Salmon Season on the Trinity River
Springer Chinook salmon (hatchery run) have been ripping through the upper Trinity River since the opening weekend July 1st, 2022. Each day I have been on the river I have seen impressive pods of salmon in most of the good runs with even a few steelhead mixed in as well. The salmon are on the move! They are not hanging around long and all morning long they seem to be cruising through runs and pushing upriver.
The Junction City weir count numbers have been pretty impressive these past few weeks. The crew have reported some single day counts with over 150 salmon per day - several days in a row… and many 50-70 fish days. It seems like we are having another good run this year? Hope this is a harbinger of things to come for fall-run and steelhead season!
All in all we have had a pretty mild early summer as far as temperatures go. But we are now in midst of another heat wave as it hit 105 yesterday in Weaverville by 2pm. For our salmon trips we are on the water very early and generally done by Noon before it’s too hot. At sunrise it’s sweatshirt weather and typically in the low 60’s. This is a nice way to enjoy fishing in the summer… avoiding the uncomfortable heat of the day when it’s just not worth it. A swim in the river feels great after a good morning salmon and steelhead fishing!
Many California fly fishing anglers have enjoyed the Trinity River in the Fall & Winter for steelhead season… You should consider a trip in the Summertime. It is beautiful and very lush green on the Trinity River during the summer which offers a nice perspective on a familiar river. The wildlife are plentiful, too, it’s not uncommon to find black bears, blacktail deer, bald eagles and osprey maybe the occasional river otter.
I have a lot of open dates in July 18, 19, 22, 25-29 and August 8, 9, 11, 12 for the springer run. Fall Season officially begins on Sept 1st and the Fall Run should be another wave of good Chinook salmon fishing with more steelhead around by then.
