Proposed Upper Conner Creek Project: On Friday February 2, the TRRP held an on-site meeting at the Proposed Boat Ramp for the Junction City Campground launching site. There were several TRRP personnel and some people from BLM as well as some guides and a few interested citizens and yours truly. Over all it was a fair representation. Yeah, I believe this is one of the first times that TRRP has really made an effort to gather public input since TAMWG was defunded. First there was an oral presentation of the overall project and then a walk through of the proposed entrance and launch site. I must say it was very insightful and informative. After the walk through TRRP James Lee opened up the discussion for recommendations and questions. There were several good questions asked and answered well or said the answer was not available at the time but would try to get one. Some of the suggestions were of good value and were accepted and noted for presentation to the Engineers of the project. The idea of the meeting was to try and get input from the people who would be using the ramp rather than just doing the work and hoped it would work. I do hope that the suggestions will be put into the ramp project to provide a usable staging and launching area. The proposal is to make the launching area prior to the Rehabilitation Project so that the public would not lose fishing ability from Junction City down to Helena/Bagdad area during construction/rehabilitation. For once I believe TRRP “got it”. I would like to see more of this type of events by TRRP and just maybe the public would get to present some meaningful input for River Rehabilitation. If you have questions about this project call TRRP, James Lee, (530)623-1800.

I do apologize for not having more fishing information but I have been busy repairing my house from water damage and Doctor appointments. It seems as though age comes with problems.

The rivers and feeder streams are again reseeding and turning steelhead green. This is some of the craziest steelhead weather I have ever seen along the Trinity River. We should be freezing out there on the water and yet it is more like spring weather rather than winter weather. Right now, should be a great time for trying to hook onto one of those fantastic Iron Heads. On my travels up and down the river I am not seeing a lot of drift boats or rafts out there on the river. This is the time when the fish are trying to get up to their spawning grounds and is usually great time for winter steelhead fishing.

Trinity River Hatchery summary: Julian Week 5 ending on Feb. 4, 2024: Chinook salmon, 0-jacks, season total 1,324, 0-adults, season total 10,610, Ads clipped season total 2,171; Coho salmon, 0-jacks, season total 124, 0-aduts, season total 2,423, Ads clipped season total 2.382. Returns are starting to look good for 2023-24 season. 

Fishing: At the winter rains are taking control of the streams and the river. Several of the river gauges are out for the present but hopefully will come back on line soon. Fishing has been pretty slow due to the heavy rains and the river reaching very high levels. Your best bet for a hook up is when the river is clearing and levels are dropping. For the present the river is green but rains are expected to be coming this week and for the weekend. If you do go out be sure to keep a sharp eye out for trees and logs drifting down the river.  For upper river conditions you might want to call Indian Creek Lodge, Cory, (530) 623-6294, Junction Cit, Bitch, (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 17,650cfs. This is a decrease of 46,746cfs.  Iron Gate Dam is releasing 988cfs. The Klamath is clearing but will probably change with the coming rains.

Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 95% of capacity (an increase of 5%) with inflows of 1,122cfs and releasing 1,912cfs into Spring Creek. Shasta Lake is 83% of capacity (an increase of 4% plus 8ft) with inflows of 10,757cfs and releasing 13,508cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 82% (an increase of 2%) with inflows of 14,847cfs and releasing 14,752cfs into the Sacramento River. Oroville Lake is 79% of capacity (an increase of 3% plus 8ft) with inflows of 6,989cfs with releases of 2,680cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 62% of capacity (an increase of 8% plus 9ft) with inflows of 3,172cfs with releases of 1,504cfs into the American river. Trinity Lake is 1,623,270AF plus 166,986AF, we are finally increasing the storage in the lake but for how long? The Trinity Alps is the water source for Trinity Lake but the snowpack isn’t really deep yet.

Trinity Lake: The lake is 57ft below the overflow (a decrease of 13ft) and 57% of capacity (an increase of 7%) with inflows of 2,588cfs and releasing 316cfs into Lewiston Lake with -37cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown and on to Keswick Power Plant, leaving 1,623,270AF in lake storage (an increase of 166,986AF), and releasing 14,752cfs into the Sacramento River.

Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is 97% of capacity (an increase of 2%) and water releases of 316cfs into the Trinity River, with water temperatures of 46.2 degrees, as of 1:00am today Munday February 12, 2024. Limekiln Gulch is 5.06ft at 577cfs. Douglas City is 7.39ft with flows of 910cfs with water temperatures of 45.5 degrees. Junction City is 3.25ft at 1,210cfs. Helena is 10.80ft at 1,504cfs with water temps of 44.4 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is N/Aft at 0.00cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 7.21t at 3,293cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 4,800cfs and air is 48 degrees and water at 45 degrees, Hoopa is 17.82ft at 9,156cfs with water at 46.1 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath in Weitchpec are estimated to be 17,650cfs a decrease of 46,746cfs.

Klamath River flows and conditions: Iron Gate is releasing 988cfs. Seiad Valley is 3.73ft at 2,549cfs. Indian Creek is 5.36ft at 552cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 3,101cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 6,046fs, and the Salmon River is 4.32ft at 2,448cfs. Orleans is 7.07ft at 8,494cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 14.65ft at 23,796cfs and water temps are 46.7 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jed Smith are 8.70ft with flows of 4,239cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 15.19ft at N/A cfs.

Temperatures for the Valley last week had a high of 57 and a low of 66 degrees. Rain for the week was 1.35in with a water year total to date of 33.17 inches and 0.00in of snow in Willow Creek. The predicted temperatures for next week are for high of 65 and a low of 41. The weather predicted for next week is cloudy with showers midweek and rain for the weekend