Trinity Lake is 78ft. below the overflow and 56 % of capacity. Average?Įinflow to the lake is 835cfs.

108cfs is being released to the Sacramento River.

Trinity River @ Lewiston is 310cfs & water Temps are 41.9, air 36cfs @?Į11:00am today.

Douglas City is 1.9ft. @ 350cfs, water temps 41.7, air 35. Helena / North?ĮFork is 9.2ft. @ 550cfs, water temps 39.7, air 48.

Cedar Flat is 3.9ft. @ 940cfs. Willow Creek est @1,500cfs. & water about 40,?Įair 46. Hoopa is 15ft. @ 4,030cfs, water 41.5.

Klamath River releases at Iron Gate re 1,320cfs. Seiad Valley is 3.3ft.?Į@2,200cfs. Happy Camp est. @4,000cfs..

Somes Bar est. @5,630cfs. Orleans is 6.6ft, @ 6.5K cfs. Mouth of Trinity @?ĮKlamath 10.5K cfs, water 42 degrees.

Klamath River @ 101 13.8ft. @ 19K cfs, water 43.5 degrees.

Last weeks temperatures for the Trinity Valley were 48/32 degrees with 5.45?Įinches of rain and 1.5 inches of snow. Forecasts for next week are for 50/33?Įdegrees partly cloudy Monday and Tuesday showers starting Tuesday night and?Įrain into the weekend. This last week we saw snow late Wend say and into?ĮThursday. In fact as you came off of Berry summit it looked like a "Winter?ĮWonderland" driving down Hiwy 299 and into Willow Creek. It was beautiful,?Įthe black ribbon of highway weaving its way down through tall evergreens all?Įcovered in snow. Thursday saw a light dusting of snow all through the valley?Įwith the ridges turning white with at least a foot of snow. Of course the?Įtemperatures in the valley dropped down into the freezing area and the water?Įtemperatures were NOT conducive to wading unless you had plenty of warm?Įunder clothes and didn't stay in the water for long periods of time, but it?Įwas beautiful to see!

Hurray, hurray we are seeing some of the early bird (first part of the run)?Įnative Steelhead. Early this past week a friend of mine, Tom Wesloh, called?Įand said that he had some time and that he and a friend of his had to go?Įfishing. It seems that all of the coastal streams and rivers were blown out?Įand they wanted to come up to try the Lower Trinity. I told him that the?Įriver was fishable but still a little high from the rain. They did ok but?Įonly landed one bright chrome steelie form South Fork to Big Rock. On Friday?Įthey decided to try again only they did much better and were able to hook a?Įcouple of fresh bright chromers. I consecrated a friend of mine down in?ĮHoopa and he stated the there were some fresh fish in the lower section of?Įthe river but not a lot yet. So with this information at hand I believe that?Įwe will see a lot more Winter Steelhead come into the system in the next?Įcouple of weeks. Usually by the second week of January we are seeing Winter?ĮSteelhead in the Hoopa / Willow Creek area, but that is a rule of thumb not?Įa fact every year. These are fresh right out of the ocean Steelhead and they?Įreally put up a fight. You must remember that these are native fish and that?Įyou have to release them so try not to take them out of the water when you?Įland them and give them a little refreshing before you release them back?Įinto the river. If you are a fly fisher you want to use dark rubber leg type?Įflies or brightly colored skein patterns. Hardware throwers, you want to?Įstep up your size for spoons or spinners. If the water is clear and good?Įvisibility you can use silver but if it is murky you want to use gold. Of?Įcourse bait fishers should stick with night crawlers or fresh roe.

The upper section of the Trinity is still good above Douglas City for?Įhatchery Steelhead. I heard that a couple of tagged Steelies were landed up?Įaround Steel Bridge. This tells me that there is still plenty of action in?Įthe upper river you just have to work your way in between storms.

The cold weather has kept the Upper Klamath fishable and the river has been?Įsome what high but fishable from Bogus Creek down through the upper Siead?ĮValley. As you get closer to Happy Camp the Klamath starts to take on a lot?Įof water from the tributaries and becomes much faster and unfishable. I?Įwould say that by watching the flows one should be able to determine when?Įthey should make a mad dash up to fish the Klamath. The higher water flows?Įof the Klamath are dangerous so one should make sure they know the area they?Įwant to fish and try to work the lee side of the current because the fish?Įwill not be in the heavy currents of the river. Remember you are going to?Įsee a lot more "Wild Steelhead" because because there are just not very many?Įhatchery fish returning at this time of year. Most of the Steelhead you will?Įbe hooking is going to be native fish because the Klamath has a very strong?Įrun of native fish, about two to three times larger than the Trinity.?ĮRemember to land this Steelhead as fast as you can so as not to tire them?Įout to much. You want to make sure that you give them a good chance of?Įrevival before you release them by either holding them by the tail part of?Įthe body and working the fish back and forth in the light current or use?Įyou're net to keep them in the water if you are in a boat or raft. I have?Įfound that by using my net I can hold the fish in the current until they are?Įready to swim away on their own. Until next time -------------

Websites: MyOutdoorBuddy.com, Willowcreekchamber.com,
from Willow Creek, CA Phone 530-629-3554, E-mail yen2fish@yahoo.com