It has been HOT, this last week with more to come. That is the forecast for the weather. I am not sure if the river is too hot for the salmon to even survive let alone be able to spawn. The water coming out of the Trinity Lake is too hot for the eggs in the Trinity River Hatchery to hatch so the CDFW purchased chillers to help with the egg collection and hatching. The weather prediction for next week is that the weather will cool down Tuesday thru Thursday then go back up for the weekend. That’s not much relief for the salmon or us!

What with the BOR drawing water from Trinity Lake down to the cold-water pool is the river, hatchery or the power company going to be able survive. I know the TPUD will have a problem to produce power so they will have to buy power from another source. The fish will have trouble surviving in water above 72 degrees.

Junction City weir summary: Julian week 29 ending July 22, 2022; 292 adult Chinook, 4 jack, total 44, season total 2,113; 0- Coho; 11 steelhead, total 11, season total 79; 1-Brown trout, total-1, season total-22.

Fishing: We are working into the dog days of August as all of last week was 100 + degrees, not conducive for fishing. From what I did see and that was not very much, was very little fishing on the Lower Trinity after 10:00am. In fact, I was having trouble finding anyone fishing. Up river I heard that fishing was early morning when it was cool but again not many people fishing.

Mid-Klamath to Happy Camp: The Klamath River at Weitchpec is flowing 1,416cfs. This is a decrease of 1,183cfs.  Iron Gate Dam is releasing 933cfs I would think that was kind of low for fishing above I-5. I know no one has been fishing in that Orleans area because the campgrounds in that area are not in verry good condition and they are having trouble getting campground hosts. This is a shame because in the past it would be hard to find camping space at this time of year. When I was over on the coast it looked the same. I only saw only one campground full of campers, all the rest were practically empty. I saw NO boats on the river fishing!

Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 99% of capacity (an increase of 1%) with inflows of 704cfs and releasing 523cfs in to Spring Creek. Shasta Lake is 38% of capacity (a decrease of 0% minus 2ft) with inflows of 1,911cfs and releasing 3,605cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 89% (a decrease of 8%) with inflows of 4,425cfs and releasing 4,505cfs into the Sacramento River. Oroville Lake is 43% of capacity (a decrease of 3% minus 13ft) with inflows of 1,795cfs with releases of 6,349cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 65% of capacity (a decrease of 10% minus 10ft) with inflows of 1,720cfs with releases of 4,779cfs into the American river.

Trinity Lake: The lake is 158ft below the overflow (a decrease of 2ft) and 27% of capacity (a decrease of 2%) with inflows of 148cfs and releasing 888cfs into Lewiston Lake with 427cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing 4,541cfs into the Sacramento River.

Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is 95% of capacity (an increase of 1%) and water releases of 461cfs into the Trinity River, with water temperatures of 57.8 degrees, as of 11:00am today Saturday July 30, 2022. Limekiln Gulch is 4.86ft at 463cfs. Douglas City is 6.48ft with flows of 437cfs with water temperatures of 63.2 degrees. Junction City is 1.91ft at 437cfs. Helena is 8.39ft at 462cfs with water temps of 68.9 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 2.68ft at 513cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 1.92ft at 95cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 608cfs and air is 86 degrees and water at 73.6 degrees, the river is clear and low, starting to get a little bumpy for the tubers. Hoopa is 11.48ft at 793cfs with water at 77.6 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath in Weitchpec are estimated to be 1,416cfs a decrease of 1,183cfs.

Klamath River flows and conditions: Iron Gate is releasing 933cfs. Seiad Valley is 1.96ft at 1,076cfs. Indian Creek is 3.51ft at 106cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 1,182cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 1,628fs, and the Salmon River is 1.73ft at 295cfs. Orleans is 2.27ft at 1,623cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 8.36ft at 3,892cfs and water temps are 73.7 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jed Smith are 5.10ft with flows of 488cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 12.02ft at N/A cfs.

Temperatures for the Valley last week had a high of 100 and a low of 56 degrees we 100+ all week. Rain for the week was 0.00in with a water year total to date of 55.93 inches and 5.0in of snow in Willow Creek. We have been experiencing some hot weather all week and expect more next week. We could see a cool down in the middle of the week but heating back up buy the weekend. I know this is discouraging information but I want you to be prepared for HOT weather and stay hydrated. The predicted weather for next week is high of 98 and a low of 54 with lots of sunshine during the middle of the week. Good sun bathing but bad fishing weather! 

Websites: MyOutdoorBuddy.com, Willowcreekchamber.com,
from Willow Creek, CA Phone 530-629-3554, E-mail yen2fish@yahoo.com