Salmon Season on the Trinity River… the King is Back!!
The Trinity River opened up for Spring-Run Chinook Salmon on July 1st, 2026 after a three-year closure in all CA waters. The opener was highly anticipated by all of us who love these incredible anadromous fish!
The King is back…
Opening week was sorta slow in the Upper River (Junction City and upriver to Douglas City) as the fish had not really arrived in mass yet. By the 2nd and 3rd weeks of July, springers finally began showing themselves and we saw lots of fish moving.
The bite, however, has been tough!! We are seeing warm water conditions (60 degrees at 7am) and lower flows (500cfs) than we really should be seeing in July (save that for another time, Trinity Lake was Full & Filling this last winter).
Due to the official water designation - this year was deemed “Normal” when they make the official call on the water allotment/release for the summer and not “Wet”. They later recanted that to “Wet” but the allotment was already designated and the flow schedule set… total bummer b/c a little more water would have done wonders for the river conditions and fishing.
We had a wet winter for rainfall in 25/26’ - but terrible year for snowpack! No doubt, the lack of snow-pack in the high mountains of the Trinity Alps and the sustained cold water that runoff provides has affected the water conditions in the Lakes and therefore the river below… it’s complicated. Add to that a dry January and a very unseasonably warm/dry March. Nature throwing curveballs that only Nature can navigate.
Anyways… back to the fishing… it’s been tougher for sure, but the fish are here. Getting them to bite is the difficult part. The Limit is 1 Springer, any size, and if you get any one fish to bite - you might have to be happy with the first and only one. AS an added bonus there are some nice half-pounders in the river and a few steelhead, also, which have saved many of days and sweetened the pot, so to speak.
September 1st will mark the opener for Fall-Run Chinook and the limit will go to 2 fish… we are anticipating some great fall fishing on the Trinity River.
