OUTDOORS & REC
B2 — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
SATURDAY, AUGUST 7, 2021
Dennis Dauble/Contributed Photo
Railroad tracks parallel much of the Wallowa River. A pontoon boat provides with access to both shorelines and increases odds of success.
RIVER
Continued from Page B1
ﬁ shable stretch of water. A
long deep run punctuated
by boulders and framed by
overhanging alder shows.
Unfortunately, ﬂ ying bugs
and activity from feeding
trout are lacking. Which
begs the question, what
ﬂ y pattern do you tie on
when all you have to go on
a wrinkled page clipped
from a dated magazine
article?
The river still runs high
and turbid from late-season
snowmelt. It’s too deep to
wade across and too wide
to cast to the opposite
shore. A light breeze stirs
tufts of roadside grass.
The late July sun blazes
hot overhead. Worn paths
lead to casting places high
above the river where any
self-respecting trout can
see you. Easing into the
river knee-deep, I work
upstream along the bank
and grasp reed canary
grass for balance. Behind
me, the busy highway
hums with RVs, SUVs,
horse trailers, semi-trucks,
sedans and minivans.
The Wallowa River
is catch-and-release for
wild trout with a two-ﬁ sh
limit for hatchery ﬁ sh, but
gets hammered all year
long. What makes me
think I can hook a hefty
trout in the middle of the
day? I recall a visit to the
Deschutes River during the
famous salmon ﬂ y hatch.
Not a single redside rose
to the ﬂ y until a setting
sun dropped below painted
hills. On my home stream,
the South Fork of the
Walla Walla River, trout
can be brought to a ﬂ y
from morning until dusk.
A Beadhead Nymph
drifted under a Royal
Wulﬀ fails to elicit a
strike. When overhanging
alder blocks progress I
crawl up the bank where
a two-foot-long bull snake
sunning on a boulder star-
tles me. Two trucks parked
at the next pull oﬀ thwart
intention. Next up is a one-
lane bridge that leads to
promising water along the
other bank, but it’s posted,
“No Trespassing.”
The next open stretch
of river requires sliding
down a steep bank covered
with invasive reed canary
grass, which I accomplish
without mishap. I’ll worry
about how to get back up
later. Unfortunately, four
kayakers row within 10
feet of my rod tip to wreck
any chance of hooking
a trout. I also encounter
another large bull snake.
This one drapes over a
willow branch at eye level.
Two years ago, during
a ﬂ oat trip on the Wild
& Scenic portion of the
Grande Ronde River, a
guide shared, “If you want
to catch trout on dries,
then you ﬁ sh the Wal-
lowa.” Sadly, half a dozen
dries have so far failed to
attract a single trout.
My goal of catching
a deep-body Wallowa
River redside is revised
to fooling an 8-incher.
I’m fast running out of
river miles when I get to
Big Canyon Road, where
another bridge spans the
river. If grass is greener on
the other side of the fence,
surely trout are more abun-
dant on the other side of
the river.
Find good water, cast a
ﬂ y that’s worked for you
in the past, and hope for a
dumb trout, I tell myself.
A deep slot upstream of
the bridge suggests a two-
part hole. With the sun
at my back now, I stand
between sprawling willow
branches and cast to where
water crests over a large
boulder. Wham! A nice-
sized trout strikes my No.
10 Royal Stimulator and
shakes me from my rev-
elry. When I lead the ﬁ sh
upstream against the cur-
rent, it pulls free. No
matter. The hookset vali-
dates my ability to know
where trout live.
After checking the
hook to make sure I hav-
en’t broken the tip oﬀ on
a rock, I move three steps
downstream and hook a
carbon copy of the ﬁ rst
trout. This one makes one
halfhearted leap and is
led to shore for release.
Walking back to the
bridge 15 minutes later, I
cast to the ﬁ rst deep slot
again. Wham! An identi-
cal-looking trout strikes
my ﬂ y, quickly tires, and
rolls on its side.
A hungry trout might
chase a well-placed ﬂ y half
a dozen times before they
spook. They might even
take the same pattern if
you give them a rest.
Which reminds me that
some anglers say cutthroat
trout are the easiest trout
to fool. After hooking and
landing the same “cutt”
from the Naches River
twice in 10 minutes I was
inclined to agree. Never,
though, has a wild rainbow
trout allowed itself to be
caught two times after it
felt the sting of a hook.
Chalk the experience up
to either a dumb ﬁ sh or
dumb luck. Either way, my
goal of catching a Wallowa
River redside is met and
any guilt remaining from
an early exit to the writer’s
conference vaporized.
———
Dennis Dauble is a
retired ﬁ shery scientist, out-
door writer, presenter and
educator who lives in Rich-
land, Washington. For more
stories about outdoor adven-
ture, including ﬁ sh and
ﬁ shing in area waters, see
DennisDaubleBooks.com.
Ken Gano/Contributed Photo
Dennis Dauble releases a 18-inch “redside” rainbow trout landed in the 10-mile stretch of the Wallowa
River downstream of where the Minam River adds ﬂ ow.
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