The Seasons of the Trinity River

The Trinity River is open year-round to fishing most years, but the timing of the steelhead runs mean that certain times of year will be more productive than others.

July, August, September

Flows begin to drop to fishable levels by mid July on the Trinity River. At this time there are a handful of steelhead still around in the Fly Fishing Only Section just below Lewiston Dam, as well as healthy numbers of immature steelhead smolt ranging from 8-14 inches and a few half-pounder steelhead from 16-20 inches. There’s a lot of great wade access near the town of Lewiston, and these aggressive fish will take swung flies, nymphs, egg patterns, even dry flies.

The summer season on the Trinity is a great time of year to target fresh Spring-run Chinook Salmon. These powerful fish can be found in many of the upper Trinity River’s deep pools and riffle water, and a few of our guides have spent considerable time perfecting techniques to catch these fish (averaging 10-20 pounds) on fly tackle.

The first of the massive sea-run Brown Trout also begin to show in the Trinity River in August and September. The Trinity’s sea-run browns look and act just like the river’s steelhead, averaging 4-8 pounds and readily taking flies. While these brown trout on steroids can be found just about anywhere in the river system, there are a few places where they congregate and can be targeted specifically.

Summer-run steelhead, too, begin to make their first appearances as early as August. There are not nearly as many steelhead in the river at this early time of year, making the steelhead fishing challenging, but rewarding. Water temperatures are warm, so the few fish that are moving upriver are aggressive and September and October can be the best time of year to take steelhead on the surface with skated or waking attractor dry flies or using traditional greased-line techniques.

October, November, December, January, February

The bulk of the summer run of steelhead on the Trinity River begins to arrive by mid to late October. The weather on the Trinity River during the fall season is as good as it gets, making October and November the most popular – and therefore crowded – two months of the year on the river. Steelhead are usually spread out throughout the entire system, so there is a lot of fishable water. Moreover, water temperatures are still moderate, so the fish will eat both swinging flies and dead-drifted nymphs and egg patterns. This early run of steelhead is predominantly hatchery fish headed to the Lewiston National Fish Hatchery, and there’s always a few wild steelhead mixed in.

The winter run of steelhead start to show as early as Thanksgiving, with fresh fish migrating upriver throughout the rest of the winter season. The majority of these winter fish are wild, and the average size of the steelhead generally gets progressively larger later into the winter months. Water temperatures are considerably colder, so the steelhead are less likely to move for traditional fly patterns and dead-drifting nymphs is the preferred method for hooking Trinity River Steelhead from November through February.

Winter weather ranges from mid-60s to below freezing. The winter steelhead season is not for the faint of heart, making it ideal for true steelhead die-hards willing to brave the cold in order to catch these special creatures. The benefit to the colder weather, however, is that it definitely helps to keep the crowds away.

The best conditions for fishing on the Trinity from October through February are stormy days, or the days immediately following a storm. Wet weather gets steelhead on the move. Fish on the move are burning calories, more active, and more likely to eat your fly. The upper 40 miles of the Trinity are primarily controlled by flow releases from Lewiston Dam which remain low all winter long, so there are very few days when the river blows out to unfishable conditions, and it will always clear within a day or two.

March, April, May, June

Most years we can catch steelhead on the Trinity River right up to the middle of March. Every year right around March 15, however, the Lewiston Hatchery releases its steelhead and salmon smolts into the river, and though there may still be steelhead around getting your flies through the millions of smolts can be next to impossible.

The Fly Fishing Only Section of the Trinity opens early for the month of April, and can bring about some fun fishing before the General Trout Opener on the last Saturday in April. There are usually still a few holdover adult steelhead to be found, but the real draw to the fly-only water this time of year is dry fly fishing for the many smolts and trout-sized immature steelhead that populate these upriver riffles and runs.

Early May marks the start of the purging flows on the Trinity. As part of the Trinity River Restoration Project, Lewiston Dam begins to release very high flows (from 5,000-12,000 cfs). These high flows are designed to provide extra habitat for the smolts of the native salmon and steelhead of the river, and to help push the immature fish out to the ocean. They’re ultimately great for the river’s anadromous fish, but they do make fishing a non-issue on the Trinity for the months of May and June until the flows begin to drop in mid-July.

To make a reservation, please give us a call at 800-669-3474 during business hours any day of the week. We can give you the answers you need or the detailed explanations to questions you might have, or check on guide availability and confirm your guide reservation in minutes.

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