Hot, dry weather last week set the stage for late summer fishing in Wallowa County. No precipitation during the week brought most local rivers below average levels for early August.

Wallowa County streams average about 10 percent below average flow for early August. The Grande Ronde River presently is at 680 cfs, while the Imnaha River, at 253 cfs, is 10 percent above average flow and the only stream in Wallowa County exceeding its benchmark.

The weather pattern is changing this week with the arrival of thunderstorms and scattered precipitation, which brought welcome relief from heat that has consistently been above 100 degrees in the canyons on sunny days.

The Wallowa River is maintaining relatively cool water temperatures and rainbows are active, feeding on grasshoppers during the day and abundant caddis and mayflies in the evenings. The low water in the Wallowa, as well as other streams, are generally moving trout out of the tailouts and into deep pockets or into riffles where turbulence hides them and insects are washing free from the river bottom.

The Grande Ronde River is approaching the upper temperature limits for good trout fishing with the water temperature in the upper 70s, but the vitality of the fish indicates that they are faring well and actively feeding. The warmer water is a windfall for smallmouth bass, which are abundant from the Snake River upstream for more than 50 miles. While trout are readily taking grasshopper flies, the smallmouth are leaning toward crayfish, minnow and attractor patterns. In the river near Troy, anglers will tend to find more rainbows and the number of smallmouth bass increase dramatically as you move closer to the Snake River.

The Imnaha River is slightly above average flow, but within a fishable level. Dave Tanzey at Imnaha Store said that all of the fishing reports he’s heard are coming from upriver, probably because the road along the lower river is very rough from rain storms last month. The fishing is fine and the catching equal good for fish 12 inches and smaller. This river seems to produce more reliable fishing with caddis and mayfly patterns later in the evening after ‘hopper fishing has cooled down.

Wallowa Lake remains a reliable “hot spot” for trout fishing, said Gina Barstad at Wallowa Lake Marina. The lake was stocked with trout on Tuesday, she said, which makes the fishing good and the catching great.

Some anglers continue to make the effort to catch kokanee, which are now near the 100-foot depth. The kokanee are scattered, but once the school is located and if your gear will reach them they will bite. Most anglers fishing for kokanee at these depths are using down riggers, but one boat with lead-core line and two-ounce spin sinkers caught kokanee up to 17 inches early this week.

Trout anglers are catching limits trolling and still fishing at the south, east and west sides of the lake, Barstad said. Pautzke eggs and Power Bait or eggs alone are producing good catches for still fishing.

Barstad cautioned anglers to be alert for bull trout that reside in the lake and must be released unharmed it they are caught.

The lake is relatively high and dropping three to four inches per day, Barstad said.

STEELHEAD BROOD STOCK COLLECTION

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife again plans to collect summer steelhead hatchery brood stock from the Grande Ronde River in October.

ODFW is seeking volunteers to help with the collection. Brad Smith, district fishery biologist, says that the collection method will be with hook and line – “almost the same as fishing.” Collection is planned during the weeks of Oct. 11 and 18. For more information contact Smith or Bill Knox in Enterprise at 426-3279 or e-mail at fishsmith @oregontrail.net.

Last year volunteers collected 105 adult steelhead during the two-week collection period. There was only one mortality and the spawn produced approximately 200,000 fertilized eggs which will be released next spring from facilities in the Wallowa watershed.

“Adult collection is the initial phase of a project designed to determine if progeny of early returning hatchery steelhead return earlier to the Grande Ronde and stray at a lower rate into lower Columbia tributaries,” Smith said. “If project fish respond as expected we should reduce program impacts to lower Columbia River steelhead populations and increase the proportion of adult steelhead available to anglers in the Lower Snake River Compensation Plan compensation area in the fall.”

IMNAHA CHINOOK RESULTS

The Imnaha River opened for spring Chinook angling for 17 days this summer and produced an estimated impact of 197 Chinook caught, including jacks and mortalities.

Angling conditions were fair in moderately high, slightly turbid water. ODFW reports that this is the fourth consecutive year that there was a Chinook season in the Imnaha River, following a closure from 1979 through 2000.

The creel survey, conducted on eight of the 17 days open for fishing, estimated that anglers averaged 10.6 hours per fish this season, compared to 13.3 hours in 2003, 17.4 hours in 2002 and 5.8 hours in 2001.

The creel survey tallied 90 marked adult Chinook and 102 marked jacks harvested. Anglers caught and released 26 unmarked adult Chinook, 21 marked jacks and three unmarked jacks. There were also 136 bull trout caught and released during the salmon season.

Biologists estimated an 11.9 percent incidental mortality rate for fish hooked and released, bringing the total estimated impact to 197 fish, which is 55 percent of the 352 hatchery and 12 wild Chinook quota allowed in the U.S. vs. Oregon decision.

MOUNTAIN GOATS TRANSPLANTED

A dozen Rocky Mountain goats were transplanted from the Elkhorn Mountains near Baker City to Eagle Creek on the south side of the Wallowa Mountains during July.

The goal was to capture 15 to 20 goats for the transplant and eight were caught in the first morning, but only four more were captured during the next two days.

The transplant was a joint effort between the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Forest Service with assistance from veterinarians and volunteers from the Baker Chapter of the Oregon Hunters Association.

Transplanted goats received injections for worms, minerals and an antibiotic before they were released.

Rocky Mountain goats have been released in Oregon 13 times, an ODFW news release reported. The first introduction was in 1950, when six goats were released in the Wallowa Mountains.

In the 1980s 21 goats were released in the Elkhorn Mountains and currently that population is estimated at 150 animals. The Elkhorn Herd has spread into adjacent habitat, including Vinegar Hill and the Strawberry Mountains.

In 2002 ODFW moved 16 goats from the Elkhorn Mountains to Hells Canyon near Hat Point. That herd is presently estimated at 40 animals.

Efforts were also made to establish goats near Tanner Butte in the Columbia Gorge between 1969 and 1976, but no goats have been reported there since 1990.