Kinney Lake General Information:

A great little (20 acre} 10 miles/15 min from Joseph.  It is much easier to fly fish from the shore, and is more fertile than Wallowa Lake.  Although it is privately owned, the public is allowed to fish from shore or from small water craft (there is no boat launch - you must drag your water craft a short distance to the lake).  THANK YOU TRIPLE CREEK RANCH FOR LETTING US FISH!

ODFW manages the fishery.  In 2015 they poisoned the lake in order to kill the "bullheads" who were competing with the trout.  They then stocked the lake with fast growing "triploid" trout - in order to turn it into a "trophy" trout fishery.  So far so good!  This early spring and summer produced some nice 16" + trout.

The only problem was some heavy algae growth in August that colored the water.  By September fishing remained good despite the algae.  Keep in touch to find out how big the fish are next year.  For the Wallowa Valley this little lake offers a great opportunity to flex your rod while the rivers are too high to fish.  Kinney Lake is open year around.