If anything will sidetrack you from the steelhead fishing -- or give whoever lost the biggest- or most-fish-caught-bet a place to take you out to dinner -- The Shiloh Inn Café is it. Even many non-fisherman drive the distance to Troy just to have a meal in this fine establishment. Rumor has it that the Shilo Inn Café is the headquarters for the chain of motels. I have never tried to verify this personally; sometimes the truth just isn't as interesting as the story. After all, the story is the all-important thing for fishermen, is it not?

Being in Troy puts you at a halfway point: seven miles below the Wildcat Hole and seven miles above Boggan's Oasis, where you will find rooms available and a hot tub where you can rest and let your sore body recuperate from fighting all the steelhead you caught on the way downstream.

Moving on down the river, we find you another hole to cast your line.

Game Commission Hole -- Flies are often the best to use here, but every other type of lure will catch fish if it's your day to catch them. Drift fishermen will have a bit of a difficult time keeping things out of the rocks, but are often successful if they can keep their gear from hanging up on the way through.

Mallory Hole -- This is truly a hole where everyone stands an equal chance of catching a fish. Pick your gear, find a spot and yell, "Fish on!"

Cattle Guard Hole -- This is yet another hole where most gear will catch fish. Like everywhere, the gear used by the guy who's been catching fish since his first cast, is the exact same gear you left home because it never worked for you on previous attempts in this very hole.

Upper State Line Hole -- Located at the Bureau of Land Management boat-launch site, this hole can be productive but may require you to make some long casts to reach the channel on the far side of the river. Be sure to watch for drift-boaters and rafters as they start their movement downriver.

State Line Hole -- Like its near-namesake upriver, this hole requires some long casts that may favor the gear fisherman. Slow water on the road side of the hole takes some work, but fish can and are caught along the full expanse of the run.

These are the best-known holes on the river, but if you don't know the names of the holes or if the spot you pick is not in this article, don't let that stop you from unloading and wetting a line. Fish are in the river, starting at the confluence with the Snake River and moving up to the tributaries and their spawning grounds.

Remember that if you are fishing the part of the river outside your home state, you will need their fishing license as well. There is an oxbow below the state line that loops back into Oregon, so take a map and know where you are to avoid getting a ticket.

Also, before you venture off to fish some of the tributaries of the Grande Ronde River, check the regulations. The Wenaha is open upstream for only six miles and only for catch-and-release. A synopsis is free, and it's a good idea keep one in your rig or tackle box at all times to be safe.

Of the other tributaries of the Grande Ronde, the Wallowa is open to Trout Creek near Enterprise, but private property can cause some access problems in the valley stretches. The canyon reach, from Rondowa where the Wallowa and Grande Ronde meet to the edge of Smith Mountain near the town of Wallowa, has easy access, but also the fishing pressure to match.