Steelhead fishing the Grande Ronde River

A report from Tom - 12 thru 14 November

These were great days for the chasing of steelhead on the Grande Ronde River (GRR) in SE Washington.

Tom reports to us that he and Doug made a mid-week trip to the lower GRR this week.

Grande Ronde Basin Summer Steelhead Hatchery Program  -PDF-

 Tom reports, "I landed 7 only one clipped....Doug caught one immature steely....

Tom is one of those guys in the 10% Fishing Fraternity*

 others hauled lots of water before getting too cold to keep going."

Tom says, "my Alaska blood kept me going....Doug stayed with me....brave guy that he is."

Some tough steelhead fishing waters, but Doug keeps "working" right on.
Notice the smile on his face.

River frozen over - no flow records

Troy Scott Dettman (a GRR fishing guide) ~ reported as well, on the 15th with this photo that the river and steelhead fishing was cold.

Looking downstream from the hwy bridge near Bogan's this morning.

Oh what a difference a few days make when fishing for steelhead in the Pacific Northwest.
 

The following story, - November 10 is about our balmy sunny day fishing on the John Day River.

Tight lines and good fishing
Walla² Fly Fishers

Tom Craig – President

Dave Stemmer – Vice President
Doug Coe – Treasurer
Dale McKain – Secretary ~ Blogmaster 
Gerald Newell - PROJECT HEALING WATERS Coordinator 

* 10% Fishing Fraternity = the 10% of fishers that catch 90% of the fish

FYI - More about the Grande Ronde Basin Summer Steelhead Hatchery Program  

We were discussing fishing trips tonight

This evening Vice President Dave called our monthly meeting to order at 7:15.




He announced that President Tom was steelhead fishing on the Grande Ronde River today and was unable to make it back in time for the meeting.

President Tom with one of his steelies hookups,
pulled from the Grande Ronde River

We had 13 members in attendance this evening.

Heidi won our door prize - fly box.
We spend most of this evening discussing fishing trips, past, present, and future. It was noted that there was to be a weather front coming through the area in the next 24-hours and this could very well change the picture for any near future high lakes stillwater fishing, and steelhead fishing trips.

from his cell phone Club Treasurer -Doug- notified us he was steelhead
fishing the Grande Ronde River

We talked about bass fishing on the Snake River at Central Ferry, WA that being about a 2 hour drive out of Walla².
We got a fishing report from Tyson of the club members' fishing trip to the lower Umatilla River at Umatilla, OR on October 31, 

Umatilla River - Diane standing at the head of Chinaman's Hole

and the club members' fishing trip to the lower John Day River at McDonald Ferry this past Monday - 125 miles out of Milton-Freewater, a 2½ hour drive.

.

John Day River - above McDonald Ferry - Kris and Erik frothing the waters

It has been brought up lately the idea of looking for some area stillwater fishing opportunities. Dale mentioned that there was a lot of waters in NE Oregon, and that he had fished several waters in Washington, but others in the club would have to point to those waters. Dale went on to mention these stillwaters in OR and the better times to fish them after the winter/spring turnover.
Some suggestions he made were:

• Early-March – Lenice Lake, WA.  (tube or pontoon boat w/wheels required)  
• Late-April – Bull Prairie Reservoir, OR. (tube or pontoon boat recommended)  
• Mid-May – Penland Lake, OR (tube or pontoon boat required) 
• Late-May & Early June – Umatilla Forest Ponds – Ukiah, Granite, Starkey, OR ponds (walk around ponds - no floating craft needed) 
• Late-June – Jubilee Lake (tube or pontoon boat recommended)
• Summer and Fall – the high lakes of the Elk Horn Mtns.

To beat the heat of Summer - 7100' elevation - Anthony Lake

ODFW weekly fishing reports (rivers and stillwaters) for Northeast Oregon.

A few other stillwater fishing sites in NE Oregon for us to look into...

