General Info:
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" - 20" trout.
The only problem was some heavy algea growth in August that colored the water. By September fishing remained good despite the algea. 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.
Kinney Lake Fishing Report:
03/23/24: Game on - big time. Last two days (when wind not blowing hard) trout hitting buggers and small (sz 14 & 16 bh nymphs - hares ears, euro nymphs, chironomids, etc). Three different fishers, mid day, could not keep fish off at times. Some nice ones.
12/30/23: FUN, FUN, FUN: 4” ICE - VERY GOOD ICE FISHING FOR NICE TROUT / AND AND ICE SKATING / HOCKY ETC
10/15/23: RECENTLY STOCKED FOR THE UPCOMMING ICE FISHING SEASON. IT IS NOW FISHING GOOD FOR BAIT FISHERS.
7/13/23: STILL FISHING FAIR TO GOOD - BUT WILL BE TOO WARM AT SOME POINT SOON.
7/6/23: Still fishing well, despite the extreme heat. Last evening a fisher reported catching fish on almost every cast - right before dark. He was using a black pat’s rubber leg (girdle bug), but I suspect most small attractor patterns or nymphs would also have worked.
At some point the water will be so warm and the lake loaded with algae that it will be a problem
6/17/23: RAN OUT OF TIME TODAY, so will copy and paste a “general” area report: 6/17/23: BREAKING NEWS - fish are on the bite - all over. guides floating downstream from Minam (wallowa and grande ronde rivers) had two good days of dry fly (salmon fly) action (had pictures of some large , beautiful/bright silver trout) caught on big foam chubby chernobles. the flies were not on the bank bushes, but were caught along the bank in “pockets.”
And the “all over” bite includes good evening dry fly action at Kinney Lake, and even trout hitting purple chernobles and some other large large dries at the south end of Wallowa Lake at the river inlet.
Stay tuned for Wallowa River Salmon fly reports - any day
6/16/23: our best fly fishing at this time. fish from shore or small floatation device. BWO’s plentiful, but fish prefer feeding on the emergers. HOWEVER, ONE OF MY EMPLOYEES reported great dry fly action last night the last hour before sunset - sz 14 or 16 parachute adams. although fishing has been good for nice trout, it is spotty over the course of the day. check for storms/wind
4/18/23: OUR BEST FISHING OPPORTUNITIES AT THIS TIME (AND WHILE THE RIVERS ARE TOO HIGH TO FISH) ARE KINNEY LAKE AND WALLOWA LAKE - BOTH OF WHICH HAVE ALREADY BEEN STOCKED WITH SOME NICE BOWS
9/1/22: Almost dry, but a few people are harvesting trout right where the irrigation canal enters the lake. Probably ok, since those fish will probably die as the water level continues to drop.
8/1/22: NOPE - TOO WARM. FISH DYING
7/22/22: kind of a secret trick: take your float tube near the dam/water inlet, use a full sinking line, and a very short/slow retrieve - for big fish.
7/7/22: fishing great - including some good dry fly action
6/1/22: Fly fishing great - as always in the spring. Buggers with small trailers, soft hackles for the prolific small (size 16) emergers, or 16/18 dries - parachutes, knats, 18 royal wulffs, etc.
Tucker Down Road (to the ski area/Kinney) is FULL OF DEEP, DEEP POT HOLES) When driving out of Joseph consider turning south on Liberty Lane, a few miles outside of Joseph, then turning east on Fort Road which leads directly to Kinney (kinda a funky road in that it more or less passes through a farm yard).
3/28/22: Our best spring fly fishing opportunity. Despite having dried up last summer, it was stocked in the fall and offered good ice fishing this winter. We expect it to have bank areas free of ice in a week or so. Fish will be hungry.
6/30/21: ALERT - STOP EVERYTHING. THE BANKS OF KINNEY LAKE ARE LITTERED WITH DEAD TROUT. DO NOT FISH FOR THE FISH STILL TAKING FLIES ON THE SURFACE OR UNDER THE WATER - THE STRESS COULD KILL THEM. FISH THE SOUTH END OF WALLOWA LAKE INSTEAD - IT IS FISHING WELL WITH BLACK WOOLLY BUGGERS.
6/9/21: Still our best fishing - fair amount of dry fly action.
5/25/21: Our Best spring fishery - and this year is no exception. A very fertile lake, the mayfly hatch has made for great fishing - if the wind is not blowing. Soft Hackles, small mayfly dries, or just plane old black woolly buggers. A beautiful setting/20+acre lake fifteen minutes from Joseph. There is plenty of bank access for everyone. Or use your non motorized kyack, pontoon boat or float tube.
