It look like an early fall and possible early winter with the first rain fall of Fall. The weir counts are looking really good for the first of the Fall Run Chinook. I have been looking at the counts for the Klamath and the Trinity Rivers and the numbers are starting to look very good for this time of the year. In fact, the Willow Creek weir has seen several days of triple digit with Monday Sept. 22 having a count of 192 Fall Chinook Salmon.

Back to the Trinity River Restoration Project. The Junction City Campground launching site is ongoing and looks terrible. You can launch and take out there but it is hard due to the construction there. Launching is hard because of the traffic, taking out is not too troublesome but with the low water there it is a bit hard. The rain should bring up the flows and make it a bit easier. The Lorenz Gulch launch is almost graveled in and needs some clearing out to make launching and taking out better. I am not sure if some higher water flows will do the trick and clear the launching area. I have not checked out the Stiner Flat launch are to see if it is still usable or not.  

Trinity River Hatchery summary: Julian Week 37, ending Sep. 16; Chinook Salmon, 39-Jacks, 331-adults, total 370, season total 512; Coho Salmon, 0-Jacks, 0-adults, season total 0; Steelhead, 0-1/2-lbs, 1-adult, total 1, season total 2 hatchery.

Junction City Weir summary: Julian Week 38, ending Sep. 23, 2025: Chinook Salmon, 38-jacks, 83-adults, total 121,season total 820; Coho Salmon, 0- jacks, 0-adults, season total 0; Steelhead, 7-1/2-lbs, 15-adults, total 22, season total 221, 52- hatchery; Brown Trout 1, total 1, season total 36.

Willow Creek summary:  Julian Week 38, ending Sep. 23, 2025: Chinook Salmon, 1148-jacks, season total 425, 345-adults, total 493, season total 1,380: Coho Salmon, 0-jacks, 2- adults, total 2, season total 4, 2-hatchery; Steelhead, 4-½-lbs, 31- adults, total 31, season total 162, 57- hatchery.

Klamath River summary: Shasta River starting Sep.25, 2025; Chinook Salmon, total 2,630, Coho Salmon total 0; Steelhead 96-adult total; Scott River; Chinook Salmon 13, Coho Salmon 0, 0 Steelhead; Bogus Creek starting Sep. 26, 2025 no results yet; Jenny Creek starting Sep. 19, 2025; 13 Chinook Salmon, 0 Coho Salmon, 0 Steelhead; Shovel Creek starting Sep. 2025; 0 Chinook Salmon, 0 Coho Salmon, 0 Steelhead.

Lewiston Lake: I didn’t receive a report from Lewiston Lake this week. I would expect the early mornings would be good as there is plenty of water to fish. You can contact the Pine Cove Marina and ask Louise or Matt (530)778-3878) for Lewiston Lake fishing; for the Upper Trinity River you can call Indian Creek Lodge, Andy or Hannah, (530)623-6294), Junction City Store, Butch, (530)623-2803. I have not received any fishing information from Indian Creek Lodge for some time now.

Willow Creek area: Below Big Rock in the early morning has been producing some ½-pounder action in the mornings and evenings. With the rain I expect fishing will really pick up in the coming week. We have been having great numbers at the Willow Creek weir. Up at the mouth of Willow Creek has also been producing some ½-pounders. I haven’t checked out Tish Tang yet but it should be good fishing below the weir. Up above the mouth of South Fork where the water is cooler fishing been good fishing for ½-pounder with some adults to spice up the fishing. You have to be careful as you will hook some Chinook Salmon and they have to be released without taking them out of the water. The South Fork is closed to fish until November 1st. Hawkins Bar has also been fishing good. Don’t forget the river above Hawkins Bar to Cedar Flat is closed to fishing. Right now, the South Fork is very warm and not fishable.

Up river, Bucktail and Steel Bridge runs were doing good and producing some adult Steelhead with ½-pounders in the mix. North Coast Outfitters (Bruce McGreger) said they even caught and released some salmon. 

Mid-Klamath to Happy Camp: The Klamath River at Weitchpec is flowing 2,147cfs. This is a decrease of 251cfs. The Iron Gate/Bogus Creek area is flowing 1,078cfs an increase of 130cfs from the last report. I haven’t received a fishing report from the Upper Klamath has been surprisingly good. It appears that I was too pessimistic about the recovery of the Upper Klamath recovery. There have been good reports of fish returns. There is a problem of the river being closed in the Dillon Creek to Ti Bar area due to the fire. I am trying to get some reports about that but have been unsuccessful as of  today.  The reports of Fall Chinook Salmon increasing in spawning numbers at Shovel and Jenning Creeks is good news.  To get the latest fishing information I suggest you call Marble Mountain Guest Ranch (800) 522-6284, or Scott Caldwell, SC Guide Service (530)905-0758 to get proper fishing information to fish the Upper Klamath and river closures.

Lake Conditions: These readings are for September 27th at midnight. It appears that readings are being posted a day late. Whiskeytown Lake is 99%, an increase of 0% with inflows of 1,965cfs and releases of 1,899cfs.  Shasta Lake is 59% of capacity, a decrease of 2% and minus 3ft with inflows of 3,437cfs and releasing 5,339cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 90% of capacity, a decrease of 1% with inflows of 7,063cfs and releases of 7,363cfs into the Sacramento River. Oroville Lake is 60% of capacity, a decrease of 4% and minus 10ft, with inflows of 1,807cfs with releases of 7,890cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 46% of capacity, a decrease of 1% and minus 2ft, with inflows of 1,466cfs with releases of 1,854cfs into the American River. Trinity Lake storage is 1,834,616AF a decrease of 37,035AF of storage. 

Trinity Lake: The lake is 41ft below the overflow, an increase of 4ft and 75% of capacity, a decrease of 2%, with inflows of 18cfs and releasing 2,292cfs into Lewiston Lake with 1,856cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown and on to the Keswick Power Plant, and releasing 7,363cfs into the Sacramento River, a decrease of 453cfs. 

Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is 95% of capacity, an increase 1% and water releases of 434cfs into the Trinity River, with water temperatures of 47.9 degrees, as of 0:00pam today Sunday September 27, 2025.  Limekiln Gulch is 4.80 at 403cfs. Douglas City is 6.60ft with flows of 448cfs with water temperatures of 54.0 degrees. Junction City (gauge is out of order), Helena is 8.91ft at 457cfs with water temps of 58.3 degrees. Cedar Flat (Burnt Ranch) (Gauge is still out of order). South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 2.26 at 91cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 570cfs, air is 74 degrees and water at 60.5 degrees, Hoopa is 11.34ft at 676cfs with water at 65.9 degrees. 

Klamath River flows and conditions: Flows at Bogas Creek are 1.90ft with flows of 1,072cfs, a decrease of 6cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.33ft at 1,347cfs. Indian Creek is 3.34ft at 44cfs. Happy Camp is estimated to be 1,391cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 1,257cfs, and the Salmon River is 1.54ft at 214cfs. Orleans is 2.40ft at 1,471cfs, the Klamath River at Terwer Creek is 8.14ft flowing at 3,029cfs with water temps of 67.5 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jediah Smith are 4.39ft with flows of 234cfs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 11.16ft at N/A.

Temperatures for the Valley last week had a high of 97 and a low of 52 degrees. Rain for the week was 0.00in with a water year total to date of 54.94 and 1.75in of snow in Willow Creek. The predicted temperatures for next week are for high of 79 and a low of 49. The weather predicted for the next week is predicting rain starting last Sunday night into Wednesday with scattered clouds and sunshine for rest of the week. Good weather for fishing. 

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