Finally, Trinity Lake is Getting Water
by E.B. Duggan
6-20-2023
A belated “Happy Father’s Day.” I hope all you fathers had a great Father’s Day.
Trinity Lake is finally getting more water! I looks like the lake has come up 29 feet since early June. That really makes a great difference for the recreational part of the lake. It really helps the cold -water pool in that the lake has gained 809,935Af (Acre Feet) How has it helped the fishing? I am not really sure, but I hope fishing has improved as much as the boating on the lake has. This could finally be a good year for the lake! I sure hope so as the economy could really use the boost.
Things are really going crazy as far as the legislation for “Fishing Disaster Relief” goes. One group wants to say the West Coast Fishing Industry really needs the economical boost and the other states Government has to cut spending. We the people that are affected parties need the funding to make up for the loss as our families depend upon the funding to provide for our families. Science says that if we don’t stop fishing the fish will disappear. If something isn’t done verry soon there will be NO fish for food or money. The dilemma is what to do. No fish, no food, no funds to pay bills. I guess we all are suppose to sit home and the government will take care of us, but where will the money come from if no one is paying taxes? When will people learn the government “Has NO Money” if nobody pays taxes!
Trinity River Hatchery summary: The Trinity River Hatchery has closed for this year’s fish returns. I am trying to get information about how the “egg collection” went for this “brood year” but have not been able to reach someone to find out yet. This is a new project for me, I guess.
Fishing: With the higher water for the Trinity in Willow Creek he Father’s Day Boat Races went off well. I’m sorry I didn’t get the results but if you didn’t go you missed a fun time. Well, the “46th Fish Lake Fish Derby” went well and it appears that they had plenty of fun. I was unable to attend do to having a bunch of family at the house but we had fun watching the boats go racing by. The weather was great.
Mid-Klamath to Happy Camp: The Klamath River at Weitchpec is flowing 7,726cfs, this is a decrease of 3,574cfs. Iron Gate Dam is releasing 1,036cfs. With these water releases from Iron Gate the Klamath should be good fishing for trout above I-5. If you are interested you might want to give Scott Caldwell a call (530-905-0758) or if you might want o fish the Happy Camp Area you might call Marble Mountain Resort Doug Cole (530-469-3322)
Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 97% of capacity (an increase of 1%) with inflows of 512cfs and releasing 504cfs into Spring Creek. Shasta Lake is 96% of capacity (a decrease of 3% minus 3ft) with inflows of 5,363cfs and releasing 7,675cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 83% (a decrease of 7%) with inflows of 8,026cfs and releasing 8,970cfs into the Sacramento River. Oroville Lake is 100% of capacity (an increase of 4% plus 10ft) with inflows of 6,296cfs with releases of 4,485cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 94% of capacity (an increase of 3% plus 3ft) with inflows of 5,901cfs with releases of 5,497cfs into the American river. Trinity Lake is 1,405,722AF an increase of 809,935AF.
Trinity Lake: The lake is 75ft below the overflow (a decrease of 29ft) and 57% of capacity (an increase of 12%) with inflows of 2,115cfs and releasing 428cfs into Lewiston Lake with -180cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown and on to Keswick Power Plant, and releasing 8,970cfs into the Sacramento River.
Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is 99% of capacity (an increase of 1%) and water releases of 602cfs into the Trinity River, with water temperatures of 56.6 degrees, as of 12:00pm today Monday June 19, 2023. Limekiln Gulch is 5.00ft at 531cfs. Douglas City is 6.79ft with flows of 502cfs with water temperatures of 59.8 degrees. Junction City is 2.30ft at 654cfs. Helena is 9.60ft at 925cfs with water temps of 57.8 degrees. Burnt Ranch at Cedar Flat is 4.64ft at 1,401cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 3.93ft at 568cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 7,968cfs and air is 65 degrees and water at 56 degrees, Hoopa is 13.61ft at 2,503cfs with water at56.2 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath in Weitchpec are estimated to be 7,726cfs a decrease of 3,574cfs.
Klamath River flows and conditions: Iron Gate is releasing 1,036cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.27ft at 2,1207cfs. Indian Creek is 4.51ft at 303cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 2,410cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 3,909fs, and the Salmon River is 3.26ft at 1,314cfs. Orleans is 4.91ft at 5,223cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 10.46ft at 8,581cfs and water temps are 64.3 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jedia Smith are 5.39ft with flows of 652cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 12.28ft at N/A.
Temperatures for the Valley last week had a high of 97 and a low of 49 degrees. Rain for the week was 0.00in with a water year total to date of 76.00 inches and 0.00in of snow for a total of 7.50in. in Willow Creek. The predicted temperatures for next week are for high of 83 and a low of 47. The weather next week is for cloudy weather and some overcast during the week and warming for the weekend.
Websites: MyOutdoorBuddy.com, Willowcreekchamber.com,
from Willow Creek, CA Phone 530-629-3554, E-mail yen2fish@yahoo.com
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