SummerSteelheadCreelMarch29th

Fish were a little moody this weekend. We did have a beautiful day on Saturday but there was a huge Low pressure moving toward Joseph, OR and which showed up on Sunday. Tom and Jake fished for about 6 hours on Saturday and only caught 1 fish. They did however catch a nice sunburn. They thought that the low pressure caused the Bite to turn off.

On Sunday, the weather was totally unsettled and it finally let loose with rain Monday morning. It has been raining hard all morning in Joseph. I am expecting to see a little rise in the water flows along with a change in color on the Wallowa. This could certainly shut down the fishing for a day or two. This flush of fresh water could be a good thing, however. It might just get those steelhead to move up out of the lower canyon into the road accessible section of the Wallowa River. Tom or I will be back on the water tomorrow and I will let you know what we find.

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Tom had a slow day on the Wallowa Yesterday. The weather was all over the map. Wind, rain, snow, and a bit of sun. He caught one beautiful Hen but that was it.

I am continuously amazed at the difference we have found in the amount of fish being caught between the road section of the Wallowa and the Rondowa section. We are not quite sure what is holding those fish down in the canyon. Maybe the low flows coming out of the Wallowa are not enticing the fish to move up river. They are holding in the bigger water down near Rondowa. The crazy weather could have affected the fish and their interest in biting.

We were sure excited to get down on the Train one last time on Tuesday.

Follow the link below to check out the latest Creel report. Tom is down on the Wallowa today so I will let you know what he finds this evening.

Creel Report Link: Creel%20Report%20March%2023rd%202010.pdf

Tom and I went for one final day of Train Access Steelhead fishing on the Wallowa River on Tuesday. Wow, what an incredible day. We caught 15 to 20 Steelhead between us and got sunburned to boot. There was one very unusual aspect to our day. As we stepped off of the train there was this a crowd of people with Huge cameras waiting for us. Paparazzi on the Wallowa? It looks like the Wallowa River Steelhead are experiencing their 15 minutes of fame. So if you head out on the Wallowa this Spring, beware of those flashes coming from the bushes. You may find yourself on the cover of the National Inquirer.

Wow, another day of amazing fishing. I guess our concerns in the upper section of the canyon have translated into some amazing "Catching" in the Roadless section of river accessed on the train.

Tom and his buddy Jake headed straight for Tom's Honey hole and proceeded to catch an "uncountable"amount of Steelhead in that 30 foot section of river. This was his initial report via phone last night but today I nailed him down to a number and he committed to 36 steelhead landed yesterday. The first 2 fish were caught on a Frozen reel. The temps warmed up enough by about 9:30am allowing him to actually use his reel to land the fish. They ended the day in short sleeves.

I just received a call from Tom who is currently guiding a few anglers on the Wallowa. He said that Pat has actually caught his first 3 Steelhead on a fly today.

Happy times had by all, except maybe a few unlucky fish. We wish Jon and his crew luck on their 3 day float from Minam to Mud Creek. I will pass along their report on Wednesday upon their return.

We fished the Wallowa again yesterday, March 18th. We found the fishing to be a little slow. The fish did not seem to be holding in the typical water that we usually find them in. They seemed to be on the move and very active. We did notice fish jumping and making their way upriver.

I took a water temp measurement and found that our measurement from the 17th was accurate. The water temp was 49degrees and has been holding. We are thinking that the runoff from last weeks snow event has caused this spike in the temperature. This has in turn energized those fish to get on the move.

The 2 Steelhead that we did catch yesterday were caught in the faster moving water at the top of the runs. The fish were hooked right where the water spilled from the swift riffle into the slower moving run. They seemed to be staging themselves in this water preparing for the big push up through the faster moving riffles.

The train goes out tomorrow so we should get some really good data about the fishing down there tomorrow night.

Let me know what you are finding out there.

I joined Tom and Jake for a few hours of steelheading on the Wallowa yesterday. They had reported catching 4 fish on Tuesday so I thought I better go check it out.

Our concerns about the rapid snow melt blowing out the river have been unwarranted. The water didn't seem to have come up at all and the color was not off a bit. Still clear. All of that snow that has disappeared, from my yard, in the past 2 days must have just gone right in to the ground. Conditions are still looking good. We did take a water temp yesterday and found the water temp to read 50degrees. This was hard to believe so I am going to bring a 2nd thermometer to confirm temps today. I also wanted to report that we saw very little pressure yesterday and were able to get in all of the water that we wanted to.

