Laurance Lake closed to all fishing until Oct. 16 during reservoir drawdown
by OR Department of Fish & Wildlife Staff
7-26-2021
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THE DALLES, Ore.—Laurance Lake on Mt Hood National Forest is closed to all fishing through Oct. 15 to protect Threatened bull trout.
Laurance Lake is a water storage reservoir that supplies irrigation water for farm use in the upper Hood River Valley. Middle Fork Irrigation District will be draining it to low pool level to conduct dam safety testing and drilling this summer.
The closure is meant to protect bull trout, which are listed as Threatened on the federal Endangered Species Act. Under permanent regulations, Laurance Lake is closed to bull trout angling and all wild trout must be released. But the low water during the drawdown will make bull trout even more vulnerable to being caught and to mortality after release.
The reservoir is filled with water from the headwaters of the Middle Fork Hood River and has a small population of bull trout. These bull trout are isolated above Laurance Lake dam which has no fish passage, but historically migrated to the Columbia River for feeding and overwintering.
For the latest on central Oregon fishing regulations, visit https://myodfw.com/recreation-report/fishing-report/central-zone
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OR Department of Fish & Wildlife Reports
for Wednesday, July 21st, 2021
Upper Klamath Lake: Water temperatures are extreme on the water surface but much colder in deeper water
Miller Lake: Fishing should be excellent as the lake has been heavily stocked
Wood River: Best section is from Fort Klamath to Weed Road
Butterfield Lake: Boat and bank anglers are still catching an occasional trout
Chetco River: Upper Chetco watershed or tributaries has some great cutthroat trout fishing
Coquille River: Striped bass fishing is starting to pick up again in the lower Coquille River
Eel Lake: Boat anglers have been picking up a few trout
Emigrant Reservoir: Emigrant will likely be very close to reaching deadpool by mid-summer
Fish Lake : Irrigation withdrawals are continuing to make Fish Lake drop quickly.
Howard Prairie Reservoir: Emergency Regulations Chang
Rogue River- Lower: Numerous summer steelhead are being caught
Rogue River - Middle: Emergency Drought Regulations:
Rogue River- Upper: Upper Rogue River Report
Sixes River: This is a good time of year to fish the estuary for cutthroat
Kilchis River: Decent numbers of cutthroat trout have been seen and reported
Trask River: Anglers will find cutthroat trout throughout the Trask
Wilson River: Fishing on the Wilson remains slow
Detroit Reservoir: The reservoir has been stocked several times in recent weeks
Green Peter Reservoir: The water level in the reservoir has dropped below the bottom elevation of Whitcomb boat ramp
Leaburg Lake: Will be stocked again this week with 933 legal-size rainbow trout
Quartzville Creek: The river is currently running at around 30 cfs
Santiam River ( North Fork) : “Hoot owl” regulations have been rescinded below Big Cliff dam
Santiam River ( North Fork) Above Detroit Lake: The highway along the upper North Santiam has re-opened
Grande Ronde River: Due to the recent Elbow Creek Fire, access to fishing on the Grande Ronde is closed throughout most of the river downstream