Klamath Update

[Jeff F]

Spoke with Doug at Marble Mountain Ranch over the weekend. The news was not good.......

He said the river is SLOWLY clearing. It is much different than the turbidity that a rain storm causes, where it clears up rather quickly. He didn't elaborate on the causes of the dirty water, other than it is fire fighting related. He said give it at least 2 weeks, and check back.

I am very surprised about this. Not sure what the issue could be since there hasn't been any rain up there lately. Maybe a slide? Who knows.

Anyway.....that's the scoop from someone who lives on the river. FYI, MM Ranch is just upstream of Somes Bar, for reference.

~Jeff

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Thanks Jeff.....

Right from the "horses mouth".


Maybe but October 1st the middle river will be OK?

[ycflyfisher]

The main stream media IMO hasn't done a very good job describing the event that impacted the river. I've seen articles that describe a landslide/slide and that this was fire related. This was a debris flow that was triggered by a flash flood that dropped ~3 inches of rain in a matter of minutes over an isolated area.

While the fire burn scar definitely magnified the issue it was not the root cause nor was there a slide.

For a better visual:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy6Dw6JRvF0

If memory serves comments on the (twitter I think) account of the guy who shot this video said that this was shot about 30 minutes after it started raining.

https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2022/au...-flood-washed/

Note that it's not raining in the Whitney Creek video when the wall of water and debris impacts the stream channel.

The western perimeter of this rain event was only about 20-25 miles from Happy Camp via 96 and only about ~17 miles or so as the crow flies, yet Indian Creek didn't even rise 10cfs.

https://cdec.water.ca.gov/jspplot/js...cookies=CDEC01

What it did to river flows:

https://cdec.water.ca.gov/jspplot/js...cookies=CDEC01

https://cdec.water.ca.gov/jspplot/js...cookies=CDEC01

https://cdec.water.ca.gov/jspplot/js...cookies=CDEC01


Not good.

[Al Baltz]

Thanks for posting this YCFly. The graphs of flow spikes are mind boggling! I had no idea that they got such a rain dump.
I notice that the Trinity releases were bumped up to 1000cfs a few days ago, which should help clear and cool the lower river.

[Jeff F]

Wow! Thanks for the info Al.

That debris flow was August 4? Almost a full month ago?. Seems like it must still be flowing silt into the river somewhere if the river is still dirty. Looks like any amount of rain this fall is gonna make the river unfishable. Could be third year in a row for not fishing the mid-Klamath (Covid-Fires-Dirty water).

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

I guess after they take the first 4 dams out from the ocean we will need a "100 year flood".......?



I really believe that October is the safest month to go, on average, on the middle river.

[Jeff F]

Another update from Doug at Marble Mountain Ranch today. Not looking good.

Hi Jeff, there has been a pulse release of water from the upstream dams…not sure if they are trying to flush the system, or cool it, or what. However, this has not had an immediate effect on clarity improvements. The flushing may help clarity in the near future however. Currently the Klamath remains muddy in color with poor clarity from about Klamath River, clear down to the confluence with the Trinity. We are hoping for some improvements prior to our guide season start-up in a couple of weeks.

Best regards, Doug

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Hopefully the prime month up there, October, it will be good.

November is usually good from Orleans upstream to the Scott river.

[Andy]

Fished the K way down below Johnsons just before labor day. Water had just come up from Trinity release. Water clarity was an issue though vis was 2-3'. Swinging flies was not productive, I believe due to water clarity. Some bobber guys fished the same riffle and they hooked several steelies, on egg patterns mostly. Fish were there. Spoons worked.

Over the last few days releases from Irongate have reduced vis to 4" in Orleans. The releases are for Karuk ceremonies and are tapering back toward 1000. Clarity issues come from all the sediment that got dumped into river associated with McKinney fire/rain event. Multiple creeks in Klamath River dumped tons into river. Hopeful the pulse right now will push out the loose stuff and river will head back to normal. Fall rains will likely involve much longer clear times this season.

[TahoeJoe]

Looks like the increase in flows is helping to cool things down. That and the heat wave seems to be over. The Turwar gauge was as low as 68 this morning. It should be cooler than that this time of the year but it's much better than the mid 70s last month.

I'm not a biologist but my guess is that increased flows and cooler water help to limit the spread of the ich parasite and subsequent fish kills.