The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current, February 27, 2015, Image 11

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The Baker County press., February 27, 2015, Image 11

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Newspaper Page TextFRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2015 Outdoor Recreation Remembering River Canyon looked like silver mir- rors. The name actually refereed to the steelhead run. I am fairly certain of the year because Grandpa Colton had given us his jeep pickup because he THE OUTDOOR COLUMN had decided By Steve Culley he was too old to drive and I read with interest an he died in December of article about exploring 1963. canyon country that ap- I remember ﬁ shing peared this month in two 80 yards or so above my other newspapers. brother and he was hauling John Kirk Townsend out a lot of trout. was probably the ﬁ rst to I was retrieving my mention this area in 1837 double-bladed spinner with after the Wyeth expedition an angle worm trailing be- lost the Oregon Trail and hind when all of a sudden a wandered up the “River monster ﬁ sh took it, made Canyon.” a fast run down stream and He mentioned it being Snap! so narrow in one spot that The line popped like a you could “throw a biscuit thread. across it.” I yelled at Dan trying to I know the place. describe the big bright ﬁ sh It is near what we called that took the bait. Deer Mountain trail just Dan was ﬁ xated on his upstream from where the ﬁ shing and didn’t pay that river makes a big, “horse much attention, probably shoe bend.” thinking I was exaggerat- It was probably in 1962 ing. when my brother Dan and I went back to ﬁ shing I followed the jeep roads and maybe 10 minutes into there to ﬁ sh for “silver later another jet propelled sides,” the native rainbows mirror grabbed my worm that were so bright they and made short work of the monoﬁ lament. I’m thinking Grandpa must have bought some of the ﬁ rst batch of monoﬁ la- ment ever manufactured and put it on the old Zebco reel. Not exactly steelhead gear. To complete the adven- ture we tried to get through the brush pile where the little water fall starts the run at horse shoe bend and it was here that I kept here a clicking sound and was sure my reel was snagged it the brush. I checked it and it and all was ﬁ ne except for Dan aiming his pistol at me and shooting at my feet. Turns out the clicking was a very large rattle snake. He shot its eyes out and I thought it was dead, only to nearly get struck when I tried to cut the rattles off. Turns out it was a den and snakes were buzzing all around us. Around that time I hooked a steelhead in Big Creek where the little stream of Lick Creek comes in. I dragged it to the road but it broke the line and got back in. At that point in time we never paid a lot of atten- tion to what was happen- ing in Hells Canyon with the construction of private dams with no ﬁ sh ladders. We only knew that Eagle Creek was great ﬂ y ﬁ shing for trout, which it was but mostly it was the steelhead smolts that made it great. I joined the Marines in July of 1966 and went to Viet Nam and Okinawa in 1967. The last Hells Canyon Dam was completed in that year. I always have wondered how it came to pass that three private dams with no ﬁ sh ladders got constructed instead of the one federal dam with passage. It is complicated having to do with sputnik, the cold war and the Red Scare and economist Milton Freid- man and privatization and a ﬁ ve-year rapid tax write off, and it would be my guess that maybe a little political contribution here and there that allowed the three dam complex and the infamous “Rube Goldberg” ﬁ sh passage system that all the biologists said would not work. It didn’t—and the ﬁ sh runs were abandoned in 1963. The Powder River, the Payette, Weiser, Boise, Eagle Creek and main stem Snake River lost some- thing that had been for millennia. Salmon and steelhead that reproduced for free are now raised in hatcher- ies and subsidized on our power bills. —ODFW Recreation Report— NE OREGON FISHING BULL PRAIRIE RESER- VOIR: rainbow and brook trout. Remains open to ﬁ shing all year. The reservoir is frozen but proceed with caution as the ice may be too thin to support anglers. Approximately 200 trophy rainbow trout were stocked last fall and should provide ﬁ shing all winter. Brook trout are also available. GRANDE RONDE RIVER: steelhead. After a big inﬂ ux in ﬂ ow, the river has come back into shape. While the river is still a bit high, anglers should have good success. Fishermen have had a lot of success on the Grande Ronde this year and that success is expected to con- tinue when ﬂ ows subside. A healthy proportion of two salt ﬁ sh has resulted in a large average size this year. So, expect a few larger ﬁ sh and some screaming drags! Remember, only adipose-ﬁ n clipped rainbow trout may be