Autumn arrived two weeks ago but it still feels like the end of summer. The water year 2024 ended September 30th with a total of 54.98 inches of rain and 0.40 inches of snow. We are now into the water year of 2025 and it looks like it will be another year like last year. That would be nice but we never know what mother nature will bring us. I would love to see another wet water year for the sake of the Salmon. We need water for the fish because another year of “No Salmon fishing” would be disastrous. I would not like to see another year like this year for the east as that has been disastrous.

 

Even though it has been very warm during the day I have been seeing people out fishing in the mornings. That is great and I hope it cools down some more so the water will cool down and bring in more adult Steelhead. Fishing has been picking up but it has been mostly 1/2-pounders with a scattering of small adults and a nice larger adult every once in a while. The Willow Creek weir has been counting about 68% on average of hatchery Steelhead since they started trapping fish. That is not bad for this time of year. We just need a little cooler water to bring in more Salmon even though we cannot keep them. A better return of Salmon will hopefully allow for a Salmon fishing season next year. If the TRRP would concentrate a little more on the watershed and not so much on the main stem of the Trinity like they should be we possibly could see a better return of Coho and Steelhead. The streams are where they spawn not the main stem of the river. The ROD states for the improvement of endangered species and Coho Salmon and Steelhead are the species that need help. Opening up the feeder streams would do that. 

 

The last of the four dams on the Klamath has been removed and the Klamath River is now free flowing for another 400 miles of spawning area. This was quite a job and really hope that it works. We will have to suffer some muddy water for a while as it will take time to clear up the river from all the silt that acuminated behind the dams and run off from the fires. Hopefully that will not be too much longer. 

 

Junction City Weir summary: Julian Week 39, 2024, ending Sept. 30, 2024: Chinook Salmon; 6- jacks, 20-adults, total 26, season total 192; Coho Salmon; 0-jacks, 0-adults, total 0, season total 0; Steelhead; 5-1/2lbs, 41-adults, total 46, season total 115; 1-Brown Trout, season total 19.

 

Willow Creek weir summary: Julian Week 39 ending Sept. 30, 2024; Chinook Salmon, 20-jacks, 36-adulta, total 56, season total 341; Coho Salmon, 0-jacks, 0-adults, season total 0; Steelhead, 5-1/2-pounders, 45-adults, total 50, season total 386. It looks like the larger group of Chinook Salmon came through during Julian weeks 37 and 38, the larger groups of Steelhe4ad came through Jullian weeks 34 and 35. Remember this is only the beginning of the season so we have a long time before the trapping season ends.

 

Fishing: I have been seeing more fishermen on the lower Trinity the last couple of weeks and that is a good sign. I just hope it keeps up and that more fish would come up the river to improve the fishing. Cooler weather will help that. The fishing for the lower river has been good from the mouth of the South Fork down trough Willow Creek and the lower area of Tish Tang has been providing some very good ½-pounder action for the fly fishers. I haven’t heard very much about the upper river but I do know that some of the guides that fish up there have been hooking into a few nice adults. Like I said before, the Indian Creek Lodge is under new management and working very hard to help guides with their clients.  As the days get shorter and the water gets cooler, I am sure the fishing will start to get much better. For Up river fishing information call; Pine Cove Marina, Matt or Louise (530)778-3878, for the river you can call Indian Creek Lodge, Andy or Hannah, (530)623-6294 or Junction City Store, Butch, (530)623-2803.

 

Mid-Klamath to Happy Camp: The Klamath River at Weitchpec is flowing 2,228cfs. This is a decrease of 161cfs.  Iron Gate- Bogus Creek area is flowing 1,009cfs a decrease of 23cfs from last time. The Upper Klamath is flowing good but still has some silt and dirt in the water after they removed all the dams and the river is free flowing again. Fishing above I-5 should start to improve as the river clears up more but that will take some time. It doesn’t look like we will get any rain for a while as the predicted weather is for more sunshine for the next couple of weeks. The upper river is still flowing fair o good with Seiad Valley flowing 1,190cfs but it is still dirty water to fish in. Years ago, when they allowed dredging the rivers used to flow muddy all winter but the fish still came up the rivers. If you are interested in fishing the Klamath you might call the Marble Mountain Guest Ranch (800) 522-6284, or Scott Caldwell, SC Guide Service (530)905-0758 

 

Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 99% of capacity (a decrease of 0%) with inflows of 1,392cfs with releases of 1,445cfs into Spring Creek. Shasta Lake is 60% of capacity (a decrease of 3% and minus 6ft) with inflows of 2,168cfs and releasing 5,350cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 97% of capacity (an increase of 1%) with inflows of 7,134cfs and releases of 6,996cfs into the Sacramento River. Oroville Lake is 54% of capacity (a decrease of 7% and minus 28ft) with inflows of 2,668cfs with releases of 2,839cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 46% of capacity (a decrease of 3% and minus 3ft) with inflows of 1,261cfs with releases of 1,990cfs into the American river. Trinity Lake storage is 1,706,576AF a decrease of 63,401AF of storage.

 

Trinity Lake: The lake is 50ft below the overflow (an increase of 4ft) and 70% of capacity (a decrease of 2%) with inflows of 11cfs and releasing 1,619cfs into Lewiston Lake with 913cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown and on to the Keswick Power Plant while releasing 1,785cfs into the Sacramento River.

 

Trinity River flows and conditions: Trinity Lake is 70% of capacity (a decrease of 2%) and 50ft below the overflow an increase of 4ft. Lewiston Dam is 96% of capacity (an increase of 0%) and water releases of 453cfs into the Trinity River, with water temperatures of 49.1 degrees, as of 1:00pm today Saturday October 5, 2024. Limekiln Gulch is 4.53ft at 491cfs. Douglas City is 6.67ft with flows of 476cfs with water temperatures of 51.6 degrees. Junction City is 1.91ft at 490cfs. Helena is 8.74ft at 492cfs with water temps of 55.4 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is N/Aft at 0.00cfs (Gauge is still out of order). South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 1.90cfs and flowing 75cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 567 and air is 80 degrees and water at 59-60 degrees, Hoopa is 11.40ft at 747cfs with water at 62.6 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath in Weitchpec are estimated to be 2,228cfs a decrease of 161cfs.

 

Klamath River flows and conditions: Iron Gate/Bogus Creek flows are 1,009cfs, a decrease of 23cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.10ft flowing at 1,190cfs. Indian Creek is 3.48ft at 55cfs. Happy Camp is estimated to be 1,245cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 1,306cfs, and the Salmon River is 1.42ft at 175cfs. Orleans is 2.18ft at 1,481cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 7.18ft at 2,454cfs and water temps are 63.8 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jediah Smith are 4.60ft with flows of 249cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 11.30ft at N/A.

 

Temperatures for the Valley last week had a high of 91 and a low of 44 degrees. Rain for the week was 0.00in with a water year total to date of 0.00 inches and 0.40in of snow in Willow Creek. The rain for water year 2024 ending September 30th was 54.98inches the predicted temperatures for next week are for high of 91 and a low of 54 with sunshine for the firs part of the week then some cloudy skies and back to sunshine.