Howard Prairie is ready to roll

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Howard Prairie Resort owner Joel LeGrande walks along the docks in front of the resort Friday.Jamie Lusch

April 16, 2009

By Mark Freeman

Mail Tribune
776-4470
mfreeman@mailtribune.com

Joel and Holly LeGrande are starting their sophomore season at the helm of Howard Prairie Resort in distinctly different environs than last year, and Southern Oregon's anglers are much better for it.

Leading up to 2008's Opening Day of the trout-fishing season, the lake was mired in thick ice and no one knew whether an experimental fall fingerling stocking would create enough catchable fish to make the lake worth the $4 per gallon of gas to get there.

Joel LeGrande spent the week running a makeshift ice breaker across the lake to hasten the melting process, and skeptical anglers stayed away.

"That," LeGrande says, "was a tough experience."

What a difference a year makes.

The lake has been ice-free for more than a month, gas is half what it was last spring and early signs are that the fall trout-planting experiment is succeeding in boosting trout catches here.

There will even be new redwood table tops — honed by LeGrande's own hands — adorning the patio dining area at the resort.

Finally, the angling world is getting closer to normalcy atop the Dead Indian Plateau.

"It's been a tough road, but we really like where things are going," Joel LeGrande says. "The lake's looking good and we're adding to the look of the place, the feelings and the memories.

"This place is a memory-maker," he says.

New memories begin April 25 when Howard Prairie highlights the list of Jackson County waters that open to fishing.

Both Howard Prairie and nearby Hyatt Lake open to fishing after being closed since Halloween, but Hyatt is mired in ice to start the season. Also opening is the Jenny Creek system east of Ashland and the Ashland Creek forks upstream of Reeder Dam near Ashland.

Diamond Lake also appears poised to open April 25, but for the second straight year anglers will have to use ice augers to cut through the frozen surface to reach their quarry.

The story of the year for Rogue Valley trout fishers is the ongoing metamorphosis of Howard Prairie, which is yet another victim of illegal fish-stocking.

Illegally introduced smallmouth bass have exploded in this widely popular trout-fishing lake, altering the fishery as well as the fish.

Each May, the lake historically received 350,000 fingerling that feasted on the lake's bountiful insect population, usually reaching the 8-inch "keeper" size by late summer.

But the smallmouth turned those fingerling into forage, and the trout population crashed.

An experiment began in 2007 to see whether releasing slightly larger juvenile trout in the fall would boost the lake's trout productivity. About 100,000 6-inch trout with clipped adipose fins were released that fall with the hope they would be too big to be preyed on by bass in the cool fall and winter water.

Creel sampling done last spring by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife proved that to be true.

In 16 days, ODFW crews sampled more than 500 anglers who caught 656 trout, of which 436 were from the experimental release. Another 206 trout were legal-sized fish planted last spring and just 14 trout were from the fingerling release.

"I think the results are encouraging," says Dan VanDyke, the ODFW's Rogue District fish biologist and architect of the study. "We've noticed the trout fishing up from its low point in '06 and '07."

"We only have one year of data, but that one year is pretty conclusive," he says. "The fall fingerling really contribute to the fishery."

Another 100,000 of those fin-clipped fish were released last fall, so the lake should be loaded with a combination of 12-inch trout and bigger holdovers to create the multi-tiered fishery of yore.

Through grants from the agency's Restoration and Enhancement Program, VanDyke plans to do creel surveys throughout the summer in hopes of mounding enough evidence to make a case for permanent fall releases.

"We want to maintain the numbers in the trout fishery while still using the productive capacity of the lake," VanDyke says.

But keeping those fish an extra five months in hatchery ponds takes extra money and space, VanDyke warns.

"That's why those creel surveys are going to be so important," he says.

The LeGrandes remain optimistic. They know the trout are there this year, and with gas prices hovering a bit above $2 per gallon, many vacationers will look closer to home for their summer recreation.

"I hope the locals stay local and come to us," LeGrande says.

Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail mfreeman@mailtribune.com.

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