OUTDOORS & REC
B2 — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
SATURDAY, AUGUST 13, 2022
ODFW biologist gives updates on steelhead, salmon
Optimistic outlook
for this year’s
steelhead run
Kyle Bratcher of the
Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife
with a coho salmon
trapped at the
Lostine weir in 2018.
By KYLE BRATCHER
Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife/
Contributed Photo, File
Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife
As we move toward the
opening of steelhead season
I thought I’d provide an
update on the ongoing run
and provide some thoughts
on current fi shing opportu-
nities along with some hot
water topics.
Additionally, there are
some cool upcoming oppor-
tunities to help with some
fi sheries management and
important land acquisitions.
Steelhead
While it’s still early in
the steelhead run, enough
steelhead have passed Bon-
neville Dam to start looking
at the crystal ball of fi sh-
eries management to see
what our upcoming fi shery
might look like.
First, I can tell you it’s
looking a fair bit better than
the last few years. In the
steelhead fi sheries plan, we
provided a framework for
how we would manage the
steelhead fi sheries in North-
east Oregon based on pas-
sage at the mainstem dams.
The primary metric we pro-
vided to determine if fi sh-
eries might be curtailed was
passage of 2,724 wild steel-
head at Ice Harbor Dam
(ICE) between June 15 and
Sept. 24. On average, by
Aug. 4 about 8% of the run
has passed ICE.
With a month and 20
days to go, we’ve surpassed
the needed count outlined in
the above framework with
2,758 wild steelhead. Since
the vast majority of the run
is still to come, my projec-
tions suggest we’re going to
see the run exceed the min-
imum abundance threshold
(MAT), or the level we con-
sider the population healthy
for the Imnaha and Grande
Ronde basins.
While I’m expecting a
healthy wild run, it’s not
what I would consider
exciting. However, the
increase is certainly good
news and the run is good
enough that I have no con-
cerns with fi sheries pro-
gressing as normal. I am
not planning any modi-
fi cations of the steelhead
fi shing season from the per-
manent rules in the book.
For hatchery steelhead,
I’m encouraged by the
PIT tag data from Bonne-
ville Dam. We are seeing
quite a few fi sh from the
Wallowa and Imnaha pro-
grams making their way up
the Columbia. While it’s
a bit early to have a lot of
confi dence in my projec-
tions, current data suggests
we’ll have a pretty robust
return of hatchery steel-
head for harvest. Even if
the hatchery component of
the run falls short of current
projections, we’ll still likely
see the most fi sh since the
2016-17 run year. I’ll pro-
vide everyone with more
information here when
the projections are more
reliable.
One last positive point:
It appears that two-salt
fi sh are making up a sub-
stantial proportion of the
hatchery returns. This
means hookups with larger
fi sh will be more common.
Expect to fi nd a good pro-
portion of fi sh in the 25- to
28-inch range.
For anyone planning
trips or guide seasons, I
wouldn’t hesitate one bit to
book accommodations or
trips. Unless we see some
very abnormal circum-
stance, I will not be imple-
menting any emergency
closures or curtailments for
the 2022-23 season.
Hatchery Steelhead
Collection – Hook
and Line
With a better return of
hatchery fi sh we’re ten-
tatively planning to have
a hook and line brood-
stock collection get-to-
gether in Troy on the
Grande Ronde this year.
We’ve just recently started
planning so I don’t have
all the details, but if you
would like to attend please
send me a quick email —
Kyle.W.Bratcher@odfw.
oregon.gov — stating
interest and pencil it in on
you calendar for Oct. 13-16.
We’ll likely have some pre-
sentations at night, maybe a
beginning steelhead fi shing
class, and of course good
conversations. I’ll reach out
with more details when we
have a better set of plans.
Additionally on the
hatchery broodstock col-
lection front, I’ll need
some experienced anglers
who will spend a fair bit of
time fi shing near Troy this
year to collect broodstock.
This is something you do
on your own time from
mid-September to the end
of October. We’ll set up a
collection station with live
wells and everything folks
need to safely collect any
hatchery fi sh they might
catch. I’d like folks that
will spend at least fi ve total
days (outside the Oct. 13-16
event) on the water. Again,
please send me an email
with your interest.
Chinook Salmon
All the Northeast Oregon
Chinook seasons have
closed with Hells Canyon
being the last closure July
31. After 5 years of only the
Hells Canyon fi shery being
open, it was nice to provide
the opportunities on the
Wallowa and Imnaha this
year.
While we did have an
uptick in the chinook run
that was enough to provide
a fi shery this year, it still
wasn’t great by overall stan-
dards. We were somewhat
borderline on opening the
Imnaha and I know fi shing
was by no means off the
charts. Hopefully we’ll see
some improving runs over
the next few years.
Given what we saw
this year we’re expecting
an increase next year and
hopefully some better
fi shing. I’d love to hear
from any of you that may
have participated in the
fi shery to see what your
experience was. Fish pics
are always welcome.
We either have, or are
very close to obtaining our
broodstock for the hatchery
programs in the Grande
Ronde and Imnaha basins.
Additionally, we’ll see chi-
nook start to spawn in some
to the tributaries in the next
few weeks. Great places to
check out some spawning
salmon are near the Imnaha
Weir and Catherine Creek
state park.
Drought
While Northeast Oregon
certainly benefi ted from the
wet spring, much of Oregon
is still in a drought. We are
doing far better in terms
of fl ow and water tempera-
tures over last year and
our fi sh will certainly fare
better because of it.
While we’re in these
periods of hot weather,
keep in mind the impact
you may be having when
you’re out fi shing in North-
east Oregon waters. Use
best handling practices and
consider fi sheries where
you’re impact will be less-
ened. There are some tips
available at myodfw.com/
articles/5-tips-fi shing-hot-
water.
Minam River Property
Lastly, ODFW and the
Rocky Mountain Elk Foun-
dation has been working
to acquire a large tract of
ground in the bottom end of
the Minam River. Overall
it’s around 15,000 acres
of important winter range
for deer and elk, but also
includes about 7 miles of the
river itself.
The Minam is an
important river for salmon,
steelhead and bull trout.
This project has the poten-
tial to lead to better hab-
itat in the lower Minam
that could benefi t all those
fi shes. The fi rst phase of
the acquisition has fi nished
and fund raising for the
second and larger phase 2 is
ongoing. For more informa-
tion you can check out the
video at www.youtube.com/
watch?v=ADMmzy9bpSM.
As always, feel free to
contact me if you have ques-
tions or would just like to
chat about fi sh. I’m always
looking for topics that I can
address to the group so feel
free to send suggestions
my way. Also, if you know
anyone who would like to
be included in these distri-
butions let me know and I’ll
get them added.
█
Kyle Bratcher is the district
fish biologist at the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife’s
Enterprise office.
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