(Adds quotes from Fisher after his speech)

By Terry Wade and Michael Flaherty

HOUSTON/WASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve should promptly end its easy monetary policy and press ahead with an interest rate hike, followed by a set of gradual moves higher, the head of the Dallas Fed said on Monday in his final speech as a policymaker.

Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, shrugged off stagnate wage growth, calling it a lagging indicator, and said inflation will bounce back once energy prices stabilize.

Fisher, an outspoken former banker and U.S. Treasury official who has repeatedly called for the Fed to move faster with a rate hike, is stepping down this month after 10 years at the U.S. central bank.

"The idea that we can substitute a steeper future funds-rate path for an early liftoff seems risky to me," Fisher said in remarks prepared for delivery at Rice University in Houston. "I would rather the FOMC raise rates early and gradually, than late and steeply."

Despite the views from Fisher and other policy hawks, the Fed has kept rates at near zero since December 2008.

The Fed has signaled that it is prepared to hike rates later this year, with June to September the expected time frame.

Speaking to reporters after the speech, Fisher said his reform ideas for the central bank have captured the interest of Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby.

Shelby, an Alabama Republican, has said Fed reform is a top priority for the Senate banking committee in 2015.

Last month, Fisher proposed several changes to the Fed's structure, including removing the New York Fed's lock on a permanent vote for monetary policy and instead rotating that vote among the other regional banks.

Fisher also said the "problem of regulatory capture" could be fixed by transferring oversight of Wall Street banks to supervisors from one of the other 11 district Fed banks.

On Monday, Fisher made a point to stand up for New York Fed President William Dudley, explaining that Dudley inherited the current structure.

"I want to make clear that I think (Dudley) and the New York Fed do a good job," Fisher told reporters, adding that Dudley is "paying for the sins" of policies put in place before him.

In his remarks, Fisher said that if the economy keeps growing at its current pace, the jobless rate will be around 4.5 percent at year-end, the lowest unemployment level since May 2007.

(Reporting by Terry Wade and Michael Flaherty; Editing by Leslie Adler and Lisa Shumaker)