Summer Steelhead Creel Surveys on the Grande Ronde, Wallowa, and Imnaha Rivers for the 1999-2000 Run Year

Identification Information

Citation

Originator: Flesher, M. W., R. W. Carmichael, J. R. Ruzycki

Publish Date: 2002

Online Link: https://www.fws.gov/lsnakecomplan/Reports/ODFWreports.html

BPA Project #:

Contact Information

Agency: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife

Name: Mike Flesher

Job Position: Assistant Project Leader

Telephone: 541-962-3764

E-Mail Address: Mike.Flesher@odfw.oregon.gov

Description

Abstract: Summer steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) fisheries in the Grande Ronde and Imnaha basins were closed in 1974. This closure was prompted by declining adult returns, as indicated by adult counts at Ice Harbor Dam on the Snake River (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 1996) and low steelhead redd counts on index streams in the Grande Ronde and Imnaha basins (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife District Annual Reports 1949-1974). The Lower Snake River Compensation Plan (LSRCP), initiated by Congress in 1976, was developed to compensate for losses of anadromous salmonids in the Snake River basin from construction of the four lower Snake River Dams built between 1962 and 1976. Thus, the focus of the LSRCP is above Lower Granite Dam (Rkm 173), the uppermost of the four lowest dams on the Snake River. One of the primary objectives of the LSRCP in Oregon is to restore historic recreational and tribal fisheries for summer steelhead in the Grande Ronde and Imnaha basins (Carmichael 1989). Approximately 1.68 million steelhead smolts have been released in Oregon each year during April and May in the Grande Ronde and Imnaha basins until 2000, when we reduced releases to approximately 1.2 million smolts. This reduction was implemented due to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries’ recommendation to help reduce straying of Wallowa hatchery stock steelhead, primarily into the Deschutes River (mid-Columbia tributary). These fish provide hatchery adult returns that contribute to recreational fisheries and may supplement natural spawning populations in northeast Oregon. Consumptive recreational fisheries for summer steelhead re-opened in 1986, in part as a result of increases in hatchery adult returns. Lower Snake River Compensation Plan (LSRCP) ODFW- Eastern Oregon Fish Research (EOFR)

Purpose: We began creel surveys for summer steelhead during the fall of 1985 in both the Grande Ronde and Imnaha basins. The goal of these surveys is to provide annual harvest information needed to assess LSRCP compensation goals (Carmichael and Wagner 1983). In general, the number of summer steelhead in the recreational fishery has been restored to historic values, but the fishery is concentrated at different times and places (Flesher et al. 1994). This report summarizes results of creel surveys conducted during the fall of 1999 and the spring of 2000 in the Grande Ronde and Imnaha basins. The Grande Ronde and Imnaha basins encompass the major steelhead fisheries in Oregon streams that drain into the Snake River upstream of Lower Granite Dam.

Time Period of Content: 1999-2000

Geographic Extent: Imnaha and Grande Ronde River basins

Status: Final

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Format: pdf

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Is a physical copy maintained for reference at Headquarters? Unknown