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The Grande Ronde
The Grande Ronde River is a storied little thing that wanders through some of the most spectacular and last settled country in the west, joining the mighty Snake at the bottom end of Hell's Canyon at Heller's Bar. The steelhead fishing in the Ronde was actually opened up by a friend of mine, Bill Nelson, who also is credited with founding the Federation of Fly Fishing. Ted Trueblood, the fabled fishing editor of Outdoor Life Magazine fished it with Bill, wrote about it in his magazine, and was forever scorned by many former friends for singlehandedly "ruining" the Ronde. Not that they could have kept it a secret forever. The little Ronde fish were so numerous, so accessible in the low, clear river, and so aggressive at chasing skated flies that news of Bill's discovery spread fast, Ted Trueblood notwithstanding. The Ronde should be also known as having more picture perfect steelhead-fly-swinging water per mile than any other river in America. To drive it's canyon around Troy and NOT be able to fish is to die a thousand deaths.
The lower three miles above the mouth is perhaps the most known and famous of all it's waters, and is the take out for rafters who have floated through it's canyon.
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