retained and all bull trout must be released unharmed. HOLLIDAY PARK POND: rainbow trout.Remains open all year. The pond is now free of ice. Carryover trout are being caught and should provide fair angling until stocking occurs in April. IMNAHA RIVER: steel- head. Flows have stabilized and angling is good. Anglers are ﬁ nding steelhead from the mouth all the way up to the town of Imnaha. Angers will ﬁ nd ﬁ sh on anything from bait to ﬂ ies. Fishing on the Imnaha in late winter and early spring is often in tee-shirt weather with plenty of action. Steelhead will be moving into Big Sheep Creek as they push toward the hatchery facility. JOHN DAY RIVER: steelhead. River ﬂ ows have dropped and water condi- tions are great. Steelhead are being caught with most of the ﬁ sh between Service Creek and the town of John Day and in the North Fork up to Monument. Water temperatures are still cold and steelhead are holding in slack water along the edges. ODFW encourages all an- glers to keep any ad-clipped steelhead taken in this ﬁ sh- ery. All wild (adipose intact) steelhead must be released unharmed. LONG CREEK POND, CAVENDER POND: trout. Remains open all year. Both ponds are now free of ice. Several trout stocked last year survived the winter and will provide good ﬁ shing until stocking occurs again in April. MAGONE LAKE: rainbow and brook trout. Remains open all year. Portions of the upper lake are ice free so proceed with caution if at- tempting to ice ﬁ sh. The ice may be too thin to support anglers. MARR POND: surplus steelhead. Marr pond has been stocked with 100 sur- plus steelhead that returned to Wallowa Hatchery. Once these ﬁ sh are placed in still water ﬁ sheries they are considered “trout” and do not need to be recorded on a harvest card. This is a great opportunity to get young anglers into some big ﬁ sh. Try catching these ﬁ sh by ﬂ oating bait under a bobber mid water column. Brightly colored lures and spinners may also be productive. PEACH POND (Ladd Marsh): rainbow trout. The pond was stocked with trophy-sized rainbow trout in late September. The pond has no ice cover. ROULET POND: rainbow trout. The pond was stocked with trophy-sized rainbow trout in late September. The pond has no ice cover. ROWE CREEK RES- ERVOIR: rainbow trout. Remains open all year. The pond is now free of ice. Fishing is fair for carryover trout but the water level is very low. UMATILLA FOREST PONDS: trout. The for- est ponds remain open to angling year around and can provide a good opportunity for ice ﬁ shing during the winter months. UMATILLA RIVER: steel- head. Steelhead continue to enter the system in record numbers, anglers should be able to ﬁ nd ﬁ sh scat- tered throughout the river. Steelhead ﬁ shing was good last weekend with upper river anglers averaging 4.6 hours per steelhead caught. During the three days creeled last week, 73 anglers caught 35 native and 7 hatchery steelhead. Water conditions in the Pendleton area drop- ping quickly back into shape, ﬂ ows are about 600cfs and water temperatures are in the low 40s. Steelhead are distributed though out the system. Anglers are ﬁ nd best success using bobbers and jigs and drift ﬁ shing for steel- head. Anglers should consult the synopsis for detailed regulations. WALLOWA LAKE: rain- bow trout, kokanee, lake trout. As spring approaches anglers will start to ﬁ nd some stocked trout that held over from last season’s stock- ing. These ﬁ sh often range 15 to 20 inches and can be caught in multiple numbers. These ﬁ sh are normally more common later in the spring; however with the warm weather and early spring anglers should start seeing these ﬁ sh soon. Some expe- rienced ﬁ shermen are pick- ing up large lake trout trolling at depth with downriggers. While lake trout aren’t abun- dant in Wallowa Lake it’s not uncommon to ﬁ nd ﬁ sh over 25 pounds. In 2014 the lake was stocked with tagged rainbow trout in an effort by ODFW to better understand the utiliza- tion of this ﬁ shery. Tagged ﬁ sh have been caught at very high rates and over $2,700 in rewards have been paid. Some of these ﬁ sh have likely held over from last year and are available to anglers. If you catch one of these tagged ﬁ sh, please report the number, location, date, where in the lake the ﬁ sh was caught and the size to the ODFW ofﬁ ce in Enter- prise or online. WALLOWA RIVER: steel- head, mountain whiteﬁ sh. The steelhead season is in full swing on the Wallowa River. Catch rates dipped below 4 hours per ﬁ sh last week! Fishing is good and there really is no good excuse to not be out there. Anglers are ﬁ nding ﬁ sh in good numbers and the ratio of two-salt ﬁ sh to one-salt ﬁ sh is high. This means there are a lot of larger ﬁ sh available so, oil your reels and make sure that drag is working well. Remember the Wallowa River is a whiteﬁ sh factory. Whiteﬁ sh can be a great way to keep kids interested