Tribal/Sport Harvest Workshop

Yesterday the Yurok Tribe and the Del Norte Board of Supervisors sponsored a workshop about Tribal harvest and sport salmon harvests. The DFG also participated by going over the 2009 escapement for the Klamath River Basin. The most interesting part I thought was the Yurok harvest and management part of the conference. Other topics covered were PFMC harvest management process. Yurok Tribe Law Enforcement with a panel discussion of tribal members and non tribal fishermen to sum up the conference. The history of Tribal Fisheries was particularly interesting in that it explained just how the fishing rights originated and how they came about for the Yurok Tribe. There is another one planned for some time in July and the general public will be invited. I felt the conference was quite informative and dispelled a lot of myths. If you have the opportunity to attend the next one I believe you will be very informed of just what does go on at the mouth of the Klamath River during salmon fishing season. Look for it to be posted.

Fish & Game Commission: On April 21^st the commission held a conference call meeting to vote on the coming Fall Chinook Salmon season. Because of the generous quota allotted by the PFMC of 12,000 In-River Sport Fishing the commissioners agreed to go with the same seasons and regulations as last year. They DID NOT set a Salmon season for the Sacramento River but agreed to approve one at their May meeting. If you have any thoughts as to what you would like to see occur for salmon fishing on the Sacrament River I highly recommend that you e-mail them immediately at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . The proposed regulations for Fall Chinook salmon are: 3-salmon per day with 2-adults over 22 inches. Possession is; 9-salmon per week with no more than 6-adults. The Trinity is the only river in northern Cal Rivers that you may keep 2 hatchery adults per day with 4 in possession. They MUST be adipose fin clipped or you will be cited. The same goes for hatchery trout on the Trinity. A trout is one less than 16 inches.

Trinity River Conditions

Because I was having my drift boat totally reconditioned by Hyde Boats up in Idaho Falls, Idaho I was on the road most of last week. Now I see why Hyde has their factory in Idaho. What a beautiful place and the rivers one can fish on is unbelievable. As for the Trinity the Spring Water Flows have started and they are up to 500cfs as of right now and will reach their peak flows of 6,000cfs on May 2^nd. With this in mind there will be very little to no chance to fish the Trinity until July. This is a good time to over haul your fishing tackle by changing your fishing line, tie up some new fresh leaders, sharpen hooks or purchase new ones and most of all go through your fishing reels. Clean, oil and make any adjustments needed.

Klamath River

I have been working on making some more fishing contacts for the Mid-Klamath to better inform you as to what is happening fish wise. This is not to say my present contacts are not good because they are. I just want to try and give you a little more fishing information.

River Flows and Levels

Trinity Lake is 72ft below the over flow (9ft decrease) and 57.2 percent of capacity (4.6% increase) at 4:00pm today.
Inflow to the lake is 3,882cfs and 538cfs is being released to Lewiston Lake with 38cfs to the Sacramento River.
Trinity River at Lewiston releases are 500cfs, water temperatures 52.6 degrees.
Limekiln Gulch is 5.1ft at 660cfs. Douglas City is 3.2ft at 949cfs, water temps are 51.1 degrees, air 74 degrees.
Helena/North Fork is 11.3ft at 1,620cfs, water temps 51.8air 72. Cedar Flat is 6.9ft at 2,810cfs.
Willow Creek 4,610cfs, water at 52, air 80. Hoopa is 17.2ft at 7,820fs, water 53. Mouth of Trinity is 17.4K cfs.
Klamath River releases at Iron Gate Dam are 1,330 cfs. Seiad Valley is 4.3ft at 3,040cfs.
Happy Camp estimated at 3,055cfs. Somes Bar estimated at 6,635cfs. Orleans is 7.9ft at 9,590cfs.
Klamath at 101 is 14.1ft at 20.2K cfs water temperatures at 53 degrees.
Temperatures in the valley last week were 81/38 degrees with no rain with 2.7 inches for last week, to date 72.25 inches. Weather next week in the valley, 68/38 degrees, with rain and showers for Monday thru Thursday, then overcast for the rest of the week.