PENDLETON — Although warm weather has made ice-fishing unsafe in Northeast Oregon, there are angling opportunities in the region.

And the fishing will improve when the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife starts its spring rainbow trout stocking schedule in mid-March.

Steelhead fishing has started to slow in the Grande Ronde River as fish move upriver into the Wallowa River, but anglers are still catching fish.

Trout and whitefish are available year-round in the Grande Ronde, and detections of tagged fish indicate there are plentiful whitefish in the river near Elgin, according to ODFW reports.

Steelhead fishing has been quite good on the Wallowa River, with fish distributed throughout the river. Anglers can find good access from Minam State Park upstream, and there is good fishing downstream for those willing to hike.

Elsewhere in Wallowa County, Marr Pond has been ice-free, and ODFW recently released surplus steelhead into the pond. Anglers don’t need a combined angling tag or Columbia Basin endorsement to fish for the steelhead.

Any steelhead that anglers kept count toward the daily trout limit, but do not need to be recorded on a combined angling or hatchery harvest tag.

In Wallowa Lake the best fishing for trout is near the south end, while kokanee and lake trout are more dispersed.

In Hells Canyon, excess steelhead from Oxbow Hatchery were released last fall in Hells Canyon Reservoir.

Steelhead are considered trout by Oregon rules, and three hatchery trout over 20 inches can be kept daily.

If you have been out fishing and have a recent fishing report you would like to share with ODFW, send the information to odfw.info@odfw.oregon.gov.

Stocking schedule Week of March 18-22

Hat Rock Pond: 1,000 legals

Tatone Pond: 500 legals

McNary Channel Ponds: 4,000 legals

Week of March 25-29

Peach Pond: 1,075 legals

North Powder Pond 1: 900 legals

Haines Pond 1: 900 legals

Week of April 1-5

Thief Valley Reservoir: 10,500 legals

Murray Reservoir: 2,900 legals

Hat Rock Pond: 1,000 legals

Willow Creek Reservoir: 750 trophies

Tatone Pond: 500 legals

McNary Channel Ponds: 4,500 legals