Nice weather, now rain
We have seen some nice weather for the last three weeks with no rain and no snow to the higher elevations. This is not good for the spring water flows on the Trinity or the Klamath Rivers. Predicted weather shows the possibility of some rain next week but that does not help the snow pack in the mountains for spring and summer run-off. I hope the weather predictions are correct as we do need rain and snow. Several years ago, we had some of the same kind o f weather with late spring rains but no snow for the mountains. Snow pack is important for the reservoirs and water storage to allow for water in the rivers and water diversions for the Central Valley Farmers. The Trinity River Hatchery has received a fair number of steelhead into the TRH last week. We are still seeing some fair to good fishing for adult steelhead with some ½-pounder action in the river.
The annual salmon review meeting will be held Wednesday March 2, 2022 by zoom from 10:00am to 4:00pm out of Santa Rosa to discuss the projections for river and ocean returns for harvest but the PFMC meetings will come out with the final numbers at their April or May meetings. Contact information will be available later and I will try to publish that info when it becomes available.
With the drought that has been going on for the last couple of years it seems kind of silly to tear down the dams on the Klamath at least until there is in Santa Rosa to discuss the projections for river and ocean returns for harvest but the PFMC meetings will come out with the final numbers at their April or May meetings.
sufficient snow pack in the Sierras or we have a better than 50% average capacity in the California Major Water Supply Reservoir system. At the present time that system has 7 of 17 Reservoirs that are over 50% of capacity, at the same time the snow pack is down at 47% of normal for this time of year. This sound s like a lot of people are going to be short of water this coming year if we don’t get more rain and snow.
Trinity River Hatchery summary: Spring Run Chinook salmon totals; 452-jacks, 1,553 adults; totals 2,005; Fall Run Chinook Salmon Julian Week 4 ending on Jan. 28, 2022; 0-jacks, 0-adults, total 0, season total 5,968; Coho salmon 0-adults, 0-jacks, total 0, season total 2,383; steel head 107, season total 886.
Klamath River Project: Shasta River through Jan. 7, 2022; Shasta River, Chinook salmon 6,908, Coho 50. Scott River through Jan. 3, 2022; Chinook 1,324, Coho 829. Bogus Creek through Jan. 6, 2022; Chinook 2,072, Coho 309. Jan. 13, 2022 Shasta River, an estimated 54,866 Age 0+ have out migrated from the river. What the returns will be has not been projected yet. Fishing: The Lower Trinity is steelhead green with about 6ft of visibiality. I have not seen many fishermen out on the river although I have been helping a few guides with areas to fish. The problem being I am not getting feed back from all of them. Therefore, I am a little short on fishing info to pass on to you.
Mid-Klamath to Happy Camp: The Klamath River at Weitchpec is flowing 8,9493cfs. This is a decrease of 1,914cfs. Iron Gate Dam is releasing 992cfs, earlier in the day Iron Gate was releasing 1,009cfs. Day time temperatures in the low 30s to low 60s and the river in the mid to high 40s. Right now, the Klamath is very dropping fast at Weitchpec. Orleans is looking good for fishing while flowing 6,014cfs. Happy camp and above has been fishing good for trout and some ½-pounders.
Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 85% of capacity (an increase of 1%) with inflows of 252cfs and releasing 214cfs in to Spring Creek. Shasta Lake is 36% of capacity (an increase of 1% plus 5ft) with inflows of 4,731cfs and releasing 3,024cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 92% (an increase of 9%) with inflows of 3,421cfs and releasing 3,279cfs into the Sacramento River. Oroville Lake is –% of capacity (an increase of –% plus –ft) with inflows of 4,201cfs with releases of 3,564cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 54% of capacity (a decrease of 1% minus 1ft) with inflows of 1,923cfs with releases of 1,939cfs into the American river.
Trinity Lake: The lake is 146ft below the overflow (an increase of 3ft) and 32% of capacity (an increase of 1%) with inflows of 1,286cfs and releasing 441cfs into Lewiston Lake with 67cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing 3,279cfs into the Sacramento River.
Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is 96% of capacity (an increase of 0%) and water releases are 374cfs into the Trinity River, with water temperatures of 46.7 degrees, as of 4:00pm today Saturday February 12, 2022. Limekiln Gulch is 4.69ft at 315cfs. Douglas City is 6.38ft with flows of 374cfs with water temperatures of 45.6 degrees. Junction City is 1.68ft at 416cfs. Helena is 8.79ft at 589cfs with water temps of 46.7 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 4.00ft at 1,065cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 3.70ft at 625cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 1,690cfs and air is 55 degrees and water at 46.7 degrees and the river is steelhead green color. Hoopa is 13.95ft at 2,935cfs and water is 46.4 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath in Weitchpec are estimated to be 8,949cfs a decrease of 1,914cfs.
Klamath River flows and conditions: Iron Gate is releasing 992cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.73ft at 1,640cfs. Indian Creek is 5.24ft at 654cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 2,294cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 4,261cfs, and the Salmon River is 3.73ft at 1,753cfs. Orleans is 5.48ft at 6,014cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 11.48ft at 10,448cfs and water temps are 47.8 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jed Smith are 6.66ft with flows of 1,529cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 13.25 ft at N/A cfs.
Temperatures for the Valley last week had a high of 67 and a low of 29 degrees. Rain for the week was 0.00in with a water year total to date of 36.55 inches and 5.0in of snow in Willow Creek. The predicted weather for next week is high of 79 and a low of 36. The predicted weather for next week is mostly clear for the first part of the week but some showers predicted for the weekend.