The time is passing by so fast I am having trouble trying to keep up with everything! First it was the New Year, then Storms and Power Outages, then the Snow Measures, Presidents Week, Valentines Day and now the Salmon Hearings. I just don’t know where the time goes, seems as though the time just flies by any more.

 

The storms brought in power outages and the first snow storms for measurements, the different Holidays and the PFMC first preliminary information of the Salmon native escapements. From what I have seen the Klamath River Basin and the Sacramento River Centro Valley native escapements are not the best. The CDFW are going t o have their hearings tis week and then the Pacific Fisheries Management Council will use that information together with their information to determine if there will be enough Salmon for a fishing season. This last two years California Department of Fish and Wildlife made the determination to not have a Salmon fishing season. Will they decide to not have another Salmon fishing season for the third year in a row? I sure hope not! It has been hard enough for the last two years. People will go to Washington or Oregon to fish and California will be left out for fishing revenue. License fees have already increased to the point that many fishermen have given up fishing and then with two years of no Salmon fishing loss of license fees amounts to about 3,000 per year. 

 

The storms have left the Trinity and Klamath Rivers unfishable for the last several weeks due to high water and the we add Safety of Dams releases and we have even more water to deal with. I have recorded over 10 inches of rain just for this month so far. I don’t know how much more we will have for this year but it could be close to a record if it keeps up at this rate. There has been some flooding in the valley but not much along the coast so far. The Steelhead are still going up the rivers but high water makes it hard to fish.

 

Trinity River Hatchery summary: I have not received a report from the Hatchery lately so I have no report for Julian Week 2,3,4,5,6, ending Feb. 11, 2025.

 

Lewiston Lake: The Lewiston marina must be close for the winter as I have not received a report 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 is getting to be hard due to the high water and heavy rains.

 

Mid-Klamath to Happy Camp: The Klamath River at Weitchpec is flowing 61,028cfs. This is an increase of 48,339cfs. The Bogus Creek area is flowing 13,730cfs an increase of 8,663cfs 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 the last week of rain, 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: These readings are for Feb. 23, 2025. Whiskeytown is 94% of capacity (an increase of 2%) with inflows of 846cfs with releases of 376cfs. Shasta Lake is 90% of capacity, an increase of 2% and plus 2ft with inflows of 16,071cfs and releasing 13,087cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 90% of capacity (an increase of 4%) with inflows of 13,034cfs and releases of 13,330cfs into the Sacramento River. Oroville Lake is 84% of capacity, an increase of 6% and plus 21ft, with inflows of 11,837cfs with releases of 12,351cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 68% of capacity, an increase of 31% and plus 38ft, with inflows of 4,151cfs with releases of 7,716cfs into the American River. Trinity Lake storage is 2,012,804AF an increase of 104,769AF of storage. 

 

Trinity Lake: The lake is 28ft below the overflow, a decrease of 7ft and 82% of capacity (an increase of 4%) with inflows of 5,578cfs and releasing 3,284cfs into Lewiston Lake with 00cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown and on to the Keswick Power Plant, still releasing 13,330cfs into the Sacramento River. 

 

Trinity River flows and conditions: Trinity Lake is 82% of capacity, an increase of 4% and 28ft below the overflow an increase of 7ft. Lewiston Dam is 97% of capacity, a decrease of 1% and water releases of 3,529cfs into the Trinity River, with water temperatures of 44.5 degrees, as of 12:15pm today Sunday February 23, 2025. Limekiln Gulch is 7.71t at 3,787cfs. Douglas City is 10.71ft with flows of 4,391cfs with water temperatures of 45.4 degrees. Junction City is N/Aft at N/Acfs. Helena is 16.00ft at 6,089cfs with water temps of 45.6 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 9.91 at 6,626cfs. (water flows on the SF have come up from the storm) Willow Creek is estimated at 12,715cfs, air is 60 degrees and water at 47 degrees, Hoopa is 22.00ft at 22,272cfs with water at 48.1 degrees. 

 

Klamath River flows and conditions: Flows at the Bogas Creek are Bogus Creek are 3,730cfs, a decrease of 2,461cfs. Seiad Valley is 8.13ft at 9,324cfs. Indian Creek is 9.72ft at 4,324cfs. Happy Camp is estimated to be 13,648cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 13,648cfs, and the Salmon River is 10.02ft at 13,660cfs. Orleans is 16.07ft at 38,756cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 22.75ft flowing at 69,732cfs with water temps of 47.6 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jediah Smith are 22,89ft with flows of 57,795cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 28.35ft at N/A. 

 

Temperatures for the Valley last week had a high of 61 and a low of 40 degrees. Rain for the week was 4.52in with a water year total to date of 41.47 and 1.75in of snow in Willow Creek. The predicted temperatures for next week are for high of 74 and a low of 40. The weather predicted for the next week is looking like we could have some sunshine and a warming of some with scattered showers. 

Good Fishin and Good Luck but remember; “keep your tip up with a tight line lands fish”