Trinity in Sept?

[Chukwithak]

So last year was my first year chasing chrome, and did it all right here on the American. I was a successful a few times but want to branch out to other waters. Two years ago when I moved back to Sac I went up on the Trinity for Labor Day weekend and a gentlemen was throwing a Spey rod for steel. After doing some reading it looks like middle Sept might be better? Trying to plan my bday.

[NCL]

The later you go into the Fall the more fish are present in the system, so I would say mid September would be better than early September. With that said I spoke with Herb Burton, Trinity Fly Shop. several years ago and he stated there are steelhead in the Trinity all year but the numbers are not that great early. I usually start toward the end of September and get serious about mid November.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

My advise has always been if you can only go once in the Fall I would go in October.

The first day of your trip hire one of Herb's guides out of the Trinity Fly Shop in Lewiston, CA.

http://www.trinityflyshop.com/

Some more fortunate anglers will go many times in Sept/Oct/Nov.

If Sept timing is better for you I would go to the Lower Trinity River and fish extremely early in the AM.

Evenings with the sun off the water can be good too.

In the Fall I swing flies using a tapered leader to as long as my rod to 1x with a unweighted winged classic #6 wet Steelhead fly like a Silver Hilton.

Swing flies in the AM and PM with the sun off the water and then indicator fish or swing a short sinktip and short leader in the day time.

Move along fairly quickly and only slow down if you get a grab or see fish rolling/showing.

If you don't find anything in the Lower Trinity River I would go to the lower Klamath or Lower Rogue Rivers.

For me if I hooked one quality fish on a trip I would be happy.

This Fall fishing for Steelhead is some of the best the West Coast has to offer in the way of fly fishing.

You also have the Deschutes, North Umpqua and Grand Ronde rivers to fish in the Fall.

.

[itsbenlong]

It will be interesting to see when those fish start heading up this year. If the flows/temps are better than the last few due to the increase in water we have had, maybe they will be on the earlier side.

Regardless, I usually plan last minute trips in August/September and my long term planned trips are for October/November.

As a matter of fact, when I head up early in the season, I typically decide if I am going to the Trinity/Klamath or Rogue on my way up and have changed plans within miles of a turn off.....That tactic has created some excellent trips....

[ycflyfisher]

First, here's some general info (maybe too much) that may be helpful:

The fall run follows a bimodal distribution, with two distinct apexes. The first apex usually starts pushing up the lower Klamath in the last week of June. This is a short window apex with the peak IMO usually occurring around the 4th of July week. This first push is composed almost entirely of adult fish and very few pounders. These fish move extremely fast and 90+% of these fish that are destined for the upper T will show in the JCW counts by or during the last week of July. Very few steelhead typically show in the JCW counts during the first weeks of Aug. Anglers generally refer to this first apex as the "summer-run" but they're distinctly different both in arrival timing and biology than the legit distinct pop segment listed under the KMP ESU.

The push towards the second apex begins to happen ~Aug 10-15th. Huge, nuisance levels of pounders with adult fish in the mix at about a 20:1 ratio. In terms of total adult abundance the second apex dwarfs the first apex.

There's typically very few fish upmigrating between the tail off of the first apex and the buildup of the second.

The Trinity fish from the second apex typically moves over the WCW between week 39-41 by the Julian calendar. "The fish are late" is an angler created myth for the Trinity. The Trinity fish arrive like clockwork year after year. The people who are inclined to believe that myth tend to be newbies or those that don't account for wild fluxes in abundance for each season. You'll typically hear this myth hauled out during a season of avg or below avg abundance that follows a year where we got a ton of fish.

There's only one season I can actually remember where the fall run was late (92 or 93) and that was due to the mouth being closed for 30+ days during the late summer.

The actual variance (week 39-41) has more to do with WHERE the WCW is located in any given season than an actual temporal variance. When the weir was located in the big pool above Campora we typically got later apexes than when the WCW than when it's barely off the Reservation boundry.

