THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 



WALLOWA LAKE 



Wallowa lake was until recently the spawning ground of a 

 great number of Nerka or blue-back salmon. These fish are 

 redder fleshed than any other salmon and have for this quality 

 given the popular name of " Alaska Bed" to the principal pack 

 of Alaskan waters, which is mainly of this species. 



The Redfish lakes at the head of the Salmon river, Idaho, are 

 so named from the migration of the Nerka salmon thither from 

 the ocean — a distance of nearly a thousand miles — to spawn. 

 Payette and other lakes high in the mountains like Wallowa lake, 

 are also noted for the visits of the "redfish." 



In Wallowa lake there are small landlocked salmon under 

 a pound in weight at maturity, and these appear to be Nerka 

 which have become changed in habit and make their home per- 

 manently in the lake, ascending the tributary streams in great 

 schools at spawning time. They refuse any kind of bait or fly 

 at this time and are only caught by "snagging" them with hooks 

 dropped among the schools. 



Several lakes and some rivers in Maine and Canada are in- 

 habited by landlocked descendents of the Atlantic salmon, the 

 famous "ouananiche" being one of the variety. 



From the great mountains comes Eagle creek, falling into 

 Snake river. This is well worth a visit, but too remote for space 

 here and almost entirely unknown to anglers, except the local 

 residents. Pine creek, in the same great Wallowa range, falling 

 eastward, and Imnaha, in the northeast corner of Oregon, a large 

 river draining the northern slope of the Wallowa range, are 

 streams which will remain remote and little known for years 

 to come. 



THE GRANDE RONDE RIVER 



The Grande Ronde, which is the largest river of northeastern 

 Oregon, draining a valley nearly two hundred miles in length, 

 and receiving Wallowa, Minam and Catherine rivers, is itself a 

 splendid trout stream, too, and in its course, deep among the 

 great mountains southeast of La Grande, yields magnificent fish- 

 ing. There has been very good trout fishing in the Grande Ronde 



Pagre seventeen 



