Trinity Lake is 62ft. below the over flow and 62% of capacity.  Inflow to the lake is estimated @ 6746cfs.  593cfs. is being diverted to the Sacramento River through the Spring Creek Tunnel.  Water releases into the Trinity River @ Lewiston are 310cfs. with water temps at 45 degrees, water flows at Douglas City are 749cfs @ 3ft.  Burnt Ranch is 2510cfs. @ 6.7ft, Willow Creek is est. @ 7360cfs. with water temperatures about 45 degrees.  Hoopa water flows are 9480cfs. @ 18.2ft. and water temps are about 45 degrees. Releases into the Klamath at Iron Gate are 1100cfs.  Seiad Valley flows are 3300cfs @ 4.8ft.  Happy Camp is est.@ 3660cfs.  Somes Bar is est. @ 5580cfs, Orleans is 10.7K cfs @ 8.3ft.  The river flows at Weitchpec are about 20.1K cfs and water temps are 45 degrees.  Air temperatures this past week have been 57/32 degrees with almost 3in. of rain and about 2ft. of snow in the higher elevations.  The weather for next week is expected to be 56/33 degrees with possible showers next  Saturday.

The rivers and the fishing have been like a yoyo.  First they are up then they are down.  The question I am asked most is "what is the fishing going to be like this weekend"? Boy would I love to be able to forecast that in a positive manner.  The problem is that I will be at the San Mateo International Sportsmen's Exposition Feb. 3 – 6, held in the San Mateo County Expo Center.  If you have kids you would like to expose to the WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE OUTDOORS and live in the Bay area, you need to get them out there.  Again there will be one of the best "Youth Outdoor Fairs" available to expose them to some of the best recreation in the Great Outdoors.  The Fair is for the kids and to show them How, What and why we have this.  Who knows you might just get a new outdoor partner to enjoy some of your favorite sports.  There is something for all!!

The Rivers finally peaked out some time yesterday afternoon and are on their way down to fishable conditions.  The yoyo effect of he rain and snowmelt has brought in some bright fresh Iron Heads.  In fact some of them are so fresh that they still have sea lice on them.  The Lower-Trinity will be out for another few days but I expect it to start to come into a fishable condition by the coming weekend.  It will be on the high side but if you work some of the slower water, back eddy's and below in-coming streams with spoons, spinners or bait you should do fairly well.  This is the time of year that night crawlers really do their job.  Be sure to carry some with you as a backup plan.

The Upper-Trinity has been fair but should really start to kick in for some very good fishing.  Fly fishermen have been doing fair to good depending where they were fishing.  The river has been on the high side up there but the fly-fishers that made the effort were able to hook some nice Steelies. Golden Stone, Burlap Special, Copper Johns and a few others have been getting results.  The one thing you have to do is making sure that you fish when the river is dropping and with this kind of weather THAT my friend is very hard to do.  I did notice that hardware fishers were doing quite well working below in-coming streams. Most of the drift boaters, of which there were very few, were back trolling plugs.  OH YES, a bit of good information for the drift boaters.  You just might want to check out the Pigeon Point Takeout below the North Fork.  I hear that BLM & USFS removed the rocks and that you can now use the boat ramp.  Yea, we finally got an improvement that works for all of us, not just a few.

Mid-Klamath: The River is on the high side with low visibility.  The upper section is producing some fishing and I expect that to improve as the river drops.  The Orleans area should be fishable by the weekend and with fresh Steelies in the river fishing should heat up.  Until next time —

GOOD FISH´EN—GOOD LUCK and remember:

Tip up with a tight line lands fish.

Website address:  www.willowcreekchamber.com
E-mail:  yen2fish@yahoo.com

 

Written By E. B. DUGGAN
530-629-3554

Trinity Lake is 70ft. below the over flow and 60% of capacity.  Inflow to the lake is estimated @ 965cfs.  14cfs. is being diverted to the Sacramento River through the Spring Creek Tunnel.  Water releases into the Trinity River @ Lewiston are 300cfs. and water temps are 44.6 degrees; water flows at Douglas City are 409cfs @ 2.3ft.  Burnt Ranch is 594cfs. @ 3.4ft, Willow Creek is est. @780cfs. with water temperatures about 45 degrees.  Hoopa water flows are 1930cfs. @ 13.2ft. and water temps are about 45 degrees.  Releases into the Klamath at Iron Gate are 925cfs.  Seiad Valley flows are 1720cfs @ 3.2ft.  Happy Camp is est.@ 1960cfs.  Somes Bar is est. @ 2672cfs, Orleans is 3950cfs @ 5ft.  The river flows at Weitchpec are about 5880cfs and water temps are 42.5 degrees.  Air temperatures this past week have been 46/28 degrees with 1 inch of rain.  The weather for next week is expected to be 49/32 degrees with showers and rain thru the week and possible snow next Sunday.

