I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. With the Winter Soltis passing the Duggan Clan has had a new addition which has made everyone in the family very happy. With the Winter Soltis passing we are also into longer days which will give us more time to do our passion, fish!

It has been hard to gather much fishing information for the lack of participants. As we go into the winter months the forecast is showing more rain for the local rivers. This is a good thing for fishing as more winter Steelhead will be entering the river which should increase the fishing. Some of the local rivers have been closed because of the “Low Flow Closure” regulations. With to the projected rains and more water for the river’s steelhead will be entering and heading up the rivers to their spawning grounds. Winter steelheading has always been a favorite of mine due to the veracity of their fight and size. Some people say they can tell the difference between native and hatchery steelhead but I have found that some hatchery steelies can give you just as much of a tussle as the natives. I said some, not all. Anyway, I wish you all good winter steelhead fishing.

It has been reported that the Bureau of Reclamation will not do the winter releases this winter due to the lack of water in the lake. This is good! There has also been rumor that some lawsuits have been filed against the removal of the Dams on the Klamath River. We will have to wait and see how that goes?  

Lewiston Lake, Pine Creek Marina: I didn’t contact Louise or Matt of the Pine Cove Marina and Park (530)778-3878) so I don’t have anything from Lewiston Lake. The same goes for Cory at the Indian Creek Lodge for the Upper River information. Sorry about that. 
Trinity River Hatchery summary: Julian Week 45 ending Nov.11, 2022; Fall Run Chinook Salmon, 367-adult, 188-jacks, total 585, season total 2,346; Coho salmon, 11-jack, 90-adult, total 101, season total 160; 2-steelhead, season total 35. Too early in the week to get a report.

Junction City weir summary: Julian week 49 ending Dec. 9, 2022; Chinook salmon, 0 -jack, 9-adult, total 9, season total 3,193; Coho salmon, 0-jack, 17-adult, total 17, season total 240; steelhead, 4-adult, 0-1/2lbs, total 4, season total 221, Brown Trout, 0, season total 22.

Fishing: Things have been kind of slow around here due to the lack of participants. The good news is that I finely found some fishermen. Yeah! Most of the fishers I located on the river were fishing the lower section of the Willow Creek area or down on the Upper sections of the Reservation. All were fly fishers. They were catching ½-pounders at the time I watched them but with the fresh water from the rains I am sure they will hook into a fresh adult here or there. If you would like you can call to Cory at the Indian Creek Lodge (530)623-6294 or check with Khristine at Del Loma RV Park (530)623-2834 for upper river fishing or if you would like fishing info for Lewiston Lake call Pine Cove Marina.

Mid-Klamath to Happy Camp: The Klamath River at Weitchpec is flowing 3,858cfs. This is an increase of 304cfs.  Iron Gate Dam is releasing 1,011cfs. Due to the Holiday week, I have not been able to get fishing reports from the Klamath River area. I hope to do better next week.

Lake Conditions: Whiskeytown is 86% of capacity (a decrease of 0%) with inflows of 90cfs and releasing 239cfs into Spring Creek. Shasta Lake is 32% of capacity (an increase of 0% plus 0ft) with inflows of 3,624cfs and releasing 2,561cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 86% (a decrease of 2%) with inflows of 3,189cfs and releasing 3,330cfs into the Sacramento River. Oroville Lake is 29% of capacity (an increase of 2% plus 0ft) with inflows of 1,705cfs with releases of 789cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 29% of capacity (an increase of 1% plus 2ft) with inflows of 1,427cfs with releases of 1,312cfs into the American river. Trinity Lake is 521,177AF minus 3,645AF, it was agreed to be 600,00AF to maintain a “cold water pool”. This winter appears to be contradicting the forecasts of the national weather bureau by being ahead of last years rain fall. From the forecasts we are also having some good snow pack in the Northern Sierras. I haven’t seen any snow reports from the Trinity Alps area yet. The Trinity Alps is the water source for Trinity Lake. We could hopefully have a turnaround in the weather this year and refresh the reservoirs.  
Trinity Lake: The lake is 182ft below the overflow (an increase of 1ft) and 21% of capacity (a decrease of 0%) with inflows of 243cfs and releasing 325cfs into Lewiston Lake with 25cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown and on to Keswick Power Plant, leaving 524,822AF in lake storage (a decrease of 2,817AF), and releasing 3,292cfs into the Sacramento River.

Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is 96% of capacity (an increase of 1%) and water releases of 297cfs into the Trinity River, with water temperatures of 43.4 degrees, as of 1:00pm today Thursday December 22, 2022. Limekiln Gulch is 4.67ft at 303cfs. Douglas City is 6.28ft with flows of 315cfs with water temperatures of 42.9 degrees. Junction City is 1.77ft at 367cfs. Helena is 8.23ft at 402cfs with water temps of 43.6 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 2.89ft at 606cfs. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 2.53ft at 262cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 868cfs and air is 51 degrees and water at 42 degrees, Hoopa is 12.33ft at 1,358cfs with water at 42.7 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath in Weitchpec are estimated to be 3,858cfs an increase of 304cfs.

Klamath River flows and conditions: Iron Gate is releasing 1,011cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.20ft at 1,237cfs. Indian Creek is 3.58ft at 173cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 1,410cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 2,030fs, and the Salmon River is 2.10ft at 470cfs. Orleans is 2.97ft at 2,500cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 9.35ft at 4,468cfs and water temps are 41.3 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jed Smith are 6.78ft with flows of 1,640cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 13.51ft at N/A cfs.

Temperatures for the Valley last week had a high of 46 and a low of 28 degrees. Rain for the week was 2.20in with a water year total to date of 21.61 inches and 0.00in of snow in Willow Creek. The predicted temperatures for next week are for high of 72 and lows of 46. The rain is trying to begin but hasn’t fully begun yet. It is expected tonight to start raining with more rain for Saturday. Sunday, Christmas day it is predicted to be a nice day with rain the rest of the week.