OPINION  LETTERS
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, April 17, 2019
A5
Don’t run away from runoff: Fishing high water
W
hen rivers are totally
blown out, catching
ﬁ sh is a tough propo-
sition, if not impossible, but if a
river is just higher and cloudier
than usual, don’t let that stop you
from ﬁ shing. The ﬁ sh are still eat-
ing, and if you change the way
you view the river and the way
you ﬁ sh it you can still be suc-
cessful. You might even catch
your biggest ﬁ sh of the year,
because a few of the problems
runoff brings can be blessings in
disguise.
For starters, there’s a lot of
food in the water right now.
Strong currents dislodge an abun-
dance of insects from the river
bottom, and the high waters are
picking up insects from shore like
beetles and earthworms.
Since visibility is low and
velocity is high, not all of that
food is accessible to ﬁ sh, but
that can actually help the angler.
The places a ﬁ sh will be feeding
during runoff are decreased, so
TAILGATE
Chris Lozier
if you ﬁ nd those places, you’ve
probably found the ﬁ sh.
Look for soft water bordering
faster water, and ﬁ sh the seam —
and the soft side of the seam —
that those merging currents cre-
ate. Fish like to rest in slow water
while keeping an eye on the con-
veyor-o-bugs speeding by them.
They’ll dart out to pick up food,
then slip back to their holding
water.
Small side channels you would
ignore in the summer might hold
ﬁ sh now if they offer a relief from
rapid water. And while you need
to cover many different spots in
the river during normal ﬂ ows,
during runoff ﬁ sh often hug the
shores since it offers a consistent
current break. That means you
probably don’t have to wade to
get to the ﬁ sh right now, and with
stronger currents, more debris in
the water, and limited visibility,
wading this time of year is risky.
Even though murky water
shortens a ﬁ sh’s ﬁ eld of vision, it
does offer a couple advantages.
You can get closer to the ﬁ sh —
even large ﬁ sh — without spook-
ing them, and they have less
time to examine your offering
and reject it. They have to react
quickly.
Once you ﬁ nd the right water,
you could try dry ﬂ ies if bugs are
hatching, but ﬁ shing subsurface
with nymphs, streamers, spinners
or bait — where allowed, be sure
to check the regulations — will
usually be more effective. Fish
close to the bottom, using extra
weight if needed, because the cur-
rent near the bottom of the river
is often slower than the current at
the surface.
If you’re nymph ﬁ shing, try
drop shot or European techniques
to get down and stay down, and
consider using bright indicator
tippet and/or keeping a tight line
to tell you when you have a take.
Floating indicators will still work,
but they might pull your ﬂ ies at
surface speed rather than bottom
speed, and if they’re suspended
too far off the bottom in murky
water the ﬁ sh may not see them.
You can add weight to a ﬂ oating
indicator rig and move the indica-
tor higher to make sure you have
good contact with the bottom
while still seeing strikes.
Rob Lamb at the Joseph Fly
Shoppe says it’s a good idea to
increase your leader strength, too,
since ﬁ sh can pull much harder if
they get out into the strong cur-
rent. He also recommends tak-
ing salmon ﬂ y patterns since trout
love to eat them before, during
and after they crawl on shore to
hatch.
Some folks say you need big-
LETTERS to the EDITOR
We should come together, not tear one another down
Regarding Joseph City
Council decisions
I’m writing this response to Chris-
tina Knecht’s recent letter to the edi-
tor — an ill-mannered attempt at dis-
crediting Teresa Sajonia.
When it comes to the Farmer’s
Market, we all encourage this mar-
ket as a place for us to come together
to visit local vendors. We enjoy the
environment that our local Farm-
er’s Market provides. My question
to Knecht is simple: Where did this
information come from?
Some underlining motive to point
the blame at one individual for rea-
sons unknown. Moving the loca-
tion of the Market is not one per-
sons doing. The goal is to move it to
a location that is safer and accessible
to all locals, and those who are wel-
comed during their travels. We have
an amazing opportunity to offer local
vendors a place to sell their goods.
All of the fees associated go back
into the Farmer’s Market.
I would love to see the commu-
nity come together to decide on the
best location for the market, instead
of tearing down one of our own. My
family has enjoyed the Farmer’s Mar-
ket and Ember’s over the years.
The music is a wonderful treat. I
question whether anyone one can say
what Knecht said was accurate, or
that even she heard those words come
from Sajonia. I would like to break
the gossip. How do we want to repre-
sent our community as a whole? Do
we want to take one persons word
as truth or push forward to keep our
community the best that it already is?
Tiana Fough
Joseph
Why the Planning
Commission made the
right decision
Joseph Branch Trail Consortium
ﬁ led a CUP with the Wallowa County
Planning Commission on Jan. 9. The
permit was denied 5-1 by the Planning
Commission. JBTC Appealed. JBTC
wants to build a six mile trail from
Joseph to Enterprise. Most of it is
zoned for Exclusive Farm Use. Many
of the farmers, ranchers and residents
oppose due to harm they believe this
will cause to their farming operations.
JBTC initially spoke to landowners
about their concerns and objections.
JBTC then moved forward with their
project. In 2016 JBTC quit talking
to landowners. Landowners wrongly
assumed the silence meant the plan
was abandoned.
