I hope all had a very Merry Christmas and will have a Happy New Year! The rivers are still dropping but are starting to clear up some as we approach the New Year. Winter Steelhead should be coming into the rivers and fishing should be picking up for those willing to bear the rain.

Scientist talking to scientist make science when discussing their project to another scientist. The Trinity Journal November 22, 2023, Climate Corner by Callie Auryn, Gravel dumps, improved river habitat. Speaking about the Gravel Augmentation in the Trinity River and concerns about public outrage over it. Yes, theoretically it has made some science about improving river habitat on paper, in real practice it has not always been correct. In some cases, it has filled in holding water and forced Salmon to spawn lower in the river and Steelhead to hold and rest in other places. In the earlier attempts the gravel was washed before being dumped into the river and it caused sterilization. (The first attempts in the fly section) I took several years before the bugs came back for the fish to eat and the fishing was very hard. In other attempts it made the river more shallow and warmer during very hot days because the water was not moving fast enough to move the gravel. I don’t believe Ms. Aurym was privy to the information as was she privy to all the logging and loggers’ information about the forests. Callie should try to get the whole story before she steps into another area of science she has not studied. Granted the information was from one side but the other side has some truth too. Callie did write about some facts that were correct but not all of the problems with the Gravel Augmentation. Water flows are part of the problem also. The river does need gravel replacement because of the Dam but studying the failures of the past Augmentations should be done before any more Gravel Dumps occur!  I hope Ms. Auryn would try to get both sides of the problem before she writes about the river again. 

Trinity River Hatchery summary: Julian Week 50 ending Dec. 16, 2023; Fall Chinook Salmon, 11-jacks, 100-adults, total 111 seasonal total 11,921, 2,467-Ads clipped; Coho Salmon 21-jacks, 341-adults, total 262, season total 2,517, 2,441-Ads clipped; Steelhead 147, season total 462, 451- Ads clipped hatchery fish.it looks like the TRH is starting to get more hatchery fish returns. This is an improvement from earlier and last year. It could mean 2025-26 could have good returns and fishing for the Commercial and Ocean Sport Fishing could be open.

Junction City Weir summary: Julian Week 49 ending Dec. 6, 2023; Chinook Salmon, 2- jacks, 2- adults, total of 4, seasonal total 3,118; Coho Salmon 2-jacks, 6-adults, total 8, season total 302; Steelhead, 0- ½-pounders, 40- adults, total 40, seasonal total 468; 1-Brown Trout, seasonal total 27.

Willow Creek Weir summary: The WC weir has been pulled and fishing is open for the area. 

Fishing: The Trinity River Valley has seen 2.15 inches of rain during this storm and it brought the Trinity flows up some but has been dropping for the last several days. Steelhead should be storming up the rive but I have not seen or heard of a lot of adults being landed in the WC area yet. There have been some adults landed in the Hoopa area but not many numbers. Up river has been better with 1 to 4 adults hooked per day per angler. A few anglers have been really good at catch and release for adults but most reports are about lots of ½-pounders. Bait has been the best producer for landing fish. I hope this next storm will bring in some adults. We just have to wait and see.

Mid-Klamath and Happy Camp: The Klamath River at Weitchpec is flowing 9,252, this is a decrease of 4,391cfs from last report. Iron Gate Dam is currently releasing 954cfs a decrease of 4cfs from last week. The Klamath River has decreased the releases some but with the rains have helped increase the flows as you come down river. The mouth of the Klamath is really flowing, at 13,193cfs I would think fishing for Steelhead would be hard with that high of flows. The good thing is that it should help bring in more fish. Orleans is flowing 4,980cfs and should make fishing good. The trouble is I have not been able to receive any information from that area.

Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 94% of capacity (a decrease of 1%) with inflows of 367cfs and releasing 333cfs over to the Keswick Reservoir. Shasta Lake is 67% of capacity (a decrease of 0% minus 0ft) with inflows of 6,168cfs and releasing 4,533cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 86% (a decrease of 1%) with inflows of 4,881cfs and releasing 5,109cfs into the Sacramento River. Oroville Lake is 67% of capacity (an increase of 1% plus 4ft) with inflows of 5,169cfs with releases of 2,929cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 48% of capacity (a decrease of 1% minus 2ft) with inflows of 2,301cfs with releases of 1,985cfs into the American river. Trinity Lake is 1,250,003AF an increase of 33,944AF.

Trinity Lake: The lake is 89ft below the overflow (a decrease of 04t) and 51% of capacity (a decrease of 0%) with inflows of 1,831cfs and releasing 295cfs into Lewiston Lake with 85cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown and on to Keswick Power Plant, and releasing 5,109cfs into the Sacramento River.

Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is 96% of capacity (an increase of 2%) and water releases of 317cfs into the Trinity River, with water temperatures of 44.3 degrees, as of 12:00pm today Saturday December 23, 2023. Limekiln Gulch is 4.81ft at flows of 394cfs. Douglas City is 6.74ft with flows of 471cfs with water temperatures of 43.5 degrees. Junction City is 2.27ft at 618cfs. Helena is 9.46ft at 829cfs with water temps of 45.2 degrees. Burnt Ranch at Cedar Flat is 3N/Aft at N/Acfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 4.99ft at 1,190cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 2,019cfs and air is 52 degrees and water at 46 degrees, Hoopa is 14.99ft at 4,272cfs with water at 47.0 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath in Weitchpec are estimated to be 9,252cfs a decrease of 4,391cfs.

Klamath River flows and conditions: Iron Gate is releasing 954cfs a decrease of 4cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.82ft at 1,719cfs. Indian Creek is 4.97ft at 420cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 2,139cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 3,755cfs, and the Salmon River is 3.16ft at 1,225cfs. Orleans is 4.95ft at 4,980cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 11.99ft at 13,193cfs and water temps are 48.5 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jedia Smith are 8.00ft with flows of 1,372cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 14.66ft at N/A. Temperatures for the Valley last week had a high of 63 and a low of 40 degrees. Rain for the week was 2.15 with a water year total to date of 17.62 inches and 0.00in of snow for a total of 0.00in. in Willow Creek. The predicted temperatures for next week are for high of 64 and a low of 40. The weather predicted for next week is rain mid-week and showers with cloudy weather up to Tuesday. I hope that the high flows down at the mouth of the Klamath will start more Steelhead going up the river.