Erin Mooso fishes with her young son Preston at McHaley Pond in Prairie City.

For those on the lookout for trophy trout, there are plenty of spots to drop a line in Grant County.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife had their most recent fish stocking at Olive Lake.

John Day District Fish Biologist Brent Smith said repair work delayed their stocking schedule there, and on July 5 there were 1,000 legal rainbow trout and 700 trophies planted there. Legal-sized fish are 8 inches and trophies are 15 inches or more.

Some of the other lakes, ponds and reservoirs stocked in the county include:

• Magone Lake: 5,000 fingerlings, 1,000 legal, 1,300 trophy

• Holliday Park Pond: 2,000 legal, 100 trophy

• Seventh Street Pond: 1,000 legal, 100 trophy

• Long Creek Ponds: 1,000 legal, 100 trophy

• McHaley Pond: 2,000 legal, 50 trophies planted by the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs

• Trout Farm Pond: 3,000 legal, 300 trophy

• Cavendar Pond: 100 trophy

• Aldrich Ponds: 750 legal, 20 trophy

Smith said some places, such as McHaley Pond, may be weeded over with aquatic vegetation.

He noted that Aldrich Ponds, while off the beaten path, has improved fishing opportunities.

“We’ve been working on restoration to deepen it and added habitat to help fish carry over in the summer,” he said. “We’ve had some good angler success.”

He added they’re trying to acquire grant funding for restoration projects at other ponds.

Stocking in areas will happen again in the fall.

Smith said fishing for smallmouth bass on the John Day River is good, and there is public access between Kimberly and Service Creek, and other areas as well, with spots to float the river.

Phillips Reservoir, near Grant County, had a whopping 4,000 trophies planted, 2,000 in May and 2,000 in June, as part of an ODFW Fish Restoration and Enhancement Program to boost rural economies.

Mixed in with the 4,000 big ones are 400 with brightly colored tags.

ODFW is asking anglers who catch a tagged fish to report it, and as an incentive, a $50 gift card is being offered for 40 of the tagged fish.

The tag program, ODFW says, will add excitement about fishing opportunities and help biologists estimate catch rates and performance of the fishery.

“The larger the fish are grown in the hatchery, the greater the cost per fish,” said Tim Bailey, ODFW district fish biologist in La Grande, “We want to make sure that the majority of the trophy trout that are released into the reservoir actually end up in the creel of our anglers.”

Anglers who catch a tagged fish at Phillips can report their tagged catch, harvested or released, by cutting the tag off at the base and reporting non-reward tags in person, by mail, by phone or to the ODFW website at http://www.dfw.state.or.us/news/2016/04_april/042516.asp.

Reward tags need to be returned in person or by mail to ODFW’s East Region Office, located at 107 20th St., La Grande, OR 97850.

For more information about fishing opportunities in Grant County, call ODFW at 541-575-1167.