This article was published on: 10/23/13 12:00 AM
By Andy Walgamott
Oregon fishery managers and dam operators are blaming a combination of this year’s drought and good water years before it, low water in an upstream reservoir and possible fish migration out of it, and requirements to hold back water for irrigation for last week’s big fishkill on the upper Deschutes River.
But the dieoff in a side channel near Lava Island has sparked talk that the Central Oregon gem of a waterway might also be managed with its angler-drawing fish more in mind.
“I want it to be that everybody that uses the water, from recreationists to fishermen to the irrigators, all have a fair stake in this game,” local fly fishing shop owner Jeff Perin told KTVZ.