I hope all you fishermen out there had a very Merry Christmas and got to talk to Santa and he was nice enough to drop off those fishing things that were on you wish list.  That white stuff out there for the last three days was NOT SNOW!  It was FROST & ICE.  Not on the pumpkins either, but on the streets, in the boat or at the waters edge.  Was it cold, you betchum Red Rider!  We have had to use the heaters in the boat until after noon just to keep our fingers limber enough to crank the reel.  I would say THAT was real winter Steelhead fishing.  The good news is that the rain brought in some nice warm weather (42/46 degrees) and color to the river.  The bad news is that we can expect snow by next weekend.  The rains are not heavy but just enough to keep the river flows up with a little color.  So if you plan to try out that new rod, reel or waders this week that Santa dropped off for Christmas, make sure you have that rain gear handy as we do expect showers with some rain during the week.

The Trinity has been low and clear up-river and gin clear down-river with good flows.  That has made it very hard for fishing.  The fish are very spooky with this clear water.  Bill McNit of Eureka and Spence Lagro of Colorado went out with me this past week and all we were able to round up were four 1/2-pounders, 14 to 17 inches on the Salyer to Kimtu run.  I have to say that if it weren't for Bill we would not have seen any fish landed.  It was a hard day of fishing.  The weather was cold but nice if you had your winter coats on.  We did have the privilege of seeing a golden eagle and a bald eel as we drifted down the river.  Up-river I had info of several hatchery adults being landed but that is about all.  Over all I would say it was hard fishing this past week on the Trinity but I expect that to change now that the rain has arrived.  This rain should not only bring in some fresh fish but also add color the river.

The Mid-Klamath reports have been slow coming in and are about the same as the Trinity.  There are some areas accessible for fishing from the bank while others are a little on the wild side.  The exception to this is the Upper-Klamath is kicking out some very good trout fishing with very few fishermen on the river.  Until next time —

GOOD FISH´EN—GOOD LUCK and remember:

Tip up with a tight line lands fish.

Website address:  www.willowcreekchamber.com
E-mail:  yen2fish@yahoo.com

 

Written By E. B. DUGGAN
530-629-3554

Trinity Lake is 74ft. below the over flow and 58% of capacity.  Inflow to the lake is estimated @ 281cfs.  199cfs. is being diverted to the Sacramento River through the Spring Creek Tunnel.  Water releases into the Trinity River @ Lewiston are 282cfs. and water temps are 49 degrees; water flows at Douglas City are 328cfs @ 2ft.  Burnt Ranch is 503cfs. @ 2.8ft, Willow Creek is est. @ 640cfs. and water temperatures are about 51 degrees.  Hoopa flows are 954cfs. @ 11.8ft. and water temps are 53 degrees.  Releases into the Klamath at Iron Gate are 936cfs.  Seiad Valley flows are 1300cfs @ 2.7ft. and Happy Camp is est.@ 1507cfs.  Orleans is 2200cfs @ 3.7ft.  The river flows at Weitchpec are about 3154cfs and water temps are 52 degrees.  Down near the mouth at Terwer Creek flows are not available at this time.  Air temperatures this past week have been 63/41 degrees with 0.4 inches of rain. The weather for next week is expected to be 58/32 with showers and intermittent rain the first part of the week.

We are getting a few fresh, very late run Chinook coming into the river system and it looks like the winter run of Steelhead has started to come into the system.  The Willow Creek weir count for Steelhead is almost three times as many Steelies as last year at this time.  Boy is that ever-good news.  The Chinook Salmon run has really been weak this year even though it is higher than last year's count.  Last week the fish count for the weir was low but it should pick up this week if the fishing news from the Klamath is correct.