4/15/21: We have reports of good fishing this past week. An elderly couple bait fished near the parking lot and took home 10 fish over 15”. It is not scheduled to be stocked until May 16, but there must be plenty of holdovers from the ice fishing stocking. Will report conditions and hatches when we get reports.
3/11/21: !!!!!!! Rumors have it a new owner is trying to close the road to the lake (somebody took the sign down at the road junction). I understand a prior owner also tried to close the road and was blocked in court. Also, the lake itself is partly controlled by the irrigation district - with whom the ODFW has a fish management agreement. Stay tuned and keep your fingers crossed.
12/28/20: Ice fishing/skating in full swing.
12/8/20: Kinney is iced-over, BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO CHECK THICKNESS TO DETEMINE WHEN YOU WILL BE ABLE TO SAFELY ICE FISH!
10/5/20: FORGET THE MUD!!!! THEY REFILLED THE LAKE AND FISHING IS GREAT! DRIES AFTER 5:30 - OR OVERCAST.
9/28/20: Fishing ok, but you will be standing in a foot or so of mud.
9/20/20: Very low - need report.
9/7/20: Almost dry with mud on the edges. If you want to slog thru the mud you can catch all the fish you want. It will be a shame if all those fish are destined to die -but the limited flow from the irrigation ditch that feeds it must have priority water rights down stream.
9/1/20: Pretty well done for the year. Muddy banks and moss below the top two feet. Still, this weekend, a couple of float tube fishers had very good days retrieving nymphs in the top two feet.
8/2020: The lake is getting very low, but still fishing well. Expect it to moss-up sometime soon.
8/15/20: Wow, still fishing well for August(!) - as is Wallowa Lake.
6/29/20: Still fishing well from the shore or flotation device. Dry fly action early and late. May be constrained by algae in August (?).
06/27/20: Still getting fair to good fly fishing reports.
06/01/20: ALERT. Just got news of some sort of algae “bloom” (orange color ?) forming on the lake. Do not know if it affecting all fishing, of if trolling in the center, or east end, is still productive. NEED REPORT PLEASE.
06/01/20: Newly stocked plus carry-overs has made this a great fishery for the last month. From shore or non-motorized boat or tube, fish streamers with small trailers, chironomids under strike indicators, or small dries to imitate the midge hatch - if trout rising. Note: if only adipose fins break the surface, fish are feeding on emergers - use softhackles or other emerger patterns.
10/30/19: The cold temperatures have finally cleared the algae from the lake and fishing has been very good. Fish are feeding on midges on the surface near the bank, or grab your spey rod and practice casting to big fish further out. You will probably have the lake to yourself.
8/30/19: Very mossy, even for float tubes. Check it in the Spring.
8/16/19: Low, warm and mossy. Need a report from someone trolling the deeper middle portion.
7/29/19: The lake is starting to show a lot of algae, so at some point soon it may become too warm to fish.
7/10/19: Still fishing fair to good from the shore - perhaps bigger fish from floatation devices in the middle. Cloudy days and evenings offer good dry fly action - if the wind is not blowing.
6/24/19: Still fishing great. What a beautiful 25 acre lake 15 minutes from Joseph. Flyfish from the bank, or tube/etc (no motor boats).
06/01/19: Kinney has been fishing great in May - if the wind isn’t blowing. Dry and wet: midges, small mayflies, emergers (soft hackles), woolly buggers stripped with trailers, and prince nymphs under strike indicators.
10/10/18: Guess what? Kinney Lake water levels are up once again and the lake was stocked last week. I don’t think anybody know this.
9/1/18: Large fish kill this summer. ODFW will restock later this fall - for ice fishing season.
7/26/18: We hope the lake avoids fish kills until cooler fall temps.
6/29/18: ALERT. We just had a report that the great fishing this spring has stopped due to heavy algae. I will try to check it out in the next few days.
6/6/18: Some unbelievable fishing this spring - at times. Reports of 100 fish days from small boats, and 50 fish days from the bank - at times. Use streamers with a small trailer, or chironomids under strike indicators 5'-10', or emerger patterns - soft hackles or sz 12 pheasant tails, etc., or a variety of dries - parachute adams, goddard caddis or sz 18 royal wulffs. Dry fly fishing has been good in the leeward side of the lake. However, some of the rises you see will be dorsal fins from fish feeding on emergers. In any event, if fish are feeding actively, have fun and just try some of your favorite patterns.