As I started this report it was snowing big snowflakes; the snowflakes have now turned to rain. This storm has really brought in some crazy weather. The total rain for this storm is over three and a half inches of rain and almost one-half inch of snow in the Willow Creek area. I can imagine it brought a lot more than that into the Weaverville area. The rain went straight to the river but a good amount went into the high country and the Trinity Alps as snow which will eventually go into Trinity Lake.

The “Science on Tap” meeting/program at the Weaverville Brewery was Wednesday, February 28th was changed to a fisheries presentation. From what I was told it went very well and they had a full house. I was unable to attend due to the weather between Weaverville and Willow Creek. I was hoping that it would be about the Sky Ranch boat launch. Maybe TRRP could make that meeting similar to the one they had at the Douglas City Campground and try to get more representation from users of the river.

The CDFW should be having their Salmon information meeting this week or soon. They will be crunching numbers for natural salmon escapement for the Klamath River Basin. (which includes the Upper Klamath and Trinity Rivers) This and Ocean Abundance should come up with some kind of numbers for harvestable amounts of Chinook Salmon that would allow for a Salmon fishing season. It will be very interesting to see what comes out of that meeting because it usually results in huge debates as to how many salmon will be available to divide up for Tribal, Ocean Commercial, Ocean Sport and In-River Sport fishing. Last year was a disaster for sport fishing and the fishing industry as a whole.  

Trinity River Hatchery summary: Julian Week 8 ending on Feb. 28, 2024: Chinook salmon, 0-jacks, 0-adults, season total 11,935, Ads clipped season total 2,470; Coho salmon, 0-jacks, season total 124, 0-aduts, season total 2,423, Ads clipped season total 2.382; Steelhead, 231-adults, season total 1,382, 22-Ads clipped, season total 1,345. Now if CDFW could increase the numbers for release.

Fishing: These winter storms are taking a toll of the Trinity River and many of the streams the feed into the river. According to the TRH report Steelhead started increasing at the hatchery on January 22. Since then, it has been a steady flow of 100 plus each week with the largest increase this past week of 231 adults. The total of 1,345 Ads clipped (Hatchery) Steelhead shows that the Hatchery could very well reach the egg retrieval for a gook release of Steelhead juveniles come spring. CDFW needs to go back to the original release numbers for Coho Salmon and Steelhead to help bolster In-River Sport fishing for the economy. For upper river conditions you might want to call Indian Creek Lodge, Cory, (530) 623-6294, Junction City, Butch, (530)0623-2803, for Lewiston Lake, Pine Cove Marina, Matt or Louise (530)778-3878

Mid-Klamath to Happy Camp: The Klamath River at Weitchpec is flowing 24,898cfs. This is a decrease of 1,638cfs.  Iron Gate Dam is releasing 1,262cfs an increase of 240cfs. The Klamath is being hit just as hard as the Trinity from these storms. Fishing is okay above I-5 but from the Seiad Valley on down river it is a toss up as to where to fish. I did not get much river information this last week from Seiad Valley down other than the river is really flowing high.

Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 98% of capacity (a decrease of 4%) with inflows of 1,921cfs with releases of 1,916cfs into Spring Creek. Shasta Lake is 82% of capacity (a decrease of 4% plus 7ft) with inflows of 15,638cfs and releasing 1,5904cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 80% of capacity (an increase of 1%) with inflows of 16,460cfs and releases of 16,596cfs into the Sacramento River. Oroville Lake is 84% of capacity (an increase of 0% plus 0ft) with inflows of 18,385cfs with releases of 11,912cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 64% of capacity (an increase of 1% plus 3ft) with inflows of 16,251cfs with releases of 6,086cfs into the American river. Trinity Lake is 1,788,226AF an increase of 44,419AF of storage. The Trinity Alps is the water source for Trinity Lake and the snowpack is increasing from these storms. The Alps are still below average for this time of year but is fast trying to catch up with the resent storms. The Sierras are really catching up with their snowpack.

Trinity Lake: The lake is 44ft below the overflow (a decrease of 4ft) and 73% of capacity (an increase of 2%) with inflows of 3,128cfs and releasing 213cfs into Lewiston Lake with -103cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown and on to Keswick Power Plant, releasing 16,596cfs into the Sacramento River.

Trinity River flows and conditions: Trinity Lake is 73% of capacity (an increase of 2%) and 44ft below the overflow a decrease of 4ft.). Lewiston Dam is 96% of capacity (a n increase of 3%) and water releases of 316cfs into the Trinity River, with water temperatures of 46.8 degrees, as of 10:00am today Sunday March 3, 2024. Limekiln Gulch is 5.16ft at 655cfs. Douglas City is 7.52ft with flows of 1,054cfs with water temperatures of 41.9 degrees. Junction City is 3.65ft at 1,450cfs. Helena is 11.39ft at 1,866cfs with water temps of 42.4 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is N/Aft at 0.00cfs (Gauge is out of order). South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 8.13ft at 4,403cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 6,270cfs and air is 40 degrees and water at 42.1 degrees, Hoopa is 19.20ft at 12,201cfs with water at 42.2degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath in Weitchpec are estimated to be 24,898cfs a decrease of 1,038cfs.

Klamath River flows and conditions: Iron Gate is releasing 1,262cfs, an increase of 240cfs. Seiad Valley is 4.60ft at 3,516cfs. Indian Creek is 5.81ft at 775cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 4,291cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 9,636fs, and the Salmon River is 4.79ft at 3,061cfs. Orleans is 8.96ft at 12,697cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 16.95ft at 34,663cfs and water temps are 46.2 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jediah Smith are 11.00ft with flows of 8,819fs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 17.51ft at N/A cfs.

Temperatures for the Valley last week had a high of 66 and a low of 33 degrees. Rain for the week was 3.47in with a water year total to date of 41.75 inches and 0.40in of snow in Willow Creek. The predicted temperatures for next week are for high of 58 and a low of 35. The weather predicted for next week looks like more rain for rest of the week with possibility of more snow at higher elevations.