The fish that we are catching are very active. All of them are jumping and running up and down during the fight. I just got a new helmet cam today and plan on getting back down there to capture some footage. Looks like another short sleeve day in the canyon.

Hope to see everyone on the last Steelhead train of the season.

The Creel Report is just in. Numbers are still looking good. I have not fished on the Imnaha recently but it looks and sounds like they are really hooking up down there. The report is that there are a lot of anglers down at Cow Creek but if you can find some pocket water to drift a nymph through you have a good chance of hooking up. Happy angling.

Click on the link below to take a look at the Creel Report for March 12-14.

SummerSteelheadCreelMarch16th.pdf

Report from the weekend on the Wallow just in.

Saturday was another good day on the Wallowa. We awoke to about 6 inches of snow on the ground in Joseph and were a little concerned about what this low pressure blast would do to the fishing.

Snow was on the ground all the way down to the river. The water was still cold and clear with little of that new moisture making it into the system YET. The folks on the train found that the bite was on right away. They started hooking up first thing in the morning. Around mid morning there seemed to be a little slow down and then it was game on again after lunch. Tom's honey hole provided once again. There were fish being caught out of that spot from both sides of the river. The report was consistent up and down the Wallowa.

We are a little concerned about what this new snow is going to do to the fishing. There is a lot of snow in the lower elevations and with temperatures predicted to be in the 50's this week we could see some major runoff. We can only hope that it will not come off so fast that it muddies the waters. I will keep you posted as the temps rise and the water starts running.

The last Steelhead train is scheduled for next Saturday the 20th.

Tom just called in the report for the fishing train today. The morning was quite cold and after 2 hours of swinging his fly through the Honey hole he saw no action. Tom then took a break to ride back upriver on the train to coordinate other anglers. He got back to the honey hole at about 1pm and decided to put a nymph on. He tied on a truck and trailer rig with his heaviest Stone fly nymph tied above a Prince Nymph. This is when the fishing turned on. Tom proceeded to catch 12 Steelhead in 1 hour on that same rig. He heard similar reports up and down the river. After the sun got on the water after lunch the fish just turned on and people just started hooking up all over the river. I was concerned that the High winds that we have experienced all day in the valley would have blown them off of the river but this was not the case. The winds were not an issue in the Wallowa River canyon today.

Only 2 more days left on the fishing train, tomorrow and next Saturday. See you down there.

I will post some photos of Tom's fish on Sunday when he has a chance to get up here and share them with me.

The Fishing just keeps getting better and better on the Wallowa Steelhead Fishing Train. I also just got myself on the Creel Report Emailing list. Click on the link below to take a look at the report. The numbers are at levels never seen before Yahoo.

Tom said the conditions continue to remain consistent on the Wallowa. Clear water holding right around 37 degrees. Most fish are still being caught nymphing but Tom has also been trying his hand with the Spay Rod and has been catching his fair share on the Swing. Very exciting for this time of year on the Wallowa. See the beautiful Buck above.



March 9th Creel Report
stscreel2010mar9.pdf

Another successful weekend on the Steelhead Train. Tom caught the beautiful Wild Hen above on Saturday. We hope this one is able to reproduce in great numbers. He caught her on the Prince nymph. He did however get the Spey Rod out for a bit of fun and ended up catching 2 nice Steelhead on a swinging Purple Spey Fly on Friday. This was very encouraging.

On Friday there was a little bit of rain, in the morning which caused the water to go a little off colored but not enough to affect the fishing. Tom could still see his feet in about knee deep water so he was not concerned about the off color conditions. By Friday afternoon the water had cleared back up and the temp had increased to about 39 degrees from 37. That little flush of new water probably got those fish moving around. That may be why Tom was able to bring fish to the swinging fly in such cold water.

Sunday brought some very warm air temps up in the Valley and a river of water was running down my driveway. I suspect this water is making it into the Wallowa today and coloring it up a bit. We are expecting more warm days this week so this should bring some of that warmer fresh smelling water down to the noses of the Steelhead. I would expect the fish to be on the move this week.

The door to the Hatchery should be opened for business today, so we will begin getting reports from the hatchery on numbers of fish they are seeing along with the weekly creel report. Stay Tuned, and please comment to let me know what You are seeing out there.