We are still seeing a smoky haze sometimes in the afternoon from the Red/Salmon fire but not every day. The hazy days has kind of has been a blessing as it helps keep the sun shadowed and a bit cooler in the afternoons.

Still haven’t verified the Hoopa weir yet but it appears that it is going in after the Holiday Weekend. I was hoping that they might hold off to try and help get a good return to the hatchery so we might start getting a regular return of salmon and steelhead. 

The Willow Creek weir is having to change its location but it looks as though it will be going in upstream from Kimtu Beach. At least the Trinity will get a count of Fall Run Chinook for this year. This is vital to the over all return of salmon and steelhead to see what our next years quotas will be. I hope this will change in the future because it is a vital count for the estimated Klamath Basin fish returns. 

Junction City Weir: Julian week 34 ending Aug. 26, 2020; Chinook salmon, 9-jacks, 3- adults, total 12, season total 332; Coho 0; steelhead, ½ lbers 0, adults 2, total 2, season total 54; Brown trout 0, season total 13.

The Willow Creek weir hopefully will be installed sometime after the Holliday Weekend.

Fishing: Fishing has been kind of slow in the Willow Creek area but some what better in the upper part of the river. Kyle Catanese (sorry last week I made a typo and put in to many Ns) fished the upper sections twice last week. Wednesday, he fished the Lewiston run and caught and released 4 jack salmon and 2 adults on spinners. The adults were nice and bright so that says that the Fall Run has started, a little late but they are in the river. Saturday, he fished the Del Loma run and caught and released 3 nice steelhead. One which was 12lbs. That was caught by Jake Coronzos, boy was he a happy fisherman. It looks like the best fishing for right now is in the early mornings, so best be up and out there as close to day light because after the sun raises it will be some hard fishing. For next week especially you want to be heading back to camp by noon as it is going to be hot (triple digit) this coming weekend.        

Don’t forget fishing will close in the Falls area Aug. 31st sundown from the bridge at Hawkins Bar up to the Bridge at Cedar Flat on Hwy. 299.

Lower Klamath River Creel count: Julian week 34 ending Aug. 26; Below Hwy 101 Bridge; 40-jacks,season total 40, 37-adults, season total 89, combined season total 129. Above Hwy 101 Bridge; 69-jacks, season total 93; 44-adults, season total 52, combined season total 145.   

Mid-Klamath to Happy Camp: The Klamath River at Weitchpec is flowing @ 2,900cfs. an increase of 1,300cfs from the last week. Iron Gate Dam is releasing 1,663cfs as of this morning. Fishing from I-5 to the Dam should really be great for steelhead and trout right now with the good water releases. I would expect it to be an early morning fish with the expected triple digit weather coming to the valley this weekend. 

Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 98% of capacity (a decrease of 1%) with inflows of N/A cfs and releasing N/A cfs on to Keswick. Shasta Lake is 52% of capacity (a decrease of 1% minus 3ft) with inflows of n/a cfs and releasing 6,751cfs into Keswick. Keswick is N/A% (an increase of 0%) with inflows of N/A cfs and releasing N/A cfs into the Sacramento river. Oroville Lake is 48% of capacity (a decrease of 1% minus 3ft) with inflows of N/A cfs with releases of N/A cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 49% of capacity (a decrease of 1% minus 1ft) with inflows of N/A cfs with releases of N/Acfs into the American river. 

Trinity Lake: The lake is 66ft below the overflow (an increase of 2ft) and 62% of capacity (a decrease of 1%) with  inflows of N/A cfs and releasing N/Acfs into Lewiston Lake with N/A cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing N/A cfs into the Sacramento River. 

Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is N/A% of capacity (an increase of 0%) and water releases are 461cfs into the Trinity River, with water temperatures of 50.9 degrees, as of 12:00pm today Sunday August 30, 2020. Limekiln Gulch is 4.61ft at 451cfs. Douglas City is 6.54ft with flows of 473cfs. with air temps of 86 and water temperatures of 56.1 degrees. Junction City is 1.98ft at 488cfs. Helena is 8.47ft at 494cfs with water temps of 61.1 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 2.62ft at 492cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 1.83ft at 37cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 529cfs and air is 81 degrees and water at 68.4 degrees. Hoopa is 11.15ft at 613cfs and water is 71.9 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath in Weitchpec are estimated to be 2,913cfs an increase of 1,300cfs. 

Klamath River flows and conditions: Iron Gate is releasing 1,663cfs. Seiad Valley is 3.02ft at 1,852cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 1,885cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 2,156cfs, and the Salmon River is 1.42ft at 144cfs. Orleans is 3.02ft at 2,300cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 8.06ft at 2,223cfs and water temps are 71.7 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jedia Smith are 4.66ft with flows of 242cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 11.63ft at N/A cfs. 

Temperatures in the Valley last week had a high of 98 and a low of 55 degrees. Rain for the week was 0.00in with a water year to date of 42.47 inches, with snow in Willow Creek of 1.45in. Forecasts for next week are for several more days of triple digits with highs of 104 and lows of 65. The temperatures for next weekend are expected to reach into triple digits. With high temperatures of 104 please remember and be sure to stay well hydrated and be sure to have lots sun screen.