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The Crooked River is hot fishing, with amazing days on Perdigons, Zebra Midges, Winkers, Frenchies, Scuds and damn good afternoon hatches of PMD’s #16 and #18 and more and more BWO’s #18-20 in the hatch cycle too.
I had asked the regional ODFW Fish Biologist Jerry George how the June Fish Sampling went after the agency electroshocked the river. Here is his (positive response):
Hi Jeff,
The following number are preliminary and subject to change once we have all of the data entered and quality checked.
Preliminary Crooked River fish populations estimates from sampling June 25-28th. Redband Trout estimates (8 inches and up) were up approximately 25% from 2023 at just over 2,000/mile while Mountain Whitefish declined by 65% to around 1,300 fish/mile. This is consistent with the significant drop in whitefish abundance observed following the two-month period of 10 cfs minimum flow release in the fall of 2022 during which whitefish were most affected. For reference a table of past estimates is below.
We also saw evidence of really strong age class of fish in the 9–11-inch range which cold be a good sign for the future if flow, temperature, winter icing, and total dissolved gas effects can be minimized.
Jerry
Interesting to see the wild population fluctuations from both the trout and the whitefish. Both are incredibly important to the river.
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That doggone Little Lava Fire has moved enough that additional closures are required to keep the public safe. At this time......