Dick Burton with a Trinity River steelhead of a lifetime
While January will go down as one of the driest on record, February arrived with a furious round of wet weather and is a contender for becoming one of the wettest. The recent “atmospheric river” hosed northern California, flooding some coastal rivers and communities and, to date, blowing out every, yes all the above, coastal steelhead rivers. Smith R. topped over 50,000, Eel over 148,000 and the Trinity, at Hoopa, topped over 55, 000cfs.. Two rounds of unseasonably mild, freezing levels above 7000ft., systems delivered over 8 inches of rainfall to some Trinity County locations. Great news, Trinity lake inflows topped over 40,000cfs. and is rapidly on the rise; just shy of last year’s capacity at this time. Not so great news, both Trinity-Lewiston lakes are turbid. It’s going to be a while folks before lakes are fishable. Currently Trinity River flows are dropping and clarity is improving daily. We desperately need every drop of water and as my good friend the late Byron Leydecker would preach, “Fish can’t walk.” It could be worse. Consider what would be the effects of February’s subtropical storms if the Coastal range and the Trinity Alps supported an average or above average snowpack. Remember 97 “pineapple express” do’n its thing on a record snowpack? Or how about the devastating 64 flood, when TR flows peaked over 160,000cfs and Trinity Lake capacities rose within inches of toppling over a newly constructed earthen dam?
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