Summer Steelhead Creel Surveys on the Grande Ronde, Wallowa, and Imnaha Rivers for the 2010-11 Run Year

Identification Information

Citation

Originator: Flesher, M. W., S. M. Warren, R. W. Carmichael, L. R. Clarke

Publish Date: 2013

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 river 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 (USACOE 1996), and low steelhead redd counts on index streams in the Grande Ronde and Imnaha river 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 the Snake River above Lower Granite Dam (Rkm 173), the uppermost of these four dams. 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 river basins (Carmichael 1989). Approximately 1.68 million steelhead smolts were targeted for release in Oregon each year during April and May in the Grande Ronde and Imnaha river basins between 1984 and 1999. In 2000, we reduced releases to approximately 1.2 million smolts in response to the National Marine Fisheries Service’s recommendation to help reduce straying of Wallowa Hatchery stock steelhead, primarily into the Deschutes River (mid-Columbia tributary). In 2007, we further reduced smolt releases to approximately 1.065 million, partly due to an increased release size from five to four fish per pound (fpp) for Wallowa stock, which is expected to increase smolt-to-adult survival, and due to a reduction of Imnaha stock Big Sheep direct stream releases. In 2009, smolt releases were reduced again to approximately 1.015 million, due to reductions in releases of Imnaha stock into Big Sheep Creek. Released smolts 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 river basins, the goal being to provide annual harvest information needed to assess LSRCP 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 2010 and the spring of 2011 in the Grande Ronde and Imnaha river basins. In addition, this report contains estimates of total effort, catch, and harvest for all the spring fisheries in the Grande Ronde river basin, information that was not available for inclusion in the 2009-10 annual report. The Grande Ronde and Imnaha river basins encompass the major steelhead fisheries that occur in Oregon tributaries to the Snake River upstream of Lower Granite Dam. As in recent years, the 2010-11 steelhead angling season in the Grande Ronde and Imnaha river basins was open from 1 September 2010 to 15 April 2011.

Time Period of Content: 2010-2011

Geographic Extent: Imnaha and Grande Ronde River basins

Status: Final

Use Constraints:

Format: pdf

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Is a physical copy maintained for reference at Headquarters? Unknown