while steelhead ﬁ shing and can be great table fair. Simply tie in a small bead-head nymph dropper while ﬁ shing under a bobber rig and let the fun begin. Also, steelhead will of- ten take a bead head nymph hanging under a jig. WILLOW CREEK RES- ERVOIR: trout. Anglers are reporting good catches of rainbow trout from 12 to 20-inches. Best catches are falling for PowerBait and night crawlers ﬁ shed on the bottom. BAKER COUNTY HUNTING Cougars can be found throughout Baker County but hunters should target areas with high concentrations of deer and elk. Setting up on a fresh kill or using distress calls can all be productive techniques. Hunters are re- quired to check in the hide of any cougar taken, with skull and proof of sex attached. Remember to pick up a 2015 tag. Coyote numbers are good throughout the district. Try calling in early morning and late afternoon. Remember to ask for permission before hunting on private properties. THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 11 Brownlee boat ramp data Submitted Photo. The snowpack conditions that have materialized thus far above Brownlee Reservoir are below nor- mal. Therefore, the amount of space required by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) within Brownlee Reservoir for the purpose of system ﬂ ood control is less than has been required in some recent years. This is great news for recreation within the reservoir this spring. Brownlee Reservoir elevation is currently 2,053 feet, or 24 feet below full pool. We anticipate that the reservoir elevation will decrease an additional 3-4 feet before the end of February to meet the end of month ﬂ ood control target set by the USACE. At this target elevation, all boat ramps with the exception of Spring Recre- ation will remain accessible for launching boats. As we move through the ﬂ ood control season, these planned operations may change. Updates will be made available as soon as possible. Please visit our Idaho Power website, http://www.idahopower. com/OurEnvironment/WaterInformation for current reservoir elevation information. 2014 annual wolf report The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) posted its annual wolf report for 2014 on Tuesday. Gray wolves (Canis lupus) in Oregon are listed state- wide as endangered under the Oregon Endangered Species Act (ESA). Wolves occurring west of Oregon Highways 395/78/95 continued to be federally protected as endangered under the federal ESA. The 2014 Oregon minimum wolf population is 77 wolves. Nine packs were documented and eight of those packs met the criteria as breeding pairs. Known wolf packs occurred in parts of Baker, Jackson, Klamath, Umatilla, Union, and Wallowa Counties. In addition six new pairs of wolves were also conﬁ rmed in Oregon; ﬁ ve within the Eastern Wolf Management Zone and one within the Western Wolf Management Zone. 2014 marks the third year that the conservation population objective (four breeding pairs in eastern Oregon), as deﬁ ned in the Oregon Wolf Conservation and Management Plan (Wolf Plan), was achieved. Six wolves were captured and radio-collared in 2014 and throughout the year as many as 18 GPS radio- collared wolves were monitored. At year-end 13 wolves (17% of the population) were radiocollared in Oregon. Three radio-collared wolves dispersed out of state. No adult mortality or incidental take was documented in Oregon during 2014. Conﬁ rmed depredation of livestock decreased; 11 incidents of wolf depredation were conﬁ rmed in ﬁ ve areas of Oregon in 2014. Per the Wolf Plan the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (department) and area producers implemented non-lethal measures to minimize depredation. The Oregon Department of Agriculture’s compensation program awarded $150,830 in 8 counties in 2014. Most funds were used for preventative measures and second- arily for direct payment of conﬁ rmed depredations. Public interest in Oregon wolf management remained high in 2014. Members of the public can sign up to be automatically notiﬁ ed of new wolf information and in 2014 the number of subscribers increased by 31%. Cur- rently, 4, 496 people subscribe to the department’s wolf update web page. The Oregon State University/ODFW wolf-cougar research project in northeastern Oregon continued in 2014. The full report is available online or by contacting ODFW. Why advertise with us? • Low rates per column inch & promotional deals • Free color ads as space permits • Friendly, professional sales staff Wendee Morrissey wendee@thebakercountypress. com or call 541.805.1688. David Conn david@thebakercountypress.com or call 541.523.5524 Family owned and operated. Packed with local news! • All display ads are also posted to our Facebook page, which means thou- sands of individuals see your ad from that source alone. We’re the only paper in town that offers this additional service!