Well it is that time of year when water releases will begin to increase for the spring releases. Releases will begin Tuesday April 16 through Sunday August 4, with three pulses and a high flow of 8,500cfs on April 23. Again. we will have high water during the summer months so please be aware of this and be extra careful when doing summer water activities.

PFMC Fall Chinook Salmon quotas and CDFW fishing regulations are not looking good for another fishing season. With California Salmon season canceled for the second year in a row it is looking very bleak. With the Federal fishery management unanimously voting to cancel ALL commercial and recreational salmon fishing off the coast of California I see a fishing disaster coming. “While the rainfall and snowpacks have improved the stocks and their habitats just need another year to recover”, said Marci Yaremko CDFW representative to the PFMC. I truly wish I had better fishing news but there are the facts. Fish habitats have NOT improved as quoted by our California representative to the PFMC. If this is the case what has TRRP been doing for the last 23 years? I have seen some improvements but not what was expected. One area of need is the Watershed and Head Wates of our cold-water streams. Money was budgeted so why wasn’t the work done? 

Fishing: The Lower Trinity was finally looking good for some ultra-light and fly fishing but now comes the high water again so I don’t know what to tell you. I was down at Big Rock the other day and the river was looking a bit high but good and then the rains came and now the Spring Releases. I just wish there could be a happy medium and we could go fishing.

For fishing conditions on the upper Trinity, you might want to call Indian Creek Lodge, Cory, (530)623-6294 or Junction City Store, Butch, (530)623-2803, for Lewiston Lake call Pine Cove Marina, Matt or Louise (530)778-3878.

Mid-Klamath to Happy Camp: The Klamath River at Weitchpec is flowing 21,577cfs. This is an increase of 2,528cfs.  Iron Gate Dam is releasing 1,498cfs an increase of 114cfs. It appears the concern in the Upper Klamath River is about and toxic water conditions. With the Dam removal toxic silt is a major concern from many areas. I am not sure if this is the case but it does have some merit in that the waters behind Iron Gate Dam had some very bad algae problems during the end. Many people would catch and release their fish because of the bad water. They were afraid to eat the fish! Other than those water problems I would think with the new storms and high water flushing of the river and increased water releases would be a good thing for the river. At the present time I have not heard from the Happy Camp or Seiad Valley are for a period so I am assuming that there is little to no fishing at this time.  For river conditions for the Upper Klamath, you can call Doug Cole, Marble Mountain Guest Ranch, (800)552-6284, or Scott Caldwell, SC Guide Service (530)905-0758 

Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 95% of capacity (an increase of 2%) with inflows of 675cfs with releases of 244cfs into Spring Creek. Shasta Lake is 95% of capacity (an increase of 1% plus 2ft) with inflows of 10,167cfs and releasing 8,415cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 91% of capacity (a decrease of 0%) with inflows of 8,086cfs and releases of 8,086cfs into the Sacramento River. Oroville Lake is 90% of capacity (an increase of 1% plus 3ft) with inflows of 13,186cfs with releases of 5,658cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 79% of capacity (an increase of 3% plus 3ft) with inflows of 8,498cfs with releases of 4,270cfs into the American river. Trinity Lake storage is 2,046,303AF an increase of 47,596AF of storage. The Trinity Alps is the water source for Trinity Lake and the snowpack has been increasing with the latest storms.

Trinity Lake: The lake is 26ft below the overflow (a decrease of 3ft) and 84% of capacity (an increase of 2%) with inflows of 6,105cfs and releasing 263cfs into Lewiston Lake with -48cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown and on to the Keswick Power Plant while releasing 8,086cfs into the Sacramento River.

Trinity River flows and conditions: Trinity Lake is 84% of capacity (an increase of 2%) and 26ft below the overflow a decrease of 2ft. Lewiston Dam is 95% of capacity (a decrease of 1%) and water releases of 335cfs into the Trinity River, with water temperatures of 52.3 degrees, as of 1:00am today Sunday April 14, 2024. Limekiln Gulch is 5.01ft at 538cfs. Douglas City is 7.24ft with flows of 833cfs with water temperatures of 47.9 degrees. Junction City is N/A ft at 1,110cfs. Helena is 10.87ft at 1,545cfs with water temps of 47.5 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is N/Aft at 0.00cfs (Gauge is out of order). South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 6.72 at 2,529cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 4,074 and air is 53 degrees and water at 48.6 degrees, Hoopa is 17.56ft at 8,632cfs with water at 49.8 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath in Weitchpec are estimated to be 21,577cfs an increase of 2,528cfs.

Klamath River flows and conditions: Iron Gate is releasing 1,498cfs, an increase of 114cfs. Seiad Valley is 5.32ft at 4,451cfs. Indian Creek is 6.13ft at 1,009cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 5,460cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 8,782cfs, and the Salmon River is 5.53ft at 4,163cfs. Orleans is 9.06ft at 12,945cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 14.63t at 24,842cfs and water temps are 51.6 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jediah Smith are 7.83ft with flows of 2,937cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 14205ft at N/A.

Temperatures for the Valley last week had a high of 80 and a low of 34 degrees. Rain for the week was 1.20in with a water year total to date of 50.49 inches and 0.40in of snow in Willow Creek. The predicted temperatures for next week are for high of 77 and a low of 44. The weather predicted for next week is partly cloudy for the first part of the week and then scattered clouds and sun for the rest of week.