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Trinity River Fishing Report – March 25, 2012 PDF  | Print |  E-mail
Visitor Info - Fishing Report
Sunday, 25 March 2012 00:00

Tuesday March 27 the Pacific Fisheries Management Council (PFMC) will have a hearing in Eureka at the Red Lion to hear what the public would like to see from the Options it has provided. Last night an the Humboldt Area Saltwater Anglers (HASA) Dinner and Auction there was a lot of talk about the different PFMC Options for the up coming salmon season and it appeared that the most popular Option I was the most preferred by those in attendance. This is for the Ocean Sport Fishing and it provides for a May 1st to Sept. 9th fishing period. 

 
It also provides for 66,600 salmon for In-River Sport fishing. These are very liberal sport fishing Fall Chinook salmon seasons and after doing some serious studying I have to concur. So I hope I see as many of you as can come at the hearing to speak up of the Option you prefer.

I have received many phone calls about the fishing on the Hoopa Reservation.; well I have some very good news for you. The Hoopa Tribe has agreed that Sport Fishing on the Reservation should be allowed. The problem is how can the Tribe control it? Hoopa plans on issuing use permits to allow sport fishermen to cross reservation land to gain access to the Trinity River. Just how the use permit will come about is yet to be dealt with but I am in the understanding that the Hoopa Forestry will issue them some how. I hope to find out this coming week and as soon as I know I will publish it on the internet for all to know. The next thing to do is gain access for rafters and fishing guides and I am of the understanding that that will be coming soon as the details can be worked out.

Trinity River Hatchery Counts:
 
The TRH counts have finished and the preliminary counts are out. Fall totals for the 2011 season are; week of Mar.18; Steelhead 93, total 5,784, 2010 total 2,037. Fall Chinook – 15,722, 2011 total 22,302, 2010 totals 11,908. Coho salmon to date 4,784, 2010 total 4,431.

Fishing:

The water year for the Klamath River Basin and specifically the Trinity River are on the verge of going from a Critically Dry Year to a Dry year. The difference is about 84,000 acre feet of water for the Trinity River. That amount of water will make the difference of being able to get down the river in a drift boat for the summer and whether the fish can get up the river in the fall. In the past week we have seen rain and snow to the amount that the basin could slip into a Dry Water Year.

The rains have come and the river is rising. This past week has been really hard to say if the river is fishable or not. As of yesterday the upper sections were high and fast but really looked good to fish but I doubt that one could drift it well. 

We have been having rain and snow for the last week or so and the Trinity and Klamath or blown out one time and becoming fishable the next. When I was up in Weaverville the other day the Junction City area was fishable from the bank but flowing to fast to drift. 
 
French Creek was still sprouting some mud but not so bad as to be unfishable. As one came down river volume picked up and the river became muddier. The Hawkins Bar / Willow Creek area was not fishable and the river was very high.

Klamath: The Weitchpec/Orleans area was very high at the mouth. In fact it was bank to bank. As you went up river the flows reduced some but from what I could see it will be another week before one could fish decently.

Trinity River flows and conditions:
Trinity Lake is 28.5ft (1.5ft decrease) below the over flow and at 81.5% of capacity (20% increase) of capacity at 11:00am to day. Inflow to the lake is 5,648cfs and dam releases are 1,091cfs to Lewiston Lake with 779cfs going to Whiskeytown Lake and the Sacramento River.

Trinity River: Lewiston Dam releases are 312cfs, water temps 46.6, air is 43 degrees. Limekiln Gulch is 5.1ft at 480cfs. Douglas City is 6.5ft at 723cfs, water temps 45, air is 41. Junction City is 2.2ft at 847cfs. Helena is 10.9ft at 1,170cfs and water at 44.9. Cedar Flat is 6.4ft at 2,530cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 5,060cfs, air 50, and water 45. Hoopa is 16.2ft at 301Kcfs, water temps 46 degrees. Mouth of the Trinity at Klamath is 43.2Kcfs

Klamath: Iron Gate Dam releases are 1,420cfs. Seiad Valley is 7.4ft at 3,550cfs. Happy Camp estimated at 1,160cfs. Somes Bar estimated at 9,810cfs. Orleans is 9.3ft at 13.2Kcfs. Klamath at 101 is 17.8ft at 33.8K, water temps of 45.6 degrees. 

Temperatures in the valley last week were 60/32 degrees with 2.8 inches of rain, total to date 51.0 inches. The weather next week expected to be 59/34, Mon – showers, Tue- rain / wind, Wed-Thur-Fri-Sat rain, Sun- partly cloudy.        
 

 

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