The upper Trinity has been a little on the slow side but I attribute that to the low count of fishermen being on the river.  Saturdays and Sundays the upper-river is clogged with weekend fishermen but during the week you hardly see anyone fishing.  The lower-Trinity has been slow earlier on but now that a fresh run of Steelies has started to show up I expect to see more fishermen on the river.  There are half-pounders in the valley so that should make the fly-fishers happy.  Usually right behind them come the adult Steelhead.  Most of the winters run Steelies are "native fish," so it is more of Catch & Release type fishing.  The good part is that there are still some late run hatchery fish coming in and some of those are up to 12lbs this year.  Yes I know they aren't as big as the Smith Steelhead but we don't have to worry about "low flow closures" like you do up on the Smith.

On the Mid-Klamath a fresh run of fish came into Weitchpec / Orleans area.  I mean Chinook, Coho and Steelhead.  I talked with Ken Peugh, Orleans, and he said he fished five days last week with very good results.  What really surprised me was that they caught and released four nice Coho while fishing with spinners.  Usually one will not catch that many Coho during the whole season, let alone in one outing.  So maybe the secret is to use spinners when fishing for Coho.  It might be worthwhile to try anyway.  Let's just hope the winter fishing continues to improve as it has.  Remember winter storms are a Steelheads best friend.  It opens up the small streams that they go up to spawn in.  Until next time —

GOOD FISH´EN—GOOD LUCK and remember:

Tip up with a tight line lands fish.

Website address:  www.willowcreekchamber.com
E-mail:  yen2fish@yahoo.com

 

Written By E. B. DUGGAN
530-629-3554

Trinity Lake is 60 ft. below the over flow and 65% of capacity.  Inflow to the lake is estimated 51cfs.  3316cfs. is being diverted to the Sacramento River through the Spring Creek Tunnel.  Water releases into the Trinity River @ Lewiston is 4480cfs and water temps are 48 degrees.  Water flows at Douglas City are 463cfs @ 2.3ft.  Burnt Ranch is 523cfs @ 2.8ft, Willow Creek is est. @ 562cfs. and water temperatures are 56 degrees.  Hoopa flows are 734cfs @ 11.4ft. with water temps of 63 degrees.  Releases into the Klamath at Iron Gate are now 930cfs.  Happy Camp is estimated at 1206cfs; Orleans is 3.3ft. @ 1680cfs.  The flow at Weitchpec is about 2400cfs and water temps are now 62.9 degrees.  Down near the mouth at Terwer Creek flows were not available at this time.  Air temperatures in the valley this past week have been 83/46 degrees.  Next week temps are expected to be 77/40 degrees with cloudy mornings during the week and possible showers by next weekend.

Closure:  The Lower-Klamath has met its quota for adult Chinook Salmon.  You may now ONLY keep jacks under 22 inches.

To all my readers, I apologize for not being on the Internet but I had computer problems and have just got back onto the fish report.  I thank you for all of the inquiries and hope this report brings you up to date.

The Hoopa and Willow Creek area has seen a new influx of Salmon and Steelhead this past week.  The Steelhead are running about 70% hatchery fish with some very nice 20-30 pound Salmon coming through the Willow Creek weir. Half-pounders are showing in the valley as well and are taking flies.  This past week I had the privilege of taking a serviceman, Taylor Crenshaw, fishing (he is in the Air Force).  He used to fish the Trinity back when he was growing up in Redding.  What a great treat it was and the good part is that he landed and released a very nice Wild Steelie 27-1/2 inches.  His father, Dan Thome, of Eureka, caught and released a nice 26-1/4-inch Wild Steelhead.

Up-river is finally starting to see some Fall Run Salmon.  This past week saw an increase of fish-guts at the Del Loma RV Park.  Patrick said that up until now he has only been dumping about 20lbs of guts a night into his steel dumpster but the other night he stated that he had about 50lbs to dump.  That means that more and bigger Salmon are being brought into camp.

As you know the "Pound of Gold Salmon Tournament was held last month on the upper section of the Trinity.  We had great weather for fishing.  The fishermen may not have liked it but the fish sure did.  The bad part was that the Salmon had not quite moved up stream in time for the tournament.  There were more jacks than adults but there were plenty of Steelhead for the Steelhead Jackpot.  We had a total of 53 entrants for the contest.

The winners were; 1st place Drift Boats, Russ Harper of Redding with a total points of 989, 1st place Bank Fishers, Armand Castagna of Executive Fishing Charters with a total of 1056 points, the Steelhead jackpot went to Branden Mowers of Redding with a 7# Steelie, and for the Kids under 16, 1st place went to Elisha Donahue of Del Loma with a total of 273 points.  For those of you who didn't show up you missed some Good Fish'en and a really good time. Although he was not in the tournament Jim Pegoda of Arcata made the trip up to fish above the Cedar Flat Bridge, he landed a 10# Salmon, 2 – 6# Hatchery Steelies, on a #5 Blue Fox Spinner.

