photo/ODFW Ron Harrod, manager of the Wallowa hatchery, releases fish into Kinney Lake.

Free fishing event for kids slated June 7 at Marr Pond

By Rocky Wilson

Wallowa County Chieftain

Wallowa Lake, Kinney Lake southeast of Joseph, and seven ponds will be stocked with 55,000 rainbow trout before the middle of August, says Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) District Fish Biologist Jeff Yanke.

Yanke says the fish will at least be the legally catchable size of 8” long, with some “trophy” fish stocked as well to heighten fisher interest.

Oregon’s Free Fishing Weekend June 7-8 will trigger the stocking of fish in many select locations, including popular Marr Pond in Enterprise.

Starting before Memorial Day, rainbow are being stocked at two-week intervals in Wallowa Lake, Yanke says. He notes that the end of stocking rainbow in Wallowa Lake, like ODFW’s Wallowa County fish stocking program as a whole, occurs by mid-August.

Kinney Lake, about eight miles from Joseph, is stocked with rainbow three times a year, in May, June and July.

Three of the ponds ODFW stocks in Wallowa County are on the valley floor, while the other four are located on higher ground further from population centers.

Of the three ponds stocked at lower elevations, two are located a short distance apart northwest of the city of Wallowa. Victor’s Pond, a pond along the north side of Highway 82 less than three miles from Wallowa, is what remains from what once was a small, privately-owned sawmill. Its counterpart is Weaver Pond which is located out of sight about 100 yards east of Lower Diamond Lane before that arterial (entered from Highway 82) crosses the Wallowa River. Those two ponds are stocked in May and June.

The third close-to-home fishing pond – stocked in April, May, June and July by ODFW – is Marr Pond, in Enterprise. On Saturday, June 7, at Marr Pond, as part of the statewide Free Fishing Weekend, a kids’ fishing event is scheduled between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. that will feature contests, prizes, and hot dogs for children.

Stocked twice each summer are McGraw Pond, near the Hells Canyon Lookout; Salt Creek Summit Pond; and Honeymoon and Teepee ponds, near the 46 Road west of Cold Springs.