Aldrich Ponds, Aldrich Gulch Pond, Aneroid Lake, Anson Wright Park Pond, Balm Creek Reservoir, Boundary Pond, Brandon Pond, Cavender Pond, Crater Lake, Cutsforth Pond, Divide Well Pond, Drift Fence Pond, Ellis Pond, 5212 Pond, 5318 Rock Pit Pond, 5320 Pond, 5412 Pond, Fish Lake, Four Corners Pond, Frances Lake, French Corral Pond, Frog Heaven Pond, Goldfish Pond, Gopher Springs Pond, Grande Ronde Lake, Granite Meadows Pond, Haines Pond, Hat Rock Pond, Heart Lake, Highway 203 Pond, Hobo Lake, Honeymoon Pond, Hunter Pond, Jump Off Joe Lake, Keyhole Pond, Kinney Lake, Long Creek Reservoir, Lost Lake, and the other Lost Lake, Luger Pond, Magone Lake, Marr Pond, McGraw Pond, McHaley Pond, McNary Ponds, Mellard Pond, Morgan Lake, Morrow County Pond 1, Morrow County Pond 2, Morrow County Pond 3, Morrow County Pond 4, Murray Reservoir, Nine Mile Pond, Noregaard Pond, North Powder Pond, OK Corral Pond, Olive Lake, Owsley Pond, Peach Pond (Ladd Marsh), Pearson Ridge Pond, Phillips Reservoir, Pilcher Creek Reservoir, Roulet Pond, Rowe Creek Reservoir, Salt Creek Summit Pond, 7th Street Pond, Shimmiehorn Pond, Stinkwater Pond, Sugar Bowl Pond, Tatone Pond, Tee Pee Pond, Thief Valley Reservoir, Thompson Corral Pond, Trout Farm Pond, Twin Lakes, Twin Ponds, Unity Reservoir, Van Patten Lake, Victor Pond, Walk In Pond, Wallowa Lake, Wallowa Wildlife (Weaver) Pond, Weston Pond, Wiley Gulch, Willow Creek Reservoir, Wolf Creek Reservoir, Yellow Jacket Pond

 

This evening Past-President Tyson made our program presentation of "Fly Fishing through the Seasons".

This was a pictorial presentation of some of his fishing trips through the 4-Seasons of the year around the Pacific Northwest.

As Tyson begin his PPP program, this writer reflected on the words of  - Robert Traver  "I fish because... I love to; because I love the environs where trout are found, which are invariable beautiful... and, finally not because I regard fishing as being so terribly important but because I suspect that so many of the other concerns of men are equally important - and not nearly so much fun."

Tyson discussed the Pacific Northwest waters he had fished in the past short while with some of his most cherished pictures as reminders of the time well spent.

He presented us with his fly rod and wader experiences, ranging from the lower Walla Walla River for bass, the Tucannon Lakes for trout, to the Deschutes for steelhead and Redband trout, to the Owyhee for Brown trout, to Kelly Creek for Cutthroat trout, and beyond... "the environs where trout are found."

Daybreak on the Umatilla River

as the sun sinks slowly into the west...

Tis not all of fishing to fish.
- Izaak Walton

Thank you Tyson, for sharing some of you most memorable fishing experiences with us this evening.

It was discussed and voted on -due to all other Holiday activities- that we will have NO club meeting in December. Our next meeting will be held on Wednesday, 14 January 2015.

Maynard won the raffled fly box this evening.

Our meeting this evening was adjourned at 8:15.

Respectfully submitted,

Dale McKain

Club Secretary

Tight lines and Good Fishing

Walla² Fly Fishers

Contact Us

Tom Craig – President
Dave Stemmer – Vice President
Doug Coe – Treasurer
Dale McKain – Secretary - Blogmaster 
Gerald Newell - PROJECT HEALING WATERS Coordinator


Past Presidents
Tyson Kopfer
Bob Long
Scott Peters