I hope you had a great St. Patty’s Day and that you didn’t get too Happy. I always like to have at least one Green Beer on St. Patty’s Day and love that corned beef and cabbage. Back in the day we used to call it “a Boiled Dinner”.

Lets get back to the subject of “Healthy Rivers”. I have always felt that when they started to tare down the Dams on the Klamath Rive that the years of sediment built up from the 100yrs the Dams they were in operation that there would be some kind of toxic problems. I have read where the Klamath River water quality is deemed unsafe by the Siskiyou Health Division and that you should boil the water before using it. (https: www.kdrv.com/news/waterwatch/Klamath-river-water-quality-deemed-unsafe-siskiyou-health-division-says/article_3902a056-db52-11ee-b2d1-13021d98bbeb.htm) There were all kinds of comments about this article. After watching the first water releases, I can understand the water quality. It looked terrible! From what I was able to find out is that other situations like this water quality suffered also. Is this good for the fish and for how long? We also have to look at the Eel River water quality. The toxic algae blooms, it seems this happening to some more of our rivers also. The Bloom is unhealthy for the fish and the animals, livestock, dogs and humans. We know now that is also not good for the fish. If we are to have fish in the rivers there has to be something done to stop contaminating our rivers or there will be NO fish!    

The “Science on Tap” meeting/program at the Weaverville Brewery Co. for next week, Wednesday March 27, the last I heard is supposed to be about the Sky Ranch Boat Launch. I sur hope so any way. This is very important for the public to know about as it will affect how you will be able to raft or drift the Sky Ranch to Junction City stretch of the Trinity. We need to hear from the river users and guides. It will depend upon us to make input if we want a usable boa launch.

The PFMC first recommendations for salmon quotas for the west coast are out. I haven’t studied them that well yet but from what I was able to see it does not look very good. Remember this jus round, we have another one coming in April and that will be the final discission for Ocean Commercial, Ocean Sport, In-River Sport fishing as well as Tribal share of salmon for the coming season.

Trinity River Hatchery summary: This will be the final report for Salmon/Steelhead returns for this season. Julian Week 11 ending on Mar. 18, 2024: Chinook salmon, 0-jacks, 0-adults, season total 15,935, Ads clipped season total 2,818; Coho salmon, 0-jacks, 0-0-adults, season total 2,547, Ads clipped season total 2,469; Steelhead, 15-adults, season total 1,552, 12-Ads clipped, season total 1,508. TRH peak week of returns for Chinook Salmon was Nov. 12-18, 2023, with 3,22 and ADS clipped 699; Coho Salmon, was Nov. 19-25, 2023 with 859 and Ads clipped 866; Steelhead 231 and Ads clipped 222. The totals for TRH returns, for the 2023-2024 season look good for egg collection at the Trinity River Hatchery. I appreciate the CDFW people that do the work at the weirs who forward their results to me.

Fishing: The winter storms are starting to break down into our normal spring rains and the TRH spring Salmon and Steelhead releases are taking place. The lower river has been a bit muddy this past week due to the South Fork bleeding mud into the main stem of the Trinity just above Willow Creek. Because the river has been high there has not been many fishermen out fishing. I did get word that there were small adults and hale-pounders being caught down by Red Rock on the reservation though. This sounded good because I have not seen many fishers out fishing. February 19 thru 25 looked like a great time to be fishing but due to the heavy rains I did see many fishers out and I don’t blame them as it was really soggy. As I traveled along the Trinity on my way to Redding this last week, I saw the river go from muddy to fairly clear to Steelhead green in the upper portions around Del Loma and Junction City. The 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 26,979cfs. This is an increase of 2,081cfs.  Iron Gate Dam is releasing 1,534cfs an increase of 277cfs. The Klamath River received an unhealthy notice from the Siskiyou Health Division as I noticed above. With the increase of water releases and the rains the Klamath River has been flowing fairly high and for the most part is unfishable for the time being. I would expect that that will change as the rains slow down and the river is relying on just the river flows. Once the flows decrease it will become fishable in the upper reaches very quick.

Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 90% of capacity (a decrease of 8%) with inflows of 990cfs with releases of 1,176cfs into Spring Creek. Shasta Lake is 82% of capacity (an increase of 4% plus 6ft) with inflows of 13,789cfs and releasing 9,453cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 93% of capacity (an increase of 13%) with inflows of 10,168cfs and releases of 9,711cfs into the Sacramento River. Oroville Lake is 85% of capacity (an increase of 1% plus 2ft) with inflows of 10,744cfs with releases of 8,452cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 66% of capacity (an increase of 2% plus 3ft) with inflows of 5,509cfs with releases of 5,053cfs into the American river. Trinity Lake storage is 1,861,529AF an increase of 74,303AF of storage. The Trinity Alps is the water source for Trinity Lake and the snowpack has been increasing from these storms. The Alps are still a little below average for this time of year but is fast trying to catch up with these resent storms.

Trinity Lake: The lake is 39ft below the overflow (a decrease of 5ft) and 76% of capacity (an increase of 3%) with inflows of 2,537cfs and releasing 305cfs into Lewiston Lake with -45cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown and on to the Keswick Power Plant while releasing 9,711cfs into the Sacramento River.

Trinity River flows and conditions: Trinity Lake is 76% of capacity (an increase of 3%) and 39ft below the overflow a decrease of f5ft. Lewiston Dam is 97% of capacity (a n increase of 1%) and water releases of 305cfs into the Trinity River, with water temperatures of 48.9 degrees, as of 11:00am today Sunday March 17, 2024. Limekiln Gulch is 5.08ft at 569cfs. Douglas City is 7.31ft with flows of 886cfs with water temperatures of 45.2 degrees. Junction City is 3.38ft at 1,290cfs. Helena is 11.07ft at 1,665cfs with water temps of 46.6 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is N/Aft at 0.00cfs (Gauge is out of order). South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 8.67ft at 5,144cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 6,779cfs and air is 53 degrees and water at 47 degrees, Hoopa is 19.52ft at 12,201cfs with water at 47.6degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath in Weitchpec are estimated to be 26,979cfs an increase of 2,081cfs.

Klamath River flows and conditions: Iron Gate is releasing 1,539cfs, an increase of 277cfs. Seiad Valley is 4.89ft at 3,778cfs. Indian Creek is 6.08ft at 979cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 4,757cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 10,199fs, and the Salmon River is 5.24ft at 3,711cfs. Orleans is 9.45ft at 13,910cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 16.87ft at 34,261cfs and water temps are 47.9 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jediah Smith are 10.15ft with flows of 6,965fs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 16.47ft at N/A cfs.

Temperatures for the Valley last week had a high of 77 and a low of 34 degrees. Rain for the week was 1.39in with a water year total to date of 45.84 inches and 0.40in of snow in Willow Creek. The predicted temperatures for next week are for high of 79 and a low of 39. The weather predicted for next week looks like scattered clouds for the first part of the week with scattered showers for the weekend