The rain are making the Klamath and Trinity Rivers high for fishing. The South For is blown out and making the river below South Fork high and not very fishable. It could possibly be fishable by Sunday or Monday depending on how much the Trinity and Lewiston Dams have to release into the Trinity River. At the present time the Brearu of Reclamation has to release extra water from the Trinity Dam to make room for water draining into the lake from the storms. Normally they send water over to Whiskeytown Reservoir and on to the Sacramento River but the Clear Creek Tunnel is down for repairs. It is really funny when you think about the fires in southern California and the need of water to fight them, then having all the reserve reservoirs down there and the Clear Creek Tunnel being down for repairs. How do they get extra water? It is terrible about the fires and the loss of homes but you can’t have 20 to 50 Fire Pumpers drawing water for firefighting out of the system and expect every fire hydrant to have water. These fires are disastrous and unmanageable and impossible to plan for!

 

It is Steelhead fishing time but the skies are not cooperating and are dumping all kinds of rain on us making the rivers unfishable. One can fish these high waters if you pick your spots but it is not easy. I have noticed that the Trinity River Hatchery counts are starting to drop off some so maybe the high waters are holding up the fish.

 

Trinity River Hatchery summary: Julian Week 1 ending Jan. 7, 2025: 0-Jack Chinook Salmon; 1-adult Chinook Salmon, total 1, season total 4,817; Coho Salmon, 0-jacks, 1-adult, season total 756: Steelhead, 63 -1/2- pounder; 72-Adult Steelhead; 128-hatchery Steelhead, season total 1,022, total 997- hatchery. This summery is for Julian Week 1 of 2025 which should be Julian Week 4 of 2025. I am not sure what happened but the CDED and fish Summaries are not up to date

 

Lewiston Lake: I haven’t received any reports from the Lewiston area for several weeks now, I suspect the marina has closed for the winter. For the upper river you can call Indian Creek Lodge, Andy or Hannah, (530)623-6294), Junction City Store, Butch, (530)623-2803.

 

Willow Creek area: Fishing the Willow Creek area was getting to be good before the storm came. I do know that before the rains came fishing was really starting to pick up, I could see more fishermen out. One of the guides I know did South Fork to Willow Creek Thursday and landed 25 ½-pounders and 5 adults. That sounds like good fishing to me.  This crazy weather has really created problems with the winter fishing. Bait and hardware were working the best. I did notice that some fishers were using #5 spinners, mostly orange bodies with silver blades. The high water out of South Fork pretty much shut down the fishing.

 

Mid-Klamath to Happy Camp: The Klamath River at Weitchpec is flowing 12,689cfs. This is a decrease of 3,601cfs. The Bogus Creek area is flowing 1,269cfs a decrease of 349cfs from the last report. The Upper Klamath has been flowing high with all the rain in Northern California but is starting to drop some from last week but with the new storms coming in I am not sure how fishing will be in this area until the storms pass. I suggest you call Marble Mountain Guest Ranch (800) 522-6284, or Scott Caldwell, SC Guide Service (530)905-0758 to get proper fishing information for the Upper Klamath.

 

Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 93% of capacity (a decrease of 0%) with inflows of 344cfs with releases of 313cfs. Shasta Lake is 76% of capacity, a decrease of 1% and minus 2ft with inflows of 7,264cfs and releasing 7,864cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 84% of capacity (an increase of 4%) with inflows of 15,011cfs and releases of 14,933cfs into the Sacramento River. Oroville Lake is 69% of capacity, a decrease of 5% and minus 12ft, with inflows of 5,462cfs with releases of 2,517cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 37% of capacity, an increase of 0% and plus 1ft, with inflows of 1,787cfs with releases of 1,871cfs into the American River. Trinity Lake storage is 1,905,647AF an increase of 52,794AF of storage.

 

Trinity Lake: The lake is 36ft below the overflow, a decrease of 1ft and 78% of capacity (an increase of 0%) with inflows of 2,583cfs and releasing 1,455cfs into Lewiston Lake with 00cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown and on to the Keswick Power Plant, still releasing 4,667cfs into the Sacramento River.

 

Trinity River flows and conditions: Trinity Lake is 78% of capacity, an increase of 0% and 35ft below the overflow an increase of 1ft. Lewiston Dam is 98% of capacity, an increase of 16% and water releases of 1,523cfs into the Trinity River, with water temperatures of 44.2 degrees, as of 12:30pm today Saturday February 1, 2025. Limekiln Gulch is 6.16t at 1,652cfs. Douglas City is 8.16ft with flows of 1,649cfs with water temperatures of 43.6 degrees. Junction City is N/Aft at N/Acfs. Helena is 11.32ft at 1,821cfs with water temps of 43.3 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 4.50 at 974cfs. (water flows on the SF have come up from the storm) Willow Creek is estimated at 2,795cfs, air is 48 degrees and water at 43 degrees, Hoopa is 15.81ft at 5,501cfs with water at 42.9 degrees.

 

Klamath River flows and conditions: Flows at the Bogas Creek are Bogus Creek are 1,269cfs, a decrease of 349cfs. Seiad Valley is 4.10ft at 2,939cfs. Indian Creek is 5.36ft at 598cfs. Happy Camp is estimated to be 4,537cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 5,038cfs, and the Salmon River is 4.07ft at 2,150cfs. Orleans is 6.37ft at 7,188cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 12.50ft flowing at 13,068cfs with water temps of 42.2 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jediah Smith are 7.04ft with flows of 1,931cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 13.31ft at N/A.

 

Temperatures for the Valley last week had a high of 50 and a low of 31 degrees. Rain for the week was 0.00in with a water year total to date of 30.13 and 0.00in of snow in Willow Creek. The predicted temperatures for next week are for high of 65 and a low of 33. The weather predicted for the next week is looking like we could have some sunshine and a warming of some with no rain.