-Photo by Ken Safranek
The Grande Ronde is a beautiful little river flowing from Oregon through the Blue Mountains to its confluence at the Snake River. There are three commercial areas at the Grand Ronde: Troy, Oregon; Boggans Oasis; and Heller Bar where it meets the Snake River. Primarily it is known for its Summer and Winter Steelhead but the Ronde also holds a surprising amount of Rainbows of 14 to 15 inches. The river also holds a fair amount of Bass.
The Summer Steelhead start to arrive in early September and lasts to the end of November. The Winter Steelhead start to arrive in the end of December and the river fishes good all the way to the closing date in April. It is a great all around river to fish.
Mar. 10, 2001
Thanks to: Geffrey Thompson
Floated from Bogan's to Shoemaker with a friend and didn't catch a fish. My buddy had one on for just one swirl. Got checked by fish and game late in the afternoon and they had only logged 2 fish landed by all fisherman checked from Bogan's to Shoemaker. Water was up and the visability was maybe 6 inches
Mar. 3-4, 2001
Thanks to: Eric Davis
My friend and I went back down to the Rhonde and did fairly well, but I have never seen so many people crowded into one little place. We stayed for the weekend and caught 3 hatchery fish from 6-9 pounds and we lost 3 or 4. There are alot of suckers in the river that are being snagged by drift gear, bait, and bobber/jig combos seem to all be working. I may go down one more time, but if there are a lot of people its hard to get to the good holes without being shoulder to shoulder, the fish are nice though.
Feb. 19, 2001
Thanks to: Eric Davis
The Rhonde was low and fairly clear, the fishing was good about a fish an hour on yarn and corkies. I lost a few and caught a few, one being a native that was released. I brought home an 8 pound hatchery fish for dinner. There were several people down there for a Monday but there is a lot of fishing room anyway. I will be going down there again in a week or so, it's worth the drive from Spokane.
Oct. 29, 2000
Thanks to: Tj Barclay
Lots of fish between the Oasis and the mouth. 3 hours between fish is average. The fly water is crowded don't hesitate to try upstream runs.
Nov. 11, 1999
Thanks to: Mike Alfred
The water tempature has dropped to about 46 degrees and the fish are starting to show.
I spent the day fishing the mouth of the Rhonde and was able to land my first steelhead of the season. It is still very slow but they are starting to arrive. What was interesting was that all of the fish that I saw caught were native fish. That is Great News!!! About mid month should be very good fishing if we get some cold weather and rain!
Oct. 30-31, 1999
Thanks to: Mike Alfred
Being a collage student at Washington State University I can't help but ditch class to go fish the Grande Rhonde. This last weekend we spent the weekend down on the Rhonde with little success. The only fish we saw caught was at the mouth of the river (more in the Snake). The Temp was around 48-50 degrees and the visibility was about two to three feet on Sunday. I don't think that are many fish in the river yet we need some rain and a cold snap to move them. Or maybe they are there and I just could not raise any. What ever the case it was a beautiful weekend and it was great to be on the river.
Apr. 5 1999
Thanks to: chris tolman
My dad and I went fishing on the Grande Ronde. We got to the river at about 7:00 am. The river was looking good in color for this time of the year and it was fairly high. We were the first people there. We fished at Cottonwood Hatchery. I talked to a few people the day before and they said that the fishing was slow but, there were fish being caught. I fished with a red corky and green yarn and eggs. After about an hour or so I thought that I had a snag so I pulled up and the snag pulled back. I fought the steelhead for a couple of minutes. When I got it in it was a 8 lbs Hatchery Hen. At around 10:00 am some guys joined us and the only other fish caught was a sucker. I had alot of fun. My dad is a good guy for taking me. Good fishing.
Feb. 4, 1999
Thanks to: Rich Eagon
My brother, Paul and I left at 4:00 am this morning, arriving at about 7:30am at Bogan's Oasis on the GR River. We had been watching the river flow over the net and it was reading low. It was low and green. In previous years we had been success in catching some early fish returning to Cottonwood Creek hactchery, but that was not the case this year. The sunny day even lended itself to an hour nap alone the bank. We hooked three steelhead and got one to shore-a hen about six pounds-she came home with us. I would say the fish are a little late this year, and it will be a few weeks before we return.
