The Trinity River water flows are back to summer flows of 450cfs. This will last to about mid to late October when BOR will drop the water flows back to winter flows of 300cfs. There is the possibility of BOR maintaining the summer flows a little longer into the winter summer flows but not guaranteed.  As the river has been dropping there are more and more fishermen trying the waters. They appear to be doing well and a fair amount are landing their limits. We will have to wait and see.

Now that the two lower weirs on the Lower Trinity River have been combined into one at Tish Tang on the Hoopa Reservation, we will have to see how that works out for counting and tagging the fish. I am keeping my fingers crossed and truly hope it works out for the betterment of the fish. It can only help improve the management of the fisheries. I am angus to see how the harvest of Tribal and ceremonial fisheries workout while CDFW is trying to accomplish their program. I know less stress on the fish will improve fishing for the general public. Let’s hope we don’t get back into the overfishing status again.

Lower Klamath creel count: Below Hwy 101 Bridge; Julian Week 38, ending Sep. 23, 2026; Chinook Salmon, 0-jack, season total 230. 0-adult, total 0, season total 651, total harvest 881; harvesting of adult Salmon ceased; Above Hwy 101 Bridge; 159-jack, total 861, 0-addult, total 738, season total 1,599.

Upper Klamath creel count: Julian Week 38, ending Sep. 23, 2026; Bogus Creek, Chinook Salmon, 0-adults, 0-jacks season total 0. Shasta River, Chinook Salmon, 0-adults, 0-jacks, season total 629; Coho, 13-adults, 2-jacks, season total 15. Scott River, Chinook Salmon. 0-adults, 0-jacks, season total 0. Jenny Creek, Chinook Salmon, 0-adult, 0-jacks, season total; 0 Coho Salmon, 0-adult, 0-jack, season total 0; Shovel Creek, Chinook Salmon, 0-adult, 0-jack, season total 0. 

Trinity River Hatchery summary: Julian Week 37, ending September 16, 2026, Chinook Salmon, 13-jacks, season total 16, 259-adults, season total 341, season total Salmon 359: Coho Salmon, 0-jacks, season total 0, 0-adulta, season total 0; Steelhead, 0-12/lbs, season total 0, 0-adults, season total 0.

Junction City weir summary: The Junction City weir has been partially closed because of the higher water releases and shall resume next week after water releases are back to normal. Julian Week 37, ending on Sep. 16, 2026; Chinook Salmon, 0-jack, 0-adult, total 552, 552-hatchery, season total 848; Coho Salmon, o- fish; Steelhead, 0-1/2pounder, 1-adult, total 1, season total 84, Brown Trout 0, season total 848.

Willow Creek/ Hoopa weir summary: Julian Week 37, ending Sep. 16, 2026; Chinook Salmon, 176-jacks, season total 404, 547-adults, season total 884, combined total 1,288; Coho Salmon, 0-jacks, season total 0; Steelhead, 0-1/2lbs season total 0, 0-adults, season total 0.

Lewiston Lake: Pine Cove Marina, Louise has said that fishing is starting to pick up some with hopes of getting better. The morning fish is the best right now with a slow mid-day fishing. The Fly fishers are doing the best with Copper Johns, PT Nymphs and Olive Woolies, Bait fishers are doing best with Rainbow Power and White Power Eggs, Hardware fishers using 1/8oz or 1/2oz Plain Silver units (Spinners or Spoons).  Lewiston Lake is receiving 1,076cfs from Trinity Lake and releasing 438cfs into the river. If you would like to know more up to date fishing you can contact the Pine Cove Marina and ask Louise or Matt (530)778-3878), for Upper Trinity River you can call Junction City Store, (530)623-2803 or North Coast Outfitters (415)596-3488. 

Willow Creek area: The water flow releases are dropping down to 537cfs today and fishing is getting better by the day. I see more fishermen landing limits in the morning but fishing continues until about 10:00 or 11:00am. I haven’t seen a lot of fishermen out late in the afternoon yet but I haven’t cursed the whole lower river yet. It appears the Ich has been reduced and the fish are much healthier now. This is really good news. I have yet to visit the Willow Creek/Hoopa Weir but plan to very soon so I can become familiar with the operations down there. I hope to hear from the upper river area soon to see how they are doing up there with the lower river flows.

