Now that the Trinity River water releases are back on schedule, we saw high water flows in the Willow Creek area of Big Rock and Kimtu Beach. (5,475cfs) This was not the best water flows for a Memorial Day Weekend but with the light showers we didn’t see a large turnout on the river. Instead there was a fare showing from the coast because of the Great Kentic Sculpture Race from Arcata to Ferndale. I understand there were 43 contestants. I am not sure how the showers affected the race but always in the past “the party must go on”, come rain, sun or snow.

CFDGC: Last week after I sent out my report I found out that a group of Guides, Sports Fishermen and several other groups proposed to the Fish and Game Commissioners a Fall Chinook salmon limit of; 2 salmon per day with only 1 adult and 6 Chinook salmon in possession of which only 3 adults instead of the Fish and Wildlife recommendation of; 3 salmon per day with 2 adults and 9 salmon in possession of which only 6 adults. The reasoning behind this was that it would extend the fishing season and allow for fishermen to stay longer. This was a good argument but someone forgot about the legislators have NOT passed and annual fishing license so you still have to buy a yearly license. This could possibly cause even more loss of the purchase fishing licenses. The State of California is already losing 3,000 to 5,000 fishermen per year due to the increase of costs of fishing licenses. THINK!! We need to think of ways the CFGC could increase people who want to go fishing rather than turning them away. For those of us that are retired the cost of a license in the State of California is getting TOO expensive!    

Fishing: fishing has been tuff because of the highwater flows but now that the water releases are on their way down, we should start to see some improvement as some salmon start to move up river. Hopefully some of the summer run steelhead will take the hint and start moving into the rivers also. 

Mid-Klamath: Iron Gate Dam releases are also down to 1,283cfs. Fishing above I-5 should be starting to pick up in the Upper Klamath. The flows in the Siead Valley and Happy Camp area have dropped to a fishable level but the Mid and Lower Klamath are still a bit high for fishing right now.

Lake Conditions:  Whiskeytown is 99% of capacity (an increase of 1%) with inflows 740cfs and releasing 560cfs on to Keswick and the Sacramento River. Shasta is 98% of capacity (an increase of 2% plus 2ft) with inflows of 10,641cfs and releasing 7,884cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 85% (a decrease of 5%) with inflows of 8,536cfs and releasing 7,985cfs into the Sacramento river. Oroville Lake is 97% of capacity (an increase of 11% plus 1ft) with inflows of 10,479cfs with releases of 6,143cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 95% of capacity (an increase of 0% plus 0ft) with inflows of 7,749cfs with releases of 7,731cfs into the American river.

Trinity Lake: the lake is 5ft below the overflow (a decrease of 5ft) and 97% of capacity (an increase of 0%) inflows are 3,982cfs and releases are 2,804cfs into Lewiston Lake with N/A cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown Lake and on to Keswick Power Plant, which is releasing 7,985cfs into the Sacramento River.

Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam releases are 2,784cfs and water temperatures of 47.7 degrees and air at N/A as of 12:30pm today Sunday May 26, 2019. Limekiln Gulch is 7.18ft at 2,898cfs and water temps of 48.4. Douglas City is 9.37ft and flows of 3,473cfs. with air temps of 61 and water at 448.3 degrees. Junction City is N/Aft at N/Acfs. Helena is 14.91ft at 4,043cfs with water temps of 50 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) is 8.56ft at 4,7918cfs. South Fork of the Trinity is 8.43ft at 684cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 5,475cfs and air is 61 degrees and water at 52 degrees. Hoopa is 16.99ft at 7,583cfs and is 53 degrees. Water flows at the mouth of the Trinity River at the Klamath are estimated to be 16,159cfs.

Klamath: Iron Gate is releasing 1,283cfs. Seiad Valley is 4.61ft at 2,528cfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 2,947cfs, the Salmon River is 4.66ft at 2,739cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 5,837cfs. Orleans is 7.20ft at 8,576cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 13.74ft at 19,502cfs and water temps of 55.4 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jedia Smith is 7.59ft and flows of 2,392cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 14.06ft at N/A cfs.
Temperatures in the Valley last week were 85 hi with a low of 43. Rain for the week was 3.05in with total rain for the water year to date of 67.6 inches, with snow of 4.5in. in the valley to date. Forecast for the next week is partly cloudy and then sunshine through the coming weekend.