You DON'T need to be on the apex to be fishing over huge densities of fish (relative to that years abundance). It's a gradual build up and decline from the apex. I don't recall a year where the apex was a huge spike (100+%) from

In September, you can smartly play it two ways IMO. Fish way up top for the adult fish from that first apex or concentrate on the lower river from Willow Creek down to Red Rock. The upper river is the easier of the two from a nuts and bolts of flyfishing standpoint (wading, casting, mending) but is a much more technically difficult fishery. Paying attention to invert activity and other details matter. The upper river does not get a lot of angler pressure in the summer but the fish react to that pressure. This is a difficult fishery for most to figure out. Hiltons, Burlaps and Mossbacks on traditional downstream presentations aren't likely to produce much success for the effort here.

These fish aren't trying to gain miles of upriver real estate on a daily basis, they're "camping out", so you need to look for spots that have deep water refugia, shade and areas that funnel whatever may be in the drift. If you're not fishing a stretch of river that has all those elements in close proximity, you won't have much success. The inverts you'll most likely encounter here in Sept are E. Infrequens (PMDs). Big, robust PMDs that run 14-16 and look even bigger in flight. YOY patterns and Monroe leeches are my downstream bugs of choice for the upper river.

The lower river is the more demanding of the two in terms of casting and wading. You're going to be encountering some rip-rap and bigger embedded substrate and you're definitely going to be fishing 80+ feet away to effectively cover the water. Hiltons, Burlaps and Mossbacks and the typical traditional patterns work here. Isos can be important here.

These fish will be gaining a mile or more of upriver real estate every day. They're moving. Pay particularly close attention to where your getting your grabs and boils here. Most of the fish will follow the same travel paths under the same conditions and the spots where they increase their dwell time as they stop to rest will be the same.

Sun position has a much greater influence on the lower river. Try to fish riffs that have an east-west orientation and catch more sun, earlier and later in the day when you've got the halflight in your favor. Fish the North-South riffs mid-day and take baby steps between casts.

If I were taking a newbie to the T fishing in Sept and they were 'match the hatch' types (dries and bobbers) and had some experience dredging up larger trout on streamers but cannot consistently throw 80+ feet of line, I'd take them to the upper river before Sept 15th (when the fly only section closes).

Anyone who could pitch casts into the next zip code on a double haul and wades like a madman, I'd take to the lower river around Sept20-30th for their first trip.

Most importantly, don't get discouraged if you don't find immediate success.

[ycflyfisher]

It will be interesting to see when those fish start heading up this year. If the flows/temps are better than the last few due to the increase in water we have had, maybe they will be on the earlier side.

Regardless, I usually plan last minute trips in August/September and my long term planned trips are for October/November.

As a matter of fact, when I head up early in the season, I typically decide if I am going to the Trinity/Klamath or Rogue on my way up and have changed plans within miles of a turn off.....That tactic has created some excellent trips....

Ben,

I wish that were true. While most of the valley reservoirs did fill, it was and remains a dry year (even with the big storm from last week) in the KMP. Trinity is currently sitting at~1.2M acre feet, a full 800k off typical pool for this time of the year and only about 300k above last year.

The T is carrying 1600 cfs through Hoopa but we're already seeing midday water temps eclipsing 70+ degrees@Hoopa. Denfintely not what I'd like to be seeing

[itsbenlong]

ycflyfisher,

Thanks for that write up....some great info you shared.

By the way, I was just wishful thinking in my post.

I can't believe how much water they are letting out everywhere across the state.
I skipped a lot of dates and water last year due to it being to warm to mess with the fish in it.

Looks like that might be the case this year as well.

The only good thing about that for me is, it has forced me to go elsewhere and fish waters I always wanted to try and never fit it in.

Thanks again for that post....I might send you a PM if you don't mind w/ some off topic questions.



Chukwithak - post about your Birthday Trip to the T when you get back. Looking forward to hearing how it turned out.