At the present time the river flows are receding and should be down to 1,500cfs releases from the Lewiston Dam into the Trinity River by the end of Memorial Day weekend. Many fishermen have been waiting impatiently for the first run of Spring Chinook to arrive in the Willow Creek area. I am sorry to say that they have not arrived yet but a few early birds have come through but the main run has yet to arrive! This year the Pacific Fisheries Management Council has predicted that 272,000 Chinook salmon are supposed to return to the mouth of the Klamath River. The nice part is that the majority of these fish are to be four year olds which mean that if they are correct and their predictions come true we should see salmon in the 30-40lbs range. I haven’t seen fish that big in the river for some time now.

One thing that all fishermen should like is that the daily bag limit will be four salmon of which 3 can be adults over 22 inches with one jack or any combination thereof, possession of 12 salmon of which 9 can be adults. That should help fishermen that come up to the area to go home with a good quantity of salmon.  

You must be sure to read and understand both the Fresh Water regulations and the Supplement to be sure you don’t violate any fishing regulations to prevent a citation and possibly a fine.