The commission sent landown-
ers notices and published the Per-
mit on Feb. 6. In January JBTC asked
members to send support letters to the
commission by Feb. 8. Support let-
ters were received by the commission
early in the process. Opponents sub-
mitted their letters before the dead-
line but got an unfair late start. The
commission wrote a “Staff Report” by
Feb. 14 making its recommendation
based on available material.
The commission is appointed by
our County Commissioners. They
are unpaid volunteers comprised of
people with broad knowledge in real
estate, agriculture, engineering; a for-
mer count assessor and a retired resi-
dent. The County Commissioners had
enough faith in their expertise, dedi-
cation to their community and ability
to understand the law as it applies to
land use to appoint these people to the
commission.
The commission bases their deci-
sions on the facts presented to them
in both the application and addi-
tional materials submitted. Differ-
ent types of letters are likely weighed
differently. Letters expressing opin-
ion such as “I hate the idea of a trail in
MY backyard” or “I love the idea of
a trail in THEIR backyard” may not
be weighed as heavily as letters with
speciﬁ c statements or claims. Such
as, letters detailing speciﬁ c harm to
farmers operations or citing the Appli-
cation meets standards of “trafﬁ c
calming.”
The law states: “The purpose of
the Exclusive Farm Use Zone is to
provide areas for the continuation
of existing commercial agricultural
activities and permit the establish-
ment of only those new uses which
are compatible with agricultural activ-
ities. The intention of the Exclusive
Farm Use Zone is to guarantee the
preservation of the areas classiﬁ ed as
farm use free from conﬂ icting non-
farm uses.” The commission consid-
ered this and other laws when making
their decision.
As a rancher in Wallowa County
I sympathize with the farmers and
ranchers along this section of the trail.
I believe the commission made the
right decision. It dismays me to see
the verbal abuse heaped on the Plan-
ning Commission by members of the
public who disagree with them. I am
grateful to them for having the spine
to make unpopular decisions, and
wish to take this opportunity to thank
them for their hard work.
Rob Taylor
Enterprise
ger, brighter lures to attract atten-
tion, and that may be an effective
tactic, but the ﬁ sh are keyed in on
the same small insects and ﬁ sh
they eat every day, so as long as
your offerings look like food and
you put them in the right zone,
ﬁ sh will probably bite if they’re
in the mood. Their attitude has
a lot to do with it, so if you can
pick, ﬁ sh during stable or falling
ﬂ ows, rather than rising water,
which can stop the bite.
Finally, cover the water in
small increments. You need to
get your offering right in front of
the ﬁ sh, so move slowly across
the ﬁ shable water with each cast
and thoroughly cover your target.
In fast murky water, ﬁ sh might
need a second chance to take
your bait, so give them plenty of
opportunities.
Chris is a guest contribu-
tor to the column “Tailgate”.
He has a degree in English from
Whitworth University and lives
with his wife in Enterprise.
Spring prescribed burning projects
to begin on the Wallowa-Whitman
National Forest
Baker City, Ore. — As
warmer, drier weather takes
hold in Eastern Oregon, the
Wallowa-Whitman National
Forest is ready to begin
spring prescribed burning
to reduce hazardous fuels
on up to 10,000 acres of the
National Forest.
“By getting good ﬁ re back
into the forest, we’re pro-
tecting communities while
restoring and sustaining
the land,” forest Fuels Pro-
gram Manager Steve Haw-
kins said. “We appreciate the
cooperation and understand-
ing of our stakeholders as
we work toward our shared
goal of healthy landscapes in
Eastern Oregon.”
The National Forest pri-
oritized the Wallowa and
Union County areas listed
below for prescribed burning
this spring. To access maps
of the burn units, please visit
https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/
incident/maps/6289/.
The Wallowa Fire Zone
(WFZ) – (541) 426-4978
(Wallowa Valley Ranger
District, Hells Canyon NRA
and Eagle Cap Ranger Dis-
trict). The WFZ plans to
conduct prescribed burn-
ing on up to 3,000 acres this
spring, which may include:
Chesnimus Elk (1,000
acres) – 30 miles northeast
of Enterprise, OR
B-Vine (1,000 acres) –
30 miles north/northeast of
Enterprise, OR
Muddy Sled (1,000 acres)
– 20 miles north of Enter-
prise, OR
The Grande Ronde Fire
Zone (GRFZ) – (541) 963-
7186 (La Grande Ranger
District). The GRFZ plans
to conduct prescribed burn-
ing on up to 3,000 acres this
spring, which may include:
Horse Fly (500 acres) –
13 miles southwest of La
Grande, OR near Vey Mead-
ows and Blue Springs
Trail (600 acres) —
8 miles northwest of La
Grande, OR near Mount
Emily
Rooster (200 acres)
– 21 miles southwest of
La Grande, OR near Vey
Meadows
Birdtrack (1,200 acres) –
9 miles west of La Grande in
the Spring Creek Area
Sandbox (500 acres) – 12
miles southeast of Union,
OR near Catherine Creek
Snow Park
Please note that actual
acres within a project area
may vary due to fuel con-
ditions, smoke dispersion,
wind patterns, and other
variables. Acres may be
higher or lower in some
project areas than listed.
Weather, fuel conditions,
and smoke will determine
where and when units are
For further information,
please contact:
Wa l l o w a - W h i t m a n
National Forest, Super-
visor’s Ofﬁ ce at (541)
523-6391
Lightning Creek Flood
Ellen Morris Bishop
Wallowa Commissioners issued a ﬂ ood warning. Photographed: Lighting Creek