The North Coast Rivers are reaching monitoring stages as the rains keep coming. Last Saturday Honeydew received 3.5 inches of rain between midnight and 4:30a.m. Willow Creek at my house received 3.1 inches of rain between 8a.m. Saturday morning and 8a.m. Sunday morning. Let us say this storm blew out the rivers. Honeydew received more rain in four hours that all of Humboldt in the month of February. Now that’s a lot of rain. I know people in Central Calif. that would give us many dollars to get just a portion of that amount and we have NO way to ship it to them. This series of storms are going to drop a lot of water in Northern Calif. This is good for the reservoirs but bad for fishing.


The forecast for the Klamath Chinook salmon season is NOT looking very good for the 2016 salmon season. What with four years of drought, no to very little snow pack and very poor water conditions the projected Klamath River fall Chinook salmon ocean abundance of 142,200 is more like the 1996 returns. We could be looking at very small in-river salmon quotas for this coming season. Maybe two salmon per day (1-jack & 1-adult) with a very limited season both for ocean sport salmon fishing and in-river sport fishing. I do remember when the Klamath – Trinity Rivers were subjected to very small quotas of 300 adult salmon per section of river before CDFW closed the rivers to the taking of adult salmon just to try and provide enough adult salmon for spawning. The PFMC sets the allotted fall salmon for harvest and the CDFW sets the sport fishing harvest Calif. waters. If you review the estimated abundance of salmon expected to be in the ocean subtract the fish needed for natural spawning then divide that by half that leaves very few salmon for Ocean Commercial, Ocean Sport and In-River Sport harvest this coming 2016 fall salmon season. Will people come up to the north coast to fish this year. It could be a very tough year for fishing economically this year.


Trinity River Hatchery:  No report this week, Sorry! TRH counts for fall run Salmon: Chinook salmon total 5,342; Coho salmon total 3,024. The week of Feb.25, 2016; Steelhead this week, 67 for a season total of 3,429.


Trinity River: Fishing the Trinity this week could be very hard what with all of the water in the river. The upper part of the Trinity from Lewiston to Douglas City (2,230cfs) could possibly clear by next weekend IF we don’t have more rain but for the lower parts of the Trinity you are looking at high muddy waters. The river at my house, below the South Fork, is muddy and clear over the river bar in front of my property and reading 35.4Kcfs in Hoopa.


Mid Klamath: The Upper-Klamath above I-5 could possibly see some fishing after the weekend but with Iron Gate releasing 1,770cfs it is not likely. The river at Seiad Valley is flowing 10.1Kcfs and Orleans is flowing 46.3Kcfs so I don’t see any fishing on the Mid-Klamath or the Lower Klamath for that matter. Maybe after this storm passes we could see some fishing for down runners but that is a lucky wish.


  Reservoir  Conditions: Whiskeytown is 87% of capacity, inflow is 545cfs and releases are 2,961cfs; Shasta is 63% of capacity (plus 6ft.) and plus 3%, inflows are 33,940cfs, releases are 2,079cfs; Keswick is 80% of capacity and inflows are 3,239cfs and releasing 3,163cfs; Lake Orville is 55% of capacity (plus 11ft plus 3%); inflow is 29.6Kcfs and releases are 830cfs. Lake Folsom is 64% of capacity (plus 144ft. & plus 2%), inflows are 9,989cfs and releases are 3,803cfs.


Trinity Lake: The Lake is 126ft (an increase of 5ft.) below the overflow and 37% of capacity (2% increase) Inflow to Trinity Lake is 7,248cfs and the Trinity Dam is releasing 749cfs to Lewiston Lake with 422cfs going to Whiskeytown Lake and on to the Keswick Power Plant with 3,239cfs being released to the Sacramento River.


Trinity River Flows and Conditions: Lewiston Dam releases are 326cfs, water temps are 46.9and air is 46 degrees at 10:00a.m. today. Limekiln Gulch is 5.6ft at 1,060cfs, water temps are 44 and air is 46; Douglas City is 8.3ft at 2,230cfs, water temps of 45.2 and air is 48. Junction City is 5.3ft at 3,460cfs.  Helena is 15.6ft at 5,570cfs with water temps of 45.1.Cedar Flat is 12.4ft at 12.Kcfs. Willow Creek is estimated at 23.8Kcfs, air is 55, and water 47.2, Hoopa is 25.8ft at 35.4Kcfs &peaked at 10a.m. with water temps of 49.6. Flows at the mouth of the Trinity at the Klamath are estimated to be 81.8Kcfs.


Klamath: Iron Gate Dam releases are 1,770cfs.  Seiad Valley is 8.5ft at 10.1Kcfs. Happy Camp is estimated at 13.4Kcfs. Somes Bar is estimated at 30.9Kcfs. Orleans is 17.5ft. at 46.3Kcfs. Klamath at Terwer Creek is 25.1ft at 87.9Kcfs peaking at 10a.m. and water temperatures of 48.6 degrees. Flows at Smith River, Dr. Fine Bridge are 16.7ft at 27Kcfs.


Temperatures in the Valley last week were 67/41 degrees with 3.85 inches of rain with a season total of 56.05in of rain and 1.35in. of snow. Temperatures in the valley next week are expected to be 54/34 degrees, with some rain Tuesday p.m. with rain the rest of the week. Showers are expected for the weekend and most of the following week. This storm is predicted to bring in a lot of rain with some snow in the higher elevations, above 3,500ft with a flood watch on the coastal rivers.
Good Fish’en and Good Luck but remember; “Keep your tip up with a tight line lands fish.” Websites: www.MyOutdoorBuddy.com, www.Willowcreekchamber.com, 
from Willow Creek, CA Phone 530-629-3554, E-mail [email protected]