The Indian Creek Lodge sent me this report yesterday so the information is current for the Trinity River near Douglas City, CA. I thank John and Elena for keeping me updated about the river near their lodge.
THE SEASONS TURN–SALMON EXPIRING, STEELHEAD ARRIVING
As expected the great runs of Chinook we saw earlier in 2012 are being matched by the fall steelhead run. Steelhead have been arriving in good numbers since mid-October, and the rain we have received over the last week will undoubtedly bring a lot more. Last week the anglers who were willing to brave some rain showers continued reporting good numbers of hook ups, and then the big rains hit and the river was unfishable for two days, with the flow momentarily spiking up to 6,000 cfs at Douglas City last Sunday. Then we were back down below 1,000 cfs for a couple of fantastic fishing days, then rain last night created another surge up to 2,400 cfs. We are “blown out” as I type, but should be below 1,000 with good water clarity in the upper river tomorrow. The one drift boat report we had from ICL guests yesterday was epic: 17 steelhead landed by noon, with a few more and some browns in the afternoon. All indicators (pardon the pun) point to an exceptional year for steelhead on the Trinity, and so far that’s spot on. As always, feel free to give us a call for current reports.