Fall Steelhead Fishing Wrap Up

Fall steelhead fishing for summer run steelhead on the Grande Ronde has pretty much wrapped up. Are the fish still there? Absolutely. Traditionally, there are more fish here this time of year than in the warmer fall months. But, it is down right cold with water air temps in the teens and water temps dipping into the mid 30’s. Soon, we’ll see the ice. And looking back, it was a surprising fall. The counts were down, no doubt. We expected that from what we heard from our local biologists. The results were as expected. However, there were still a lot of fish landed and lots of those fish came by way of fly.

Larger two salt Steelhead were expected to return at a greater rate than the one salt fish. This, again, was exactly right. Most of the fish we put our hands on were large and in charge. A great reward for the dedicated angler, regardless of return projections.

As we transition into the winter months, we’ll look forward to more and more steelhead arriving on both the Grande Ronde River and the Wallowa River. Steelhead have already been caught on the Wallowa, which typically does not see too many fish until after the new year. And then of course, we see the abundant return from February to April on the Wallowa.

Right now, temperatures are colder and anglers are sparse. For the dedicated angler, this can mean low pressure fish that may not have seen a presentation in quite some time. Good news for you.

Check back with us for further updates as the winter moves along.

Submitted by Paul Pagano of  Fly Side Angling

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