Trinity River Report, Feb. 6 by E.B. Duggan
Trinity Lake is 107.4 feet below the over flow (4ft decrease) and 42.6 percent of capacity (0.8% increase).
Inflow to the lake is 6,275cfs and 468cfs is being released to Lewiston Lake and 185cfs to the Sacramento River.
Trinity River at Lewiston is 283cfs, water temps are 45.3, air?? degrees at 10:00am today.
Limekiln Gulch is 5.2ft at 700cfs. Douglas City is 3.7ft at 1,330cfs, water temps are 44.4, air 43 degrees.
Helena/North Fork is 12.5ft and 2,410cfs, water temps 45.7, air 48. Cedar Flat is 8.2ft at 4,420cfs.
Willow Creek is estimated at 9,240cfs, water temps 45.9, air 50 degrees.
Hoopa is 19.9ft at 13.9K cfs, water temps 46.2. Mouth of the Trinity at Klamath is 23.2K cfs, water 46 degrees.
Klamath River releases at Iron Gate are 1,310cfs. Seiad Valley is 3.6ft at 2,400cfs.
Happy Camp is estimated at 3,375cfs. Somes Bar is estimated at 7,350cfs. Orleans is 8 ft at 9,300cfs.
Klamath at 101 is 16.1ft at 29.3K cfs and water temperatures of 45.8 degrees.
Last week’s temperatures for the Trinity Valley were 56/40 degrees, rainfall 2.6 inches, rainfall to date 40.35 inches. Forecasts for next week in the valley are 51/34 degrees with showers Monday, and Tuesday and Friday thru Sunday. The main stem of the Trinity really came up for the weekend. With almost 1.5 inches of rain the upper Trinity came up one to two feet while the Lower trinity saw about a 4ft raise. The upper river is muddy today but should clear by Monday or Tuesday of next week.
Trinity River Hatchery Steelhead Count: Jan 28; 456, total of 3,195, ’09 vs. 1,671, ’08. Jan. 28: Coho, 3,359 for '09 vs. 5,188 in '08. Although the final numbers are not complete yet it is so close that one could say that the Klamath River Basin made the escapement goal for the 2009 Fall Chinook. I should have more on this for the next report. The escapement goal for the Klamath River Basin was 40,700 Fall Chinook for the 2009 salmon season. Had this goal not be reached the Pacific Fisheries Management Council could have imposed very stiff season limits. This is not to say that they won’t do just that at the March 5 thru 11, 2010 meeting in Sacramento it just allows the PFMC to consider other possible solutions other than no keeping of adult Chinook. We went through that a few years back and it really devastated salmon fishing. I hope that the fishing interests can make the point of al least some type of Salmon season. We will see come March. The rains just seem to keep on coming in sustainable quantities that help with the lakes water levels but not blowing out the rivers for long periods of time. Trinity Lake came up another 12 ft this past week and Shasta Lake came up 63.7 more feet. This is good in that it will help water flows during salmon season. The good part is that Steelhead are moving and they are in much of the upper river. The not so bad is that you will run into more native fish and will have to release them. From what I have been able to find out is that most of the guides fishing the upper river are hooking five to six fish per day and landing two to three. At the present time I can’t recommend you try to fish the lower river, but that could change in just another week if the coming storms are as light as NOAA says they are. The word form over on the Klamath is that the water is high right now but could be in good fishing condition from Weitchpec to Somes Bar in about another week. There are some nice adult winter steelhead being taken in the subsistence nets down at Weitchpec so there should be some good fishing for adults in that same general area just as soon as the river drops some more. As the river recedes I have found that that is the best time to get out there and work the river for these winter monsters. Until next time, Good Fish’en and Good Luck and remember: “keep your tip up with a tight line lands fish!’ Websites: www.MyOutdoorBuddy.com, www.willowcreekchamber.com, www.fishtrinity.com
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