Fish and Game Commission
The Fish and Game Commissioners met in Monterey April 7-8, 2010. The results of this meeting were that they were going to accept the April 10 - 15 PFMC, In-River Sport and Ocean Sport final recommendation Option II at their April 21, 2010 teleconference meeting. If that is passed we should have a salmon season similar to that of last year with a longer Ocean Sport fishing season. It was very hard to tell how the commission would vote but they appeared to agree with Tom Weseloh, of Cal Trout, #1 recommendation; expansion of waters open to angling on the South Fork Trinity River as proposed by DFG staff. Recommendations # 2, 3 & 4 would be considered for a future Commission agenda items.
2. Selective harvest of marked hatchery Coho salmon on the Trinity
3. Marking of all hatchery produced spring Chinook to allow better management
4. Open the Upper Trinity River main stem above Trinity Lake to angling Nov. 16 through the last Sat. in
Apr. with zero bag limits and only artificial lures/flies w/barbless hooks.
It was hard to determine how the commissioners felt when there were only two of us left to testify for Items 22 and 24, Klamath-Trinity Sport fishing regulations and Ocean Salmon Sport fishing regs. Mr. Weseloh and I were received well by the commissioners but they didn’t want to take up the Cal Trout proposals until it was brought to their attention that Item #1 was also recommended by staff. It was really difficult to sit there and see 20 anti-hunting and environmentalists against and only five in favor, testify to Agenda Item 20; the extension of bear season limits and addition of counties with only 5 persons in favor of it. Let this be a lesson to all sportsmen, there are many vocal people out there to speak against sportsmen and their sport.
River Flows and Water Levels
SPECIAL NOTICE: The “Water Year” is determined on April 1st. Friday I received email that the inflow to the lake is determined to be 1,310KAF (Thousand Acre Feet). This is within the “Normal Water Year” range (1,025 to 1,350KAF) as defined by 50% exceedence of the average year inflow. On March 31st, Trinity Adaptive Management Working Group recommended to the Bureau of Reclamation flows for a Normal Water Year. The flows will reach a high of 6,000cfs on May 2, 2010 and then start to decline and not reach normal summer flows until August 2nd. So you may want to mark your calendar to that effect, just to be River Flows and Water Levels Trinity Lake is 81ft below the over flow (7.25ft decrease) and 54 percent of capacity at 1:00pm today.
Inflow to the lake is 2,303cfs and 378cfs is being released to Lewiston Lake with 89cfs to the Sacramento River.
Trinity River at Lewiston releases are 189cfs, water temperatures 47.4 degrees.
Limekiln Gulch is 4.8ft at 419cfs. Douglas City is 2.6ft at 706cfs, water temps are 46.6 degrees, air 50 degrees.
Helena/North Fork is 10.5ft at 1,220cfs, water temps 46.6, air 51. Cedar Flat is 6.6ft at 2,500cfs.
Willow Creek 5,250cfs, water at 46, air 54. Hoopa is 17.8ft at 8,950cfs, water 48. Mouth of Trinity is 18.9K cfs.
Klamath River releases at Iron Gate Dam are 1,330 cfs. Seiad Valley is 4.1ft at 5,750cfs.
Happy Camp estimated at 3,350cfs. Somes Bar estimated at 6,920cfs. Orleans is 8ft at 9,980cfs.
Klamath at 101 is 14.7ft at 22.7K cfs water temperatures at 48.2 degrees.
Temperatures in the valley last week were 74/32 degrees rain 1.75 inches, to date 68.65 inches. Weather next week in the valley, 67/37 degrees, with scattered showers through Wednesday, then overcast for the rest of the week. The Trinity has cleared in the upper sections but is still milky below So. Fork and clearing some in Hoopa. Hoopa is seeing some fresh natives are staging below inflowing creeks. April 21 will see the beginning of the spring flows.
