Dec 31 - Trinity River updates
Dec 31, 9 am. River is currently running 1400 cfs and dropping quickly. Visibility is about 1 foot. Clarity should improve as the day continues. It appears we received a good enough rain event to bring more fish up the river but we’re not getting much information from the JC weir and the lower river peaked at Burnt Ranch around 16000 cfs and at Hoopa, it crested over 50K cfs. These flows appear to have passed all flow levels from 2022.
Upper river around Lewiston and Limekiln might be the best bets this weekend. Looking at the forecast, the next rain event should be around monday afternoon. After this, we’re seeing a constant .25” - .5” precipitation each day for the next week or so. The river and forecasts look good for typical winter steelheading starting Monday. Most likely more fish moved in so it could be some great days on the water. We’ll continute to post more information on flows and river conditions throughout the day.
The river is still dropping but slowing it’s decent, currently just above 1000 cfs. Daily temps are beginning to work down towards tonight’s low of 30 degrees. Water clarity is a little better but we’re still fairly turbid. It looks like the river is going to continue to drop with no rain in the forecast for the next couple of days. Once we near 800 cfs, I’m guessing the clarity is fishable which should be sometime this evening with temps continuing to fall. It could be really good fishing if you find the right spots. We had reports the last couple of days of chrome bright fish and fish with sea lice; excellent signs of fresh fish moving through quickly. I’m going to try and get out on the water tomorrow (was hoping this evening but it’s still too brown) and see if I can find some newcomers. the next few days and even into next week should be great!
Jan 1, 6 pm. The river is looking good and we did see a few boats out today taking advantage of the river dropping into form. Anglers are beginning to show up after the blast of rain, mudslides, and storms. Clarity is good and probably will only get better for the next few days. We’re dropping down in temps this evening below freezing at the lodge so I would expect the river to continue dropping or staying near current flows of around 600 cfs. Monday and Tuesday we’re seeing 70-80% chance of rain but less than .25” is expected. Wednesday we’re expecting another 2” rain day with tems in the mid 30’s to mid 40’s. I would expect the river to regain flows and color up mid-day or afternoon. Forecast further out show rain so take advantage of these windows we’re getting. Happy New Year!