[env-trinity] The best of times, the worst of times (San Francisco Chronicle)

[Josh Allen]

The best of times, the worst of times 

- Tom Stienstra 

Sunday, July 31, 2005 

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/07/31
/SPGE2E0R6H1.DTL 

This is the summer tale of two rivers joined at the hip, the Trinity and
Klamath in Northern California, one flourishing, the other dying. 

The Trinity, refreshed from a Clinton-era decision to restore flushing
river flows this spring, is full of fish and the river canyon is filled
with life, with ospreys and eagles the most evident. The Klamath,
diverted and dewatered by the government, farmers and environmental law
alike, had another fish kill this past week, this time 100,000 young
chubs and minnows dying and washing up as floaters in the section below
Klamath Falls, Ore. 

The Trinity starts from the drops of melting snow in the Trinity Alps
and pours its way through mountain canyons in some the state's most
beautiful country. 
Highway 299, from Weaverville to Blue Creek, provides access for
fishing, rafting and swimming, and is one of the prettiest drives you
can make (especially on a chopper). The river merges with the Klamath at
Weitchpec and then pours to the sea. 

When steelhead and salmon migrate upstream and reach the confluence,
they choose whether to turn right up the Trinity or left up the Klamath.
Tasting fresh, cool water from the Trinity this summer, they are turning
left. 

The best flyfishing in California could be on the Trinity right now. The
section of river from Lewiston Bridge on downstream to Steel Bridge, and
beyond through the canyon, is loaded with what anglers call
"half-pounders." These are actually juvenile steelhead that range 10 to
16 inches. They are joined by a sprinkling of adult steelhead in the 18-
to 22-inch class, and a sprinkling of large brown trout. 

Fish galore 

This is an ideal place to bond during an outdoor experience, whether
it's father/son, husband/wife, or pals out to get their chain pulled.
Linda Spence and Tony Vecino from Mill Valley had this experience
first-hand this past week, flyfishing here for the half-pounders, all
catch-and-release. Linda caught 21 (keeping track), Tony caught about 25
(he estimated), plus three in the 18- inch class. An 8-pound brown was
also caught and released by an unidentified angler (witnessed by a
guide). 

You use trout-sized gear, No. 5 or 6 fly rod, set up with floating line,
a strike indicator, and make short casts with nymphs; the red Copper
John, No. 16 stonefly nymph work best. Get out at dawn and expect a
mid-day slowdown. In the evening, you may luck into a surface bite,
where you switch to dry flies such as a No. 16 E.C. caddis (with a
tailing shuck) or mayfly patterns such as the Cahill or Parachute Adams.
Since the strikes are on top, everything is visual, the most exciting
moment in fishing. For the browns, use sinking lines and Muddler Minnows
or sculpin patterns. Many times I just like to watch the water run past,
maybe scan for my favorite bird, the water ouzel, darting up and down
the river, and at dusk, the swallows flying zig-zags, snatching insects.


Back in the day, when the Trinity and Lewiston Dams were first
constructed, along with a giant pipe to get the water to the Sacramento
River near Redding, 90 percent of the river was diverted and shipped to
the San Joaquin Valley. Salmon and steelhead were just about wiped out.
Some 25 percent of the flows were restored in the early 1990s, and this
spring, flow levels were officially doubled. 

Just add water, goes the saying, and you get fish. The opposite is also
true. Take it away and they die. 

The Klamath puzzle 

The Klamath, which once produced so many salmon that Jedediah Smith said
"you could walk across the river on their backs," is getting hammered
all on fronts. This past week's fish kill was caused by low flows and
warm water. That set off a huge algae bloom and die-off, and in turn, a
loss of oxygen content in the water. The fish suffocated to death. 

Sound familiar? It should. In 2002, a massive kill of king salmon,
estimated by most as about 50,000 adult fish (other estimates are
43,000, 68, 000 and 200,000) in the mid-Klamath, was officially caused
by "disease" brought on by "stress." But regardless of what the
politicos say, even a potted plant sitting behind a desk in Sacramento
or Washington D.C. knows in their roots that this fish kill was caused
by too little water in the river. In 2001, another fish kill on a
Klamath Tributary, the Scott River, was caused when farmers simply
"dewatered" the river. 

After the fish kills, the blame-game has degenerated into chaos: 

-- Environmentalist blame farmers for taking all the water they can get
out of the Klamath system to grow hay and potatoes. 

-- Farmers blame environmentalists and the Endangered Species Act for
requiring that water be left at high levels in Klamath Lake to protect
something called a suckerfish, an endangered species. 

-- Duck hunters and bird lovers blame both for not making enough water
available to the Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, the most important
migratory habitat for pintail ducks and bald eagles on the Pacific
Flyway. 

-- Fishermen blame all of the above, plus the state and federal
government, because they see the final result: low, warm water running
down the Klamath River, algal blooms, few fish, the occasional floaters
that don't make it -- and mass die-offs that have occurred three times
in five years. 

What's wrong with this picture? What's right? You need only look at the
Trinity River, again flourishing after once being decimated. 

In the drought of 1976-77, with diversions high and the Trinity River
reduced to a warm creek, only 13 steelhead returned to the state's fish
hatchery there. Yet last year, with an increase in flows, 4,500
steelhead made the trip. If this year's arrival of half-pounders is any
indication, there's a chance of wall-to-wall steelhead this fall. 

So just as is required by state and federal law, you start with how much
water is required to keep a river and its fish, birds and wildlife in
good shape. What is left gets split up among those who want it. That
works. Everything else, as you probably figured by now, doesn't. 

For a river, it's simple: Just add water. 

Fishing the Half Moon Bay coast is featured on the TV show "Great
Outdoors With Tom Stienstra," and airs at 6:30 p.m. Sunday on KBHK-44
and Bay Area Cable 12. Kayaking to Angel Island is featured at 3 p.m. on
KPIX/CBS-5. 

E-mail Tom Stienstra at tstienstra at sfchronicle.com. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------- 
(c)2005 San Francisco Chronicle 

 

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www2.dcn.org/pipermail/env-trinity/attachments/20050801/43f17afd/attachment.html>