Mid-Klamath to Happy Camp: The Mid-Klamath Creel counts are starting to increase which is good news for the Upper Klamath. The Klamath River at Weitchpec is flowing 2,240cfs. This is a decrease of 738cfs. The Iron Gate/Bogus Creek area is flowing 987cfs a decrease of 17cfs from the last report.  The river is still flowing fair in the upper river and getting cooler as we ae getting closer to winter weather. The lower river at Terwer Creek is 66.0 degrees. The counts are showing much better movement of Salmon now that the river is cooling down. For better information you can call or check out the face book for Marble Mountain Guest Ranch (800) 522-6284, or call Scott Caldwell, SC Guide Service (530)905-0758 to get the latest fishing information for fishing the Upper Klamath.

Lake Conditions: Trinity Lake is at 1,692,724AF, a decrease of 20,510AF. Sorry I mixed up the numbers last week. Whiskeytown Lake is 99%, a decrease of 0% with inflows of 761cfs and releases of 102cfs.  Shasta Lake is 54% of capacity, a decrease of 1% and minus 1ft with inflows of 2,410cfs and releasing 5,737cfs into Keswick. Keswick is 90% of capacity, a decrease of 1% with inflows of 6,353cfs and releases of 5,929cfs into the Sacramento River. Oroville Lake is 49% of capacity, a decrease of 3% and minus 9ft, with inflows of 2,468cfs with releases of 8,993cfs into the Feather River. Folsom Lake is 44% of capacity, a decrease of 1% and minus 1ft, with inflows of 1,588cfs with releases of 2,2005cfs into the American River. 

Trinity Lake: The lake is 51ft below the overflow, an increase of 2ft and 69% of capacity, a decrease 1%, with inflows of 99cfs and releasing 1,067cfs into Lewiston Lake with 638cfs being diverted to Whiskeytown and on to the Keswick Power Plant, and releasing 5,929cfs into the Sacramento River, a decrease of 351cfs. 

Trinity River flows and conditions: Lewiston Dam is 95% of capacity, an increase 1% and water releases of 438cfs into the Trinity River, with water temperatures of 50.8 degrees, as of 0:00pam today Sep. 27, 2026Limekiln Gulch is 4.87ft. with flows of 471cfs. Douglas City is 6.71ft with flows of 508cfs and water temperatures of 55.3 degrees. Helena is 9.13ft with flows of 477cfs with water temps of 57.6 degrees. South Fork of the Trinity near Hyampom is 2.55 with flows of 60cfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 537cfs, air is 67 degrees and water at 60.9 degrees, Hoopa is 11.32ft with flows of 703cfs with water at 62.8 degrees.

Klamath River flows and conditions: Iron Gate/Bogas Creek is 1.90ft with flows of 987cfs, a decrease of 17cfs. Seiad Valley is 2.07ft with flows of 1,148cfs. Indian Creek is 3.23ft with flows of 37cfs. Happy Camp is estimated to be 1,185cfs, Somes Bar is estimated to be 1,378cfs, and the Salmon River is 1.53ft with flows of 159cfs. Orleans is 1.86ft at 1,537cfs, the Klamath River flows at Terwer Creek is 7.86ft and flows of 2.566cfs with water temps of 66.0 degrees. Flows for the Smith River at Jediah Smith are 4.47ft with flows of 263fs. and flows at Dr. Fine Bridge are 11.26ft at N/A.

Temperatures for the Valley last week had a high of 95 and a low of 46 degrees. Rain for the week was 0.00in with a water year total to date of 58.57 and 1.45in of snow in Willow Creek. The predicted temperatures for next week are for high of 89 and a low of 47. We are looking at a cooling down in the weather with some sunshine and seeing more fish moving in the rivers. 

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