Waters · Lakes · CA · Thu, Oct 8
Trinity Lake water level today 2316.97 ft, falling
Bite index 5/10 — Picky — mid-morning is your stretch.
Work for it.
Built from solunar, pressure, level, wind. This water has no live gauge for every reading — see the sources below.
Today's bite windows
Sunrise 7:15 AM · sunset 6:41 PM · tomorrow's first major 11:14 AM–1:14 PM · windows on every water
Conditions right now
What this means
Trinity Lake level over the last 8 days
2316.97 ft down 0.13 ft in 24 hours
That sits 0% of the way up the band it has held over the last 9 days, between 2316.97 and 2318.2 ft. Over the week it is down0.97ft.
The week ahead
| Fri | 6 | Biting | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat | 6 | Biting | |
| Sun | 6 | Biting | |
| Mon | 6 | Biting | |
| Tue | 6 | Biting | |
| Wed | 5 | Picky | |
| Thu | 6 | Biting |
Forecast days carry solunar and the wind outlook. Pressure and gauge movement land the morning of.
Before you go
A California fishing license covers this water — $64.54 a year for residents. CDFW sets the rules and is the one that counts.
What it costs, and who is exempt →Nearby waters today
- 5 Picky Whiskeytown Lake CA · 29 km
- 5 Picky Shasta Lake CA · 30 km
- 6 Biting New Bullards Bar Reservoir CA · 209 km
- 5 Picky Belton Lake TX · 2506 km
- 5 Picky Buckhorn Lake KY · 3385 km
Questions people ask about Trinity Lake
Answered from the same readings as the rest of this page. Where we have no basis for an answer, there is no entry — spot-by-spot local knowledge is not something we can claim for Trinity Lake.
- Is it worth fishing Trinity Lake today?
- 5 out of 10 — picky. Work for it. The strongest stretch is 10:30 AM–12:30 PM. That number is worked out fresh each morning from the solunar windows, the pressure trend, the water level.
- What time should you fish Trinity Lake?
- Today's major windows run 10:30 AM–12:30 PM and 10:52 PM–12:52 AM, with minor windows at 4:39 AM–5:39 AM and 5:09 PM–6:09 PM. Sunrise is 7:15 AM and sunset 6:41 PM. A major landing on first or last light is the stretch worth setting an alarm for.
- What is the water temperature at Trinity Lake?
- No gauge on Trinity Lake measures it, so this is an estimate: roughly 75.3°F, worked out from the 7-day mean of air temperature at NOAA weather station KO86 (Trinity Center). Checked against the lakes that do have a thermometer, that method lands within about 4.5°F of the real reading and was off by 8.3°F at worst. Treat it as a ballpark, not a measurement — and note the bite index above ignores it entirely, because an error that size would move the verdict as often as it would fix it.
- What is the water level at Trinity Lake right now?
- 2316.97 ft, the reading for October 7 from the Trinity Lake Dam and Powerplant gauge run by the USBR, which publishes one value a day. Over 24 hours it is down 0.13 ft.
- Are water levels rising or falling at Trinity Lake?
- Falling. The lake is down 0.13 ft in 24 hours and down 0.97 ft over the week. Over the last 9 days it has held between 2316.97 and 2318.2 ft. Every figure here is a difference between two gauge readings, not a forecast — what the level does next depends on rain and on what the dam releases.
- Can you eat the fish you catch in Trinity Lake?
- That is a health question, and it is answered officially rather than by us. California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment publishes the fish consumption advisory covering these waters, where over 150 site-specific advisories, searchable by water, species or county, plus a statewide default for untested waters. Read it before you keep a meal — we give no eating advice.
- Do you need a licence to fish Trinity Lake?
- Yes. A California fishing license covers this water, required from age 16. CDFW sets the rules and is the one that counts.
- What size fish can you keep in California?
- It depends on the species, and several have slot limits rather than a simple minimum. Open to harvest today: california halibut, pacific halibut, striped bass, white seabass. Seasons here change mid-year by agency order, so the status is re-checked every morning.
California halibut limits · Pacific halibut limits · Striped bass limits · White seabass limits · Check a length against the rules
Where these numbers come from
- Solunar computed 8:11 AM
- NOAA KO86 Trinity Center 7:35 AM
- NOAA EKA gridded forecast 2:10 AM
- USBR Trinity Lake Dam and Powerplant daily reservoir operations Oct 7
Read at the dam by the Bureau of Reclamation once a day. Also called Clair Engle Lake on older maps. No temperature sensor.
No one types these in by hand. If a source goes quiet, the page says so instead of showing you yesterday.