Klamath River Increased Releases

[Rick J]

the draw down rates may be similar but due to the lack of snow pack Trinity Lake is very close to empty and close to the cold water pool level - the thinking is the fish were hanging in this cold water level that was reached by the pumps and they got sucked up by the pumps to Lewiston. Another bad year and we will not have this cold water reservoir to pump down river - kind of makes you wonder how the fall run reacted to low water years before dams on the Trinity and Klamath without controlled flows

[booneshaya]

So, the way I'm reading this is that the fish that are dead in Lewiston are fish that came from Trinity Lake? So, does that mean the fish in Lewiston are okay for now?

[ycflyfisher]

What I heard came from two older anglers who were vacationing last week on Lewiston Lake, where they intended to spend the week fishing. They stated that they were seeing some dead fish on Monday (1st day) of last week and lots of dead fish by Tuesday. Along with the dead fish they said turbidity started to spike a bit in the upper end of Lewie by midweek. By Thursday they quit fishing the lake because they were seeing dead fish everywhere and started fishing the upper portion of the lower T and that’s where I ran into them.

What they were told and seemed to believe is that the fish were “electrocuted” when they passed through the turbines of Trinity Dam (effectively the “headwaters” of Lewie).


I don’t believe the fish were electrocuted because that’s just not possible from my perspective, but I do believe that the dead fish in Lewie more than likely did originate from Trinity Lake.

I’m going with what I think Rick is trying to say in that the declining HGL on Trinity Lake as it has been drawn down possibly put the level in the lake the majority of the CW fish were holding/ foraging at approximately the same level as the influent to the turbines and the fish simply got sucked through the turbines. And that the fish died as a result of over pressure/velocity throttle from literally getting shot through the turbines at high velocity and increasing depth. I don’t know if this is ongoing or if the fish kill in Lewie has effectively ended.

I’m not 100% certain about that, but that’s my take because that seems the most plausible scenario to me.

I was recording water temps in the 50’s on the river through Lewiston (the town) so I don’t think this fish kill is directly temp related. I think it has more to do with what Rick’s getting at: There’s next to no water left in Trinity Lake and it’s forcing the CW fish in the lake to hold/ forage at levels that are much lower in elevation than is normal.

[Rick J]

take a look here

http://anewscafe.com/2014/09/02/koka...l-explanation/

[DAVID95670]

dinner is served

[ycflyfisher]

Rick,

Thanks for the link. The news that this kill is likely ongoing pretty much sucks.