The Mid-Klamath is really starting to shape up with plenty of 1/2-pounders in and some good Salmon action to spice up the fishing.  The largest Salmon I know of being landed in that area this past week was 32lbs.  Water temperatures have cooled down and the fish are moving up-river.  Until next time —

GOOD FISH´EN—GOOD LUCK and remember:

Tip up with a tight line lands fish.

Website address:  www.willowcreekchamber.com
E-mail:  yen2fish@yahoo.com

 

Written By E. B. DUGGAN
530-629-3554

TRINITY LAKE:  Bass are being caught off all the points in the lake, especially off the north end, using Pro-worms on a Carolina rig in 10 to 15 feet of water.  In the evening the top bite is going strong using poppers or Buzz baits in all the coves and off point areas.

Catfish fishing is going strong in the Covington Mill area using night crawlers on a sliding sinker rig, and in the Squirrel Flat area using the same baits.

Fly fishing for bass up against rocky structures using brown or black wooly buggers is catching 10 to 15 inch bass on a 20 foot sink tip line with a 6 to 7 foot leader and 10 LB tippet.

Trout fishing is almost nonexistent, with the trout in the thermocline which is down to about 50 – 60 feet.  If you are going to catch them, it's best using a down rigger and having F-13 Rapalas in gold/orange back, vampire color or Yozuri rainbow trout patterns on light line rigs.

LEWISTON LAKE:  Anglers bait-fishing with orange and/or chartreuse power bait on a 4 foot sliding sinker rig around the Pine Cove Marina docks anchored in the shallow water and casting into the old riverbed are catching limits of fish ranging from 3 to 9 pounds.

Shore anglers fishing on the upper part of the lake below Frog Rock but just up from the marina are also catching limits of fish, using either Power Bait or night crawlers tipped with a white power egg.

Trollers using lead-core line two colors out in the Cooper's Gulch area in the deeper water are catching limits of fish using the F-7 floating Rapala in orange/gold patterns or #1 Needlefish in brass bikini, silver bikini, or plain bikini.

Fly fishing for trout is also good using scud patterns under a strike indicator located about 10 feet above the fly.  The reason for using and indicator is that the fish are depth specific and you'll need to keep it in the strike zone.

TRINITY RIVER:  The spring salmon run hasn't been all that great.  Persistent fishermen are catching fish on roe, but the bite is best very early in the morning and the bite is shut off by 10:30.  Then about 6 in the evening the bite comes back on.

There is a bit run of fish moving through and by the end of this week they should be in the Junction City area.

One good thing is that the boys of summer are here and steelhead can be caught almost everywhere using Little Cleos, Kastmasters, bait, or back trolling Brads Little Wigglers in the fold with orange back, silver black back, or the copper colors.  The fall run is 3-4 weeks away.  Let's hope it's a bit better than the spring run.

An interesting development this year is the return of the browns in the upper river.  From the old Lewiston Bridge to Bucktail, browns up to 5 pounds can be caught using count-down Rapalas in the rainbow pattern.  Just cast it out and slowly retrieve it.  The strike is automatic, for the browns want to kill and eat it.

OTHER NEWS:  To try to save the Klamath River and Trinity River salmon and steelhead, the Bureau of Reclamation will be turning up the water Aug. 28 to Sept. 15.  On Aug. 28 it will go from 450 c.f.s. to 1650 c.f.s. overnight and slowly be ramped down to 450 c.f.s. by the 15th.  Everybody hopes that this will avert the big kills of fish that happened two years ago.

The big news is that Creekside Sporting Goods has opened, and we won't spend just a minute and a half with a customer! We have fishing, hunting, camping and some athletic goods for sale.  We will be open for business from 9 to 6 seven days a week.  We specialize in fly fishing, conventional fishing, and spinner fishing.  With the people who are working in the store, we know about all there is to know to catch fish. Once we receive our FFL's we will also be selling firearms, and now with Bill Dickens on board we'll soon be starting an archery department with all the accessories.

Next week we will be having our grand opening special sale.  So come in and see us.

May the fish gods look kindly upon you.

Website address:  www.fishcentralorg.homestead.com
E-mail:  vandlholson@snowcrest.net

 

Written By VINCENT JAMES HOLSON
530-623-1693

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