of 35. The predicted weather for next week is cloudy for the first part of the week and some light rain with showers over the weekend and into the first art of the week, with possibly some snow in the higher elevations.
