The rain for last week was not as predicted, not even close. What little rain we did get was not enough to start any kind of large steelhead movement. The barometric pressure drop did help to start some movement in the upper river as fly fishing for steelhead started to get good but not great yet. The rain that was predicted to come into the valley would have been enough to start some good steelhead fishing but it never came about. Now let’s see if we can get through the winter without a lot of mud slides and water damage. We do need rain and snow pack to survive through next summer but with all the fire damage to our forests we have a problem of toxic runoff into our streams and rivers. It would be great if our legislators could get their heads out of you know where and start working for the people and the state (which is their job) instead of fighting each other all the time and creating deadlock which gets nothing done.

The fires are starting to get under control now which should allow for more fishing access on the Mid-Klamath and the Trinity. It sure will be nice to NOT have any more fires for the remaining of this year. I believe that California has suffered enough from the fires as this was a record setting year for fires in the state. (Enough) We need money for fire prevention and restoration of the burn areas to try and start regeneration of the forests and try to save the quality of the water.

Trinity River Hatchery: Spring Chinook subtotal Julian week 42 ending Oct. 21, 2020 is on break for the Spring Run verses the Fall Run to separate the two species; season total 1,260; 0-Coho; 3-Adult steelhead. We did get enough eggs to reach the Fall Chinook salmon hatchery needs, now let’s hope we can reach the egg quota for Coho salmon and steelhead hatchery needs. 

Willow Creek weir: Julian 44 week ending Nov. 4, 2020; 0-Jacks, 0-Adults, total 00, season total to date 107; Coho salmon 0-Jacks, 0-Adults, total01, season total 00; steelhead 2-1/2-lbs, 0- Adults, total 00 season total to date 198. This week was very mixed up in counting the Willow Creek weir as the counts were low and mixed. I hope t have better information next week.

Recreational Harvest Count Mouth of Klamath: Julian week 44 ending Nov. 4, 2020; Chinook Harvest Above Highway 101 Bridge; 20-adults, 7-jacks, total 20, season total to date 3,289; Lower Klamath Chinook salmon harvest total to date 1,651. It looks like the Recreational Harvest for the Klamath is over for the season, I should have better info next week. Sorry.

Fishing: Fishing the Willow Creek area was slow this past week as the rain did not bring forth the expected run of fish. Salmon are spawning up and down the river but I am not seeing a large amount of steelhead in the river at this time. The River is low, clear and turning cold. This is good but we need a good rain to get the steelhead moving. As for the Upper Trinity Kyle of Kyle Catanese Guide service, said he fished the Sac for a couple of days the first of the week for trout but the boat traffic was so great that he came back to the Trinity to flyfish for steelhead. The barometric pressure from the low weather did cause some movement of the steelhead in the upper river and allowed his customers to have a decent fishing with flies. Sunday they we able to get into a wave of nice adults and land 6 adults to 9lbs with a couple of old salmon taking a fly or two. Tuesday they were able to hook 7 adults and land 4 steelies to 6lbs. I didn’t hear from Del Loma so I am not sure if there was any steelhead fishing in the area.    

Mid-Klamath to Happy Camp: The Klamath River at Weitchpec is flowing @ 2,023cfs. an increase of 46cfs from last week. Iron Gate Dam is releasing 1,036cfs as of 1:30pm Sunday afternoon. The Weitchpec area is still closed to the general public because of the COVID 19 but the Orleans area up to Happy Camp is open to the public for fishing. 

Upper Klamath River video count: Julia week 43 ending on Nov. 1, 2020; Shasta river; 6-Chinook, season total 4,024, Coho 0; Scott River, 0, season total 8, 0-Coho; Bogus Creek; 49-Chinook, season total 1,186, 0-Coho. NOTE: the Scott River counting station is 18 miles upriver. On the lower river 600 live adult Chinooks salmon have been observed.

Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 85% of capacity (a decrease of 1%) with inflows of 196cfs and releasing 422cfs on to Keswick. Shasta Lake is 45% of capacity (a decrease of 1% minus 1ft) with inflows of 2,331cfs and releasing 4,138cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 80% (a decrease of 9%) with inflows of 4,442cfs and releasing 4,816cfs into the Sacramento river. Oroville Lake is 41% of capacity (a decrease of 1% minus 7ft) with inflows of 798cfs with releases of 8,553cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 35% of capacity (a decrease of 1% minus 2ft) with inflows of 826cfs with releases of 1,471cfs into the American river.

Trinity Lake: The lake is 82ft below the overflow (an increase of 1ft) and 53% of capacity (a decrease of 1%) with inflows of -35cfs and releasing 528cfs into Lewiston Lake with 232cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing 5,611cfs into the Sacramento River.

Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is 95% of capacity (a decrease of 0%) and water releases are 296cfs into the Trinity River, with water temperatures of 48.7 degrees, as of 1:30pm today Sunday Nov. 8, 2020. Limekiln Gulch is 4.70ft at 327cfs. Douglas City is 6.25ft with flows of 322cfs. with air temps of 52 and water temperatures of 46.7 degrees. Junction City is 1.65ft at 339cfs. Helena is 7.97ft at 358cfs with water temps of 48.2 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 2.23ft at 361cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 1.93ft at 47cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 408cfs and air is 50 degrees and water at 50 degrees. Hoopa is 10.95ft at 516cfs and water is 51.2 degrees. 
Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath in Weitchpec are estimated to be 2,023cfs an increase of 46cfs.

Klamath River flows and conditions: Iron Gate is releasing 1,036cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.09ft at 1,170cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 1,208cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 1,355cfs, and the Salmon River is 1.45ft at 152cfs. Orleans is 2.20ft at 1,507cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 8.25ft at 2,631cfs and water temps are 53.9 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jedia Smith are 4.64ft with flows of 247cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 11.72ft at N/A cfs. 

Temperatures in the Valley last week had a high of 64 and a low of 37 degrees. Rain for the week was 0.08in with a water year to date of 0.23 inches with snow in Willow Creek of 0.00in. Forecasts for next week are for high of 66 and lows of 42. The temperatures are getting more and more like winter each week. The forecast for the coming week is more rain showers. We will see