The end of May and first part of June have been a bit of a whirlwind. The weather turns nice this time of year, and there are a lot more options of places to see and things to do. The last few weeks we’ve had the opportunity to enjoy a variety of nice water, including a trip to a reservoir, a wild and scenic river and a couple nice high mountain lakes.
The Reservoir
We tried to go to Prineville Reservoir last year when we heard of epic crappie catches. Then the water dropped too low and we just didn’t make it in time. This year we hit it at full pool and the crappie bite was still on. They were delicious.
Stormy on Prineville ReservoirCamp on the Crooked River below Prineville ReservoirBucket of Crappie (one of three)(more…)
November typically signals the end to river floating season. In the past, seeing November roll around was a bit depressing. No more floating, fishing is pretty much over and the days are really short on daylight. It seems nowadays there’s no shortage of things to get done in November, so it’s not all that depressing, but it still marks the end of river floating season. And wow, was 2017 a season for floats.
I feel very lucky to be able to live in a place that I can float 7 rivers in a year (some multiple times) all within a one day drive of the doorstep. So these are my thoughts reflecting back on a year of being lucky enough to float over 360 miles on 7 rivers in Oregon in 2017.
Deschutes
James Bond Isle
How amazing is it to have the Deschutes as your backyard river? 1.5 hours to the put in, abundant permits, amazing trout fishing with bonus steelhead in the fall, and great camping and even hiking if you make the time for it. Trips to the Deschutes are kind of the bookend to the floating season. It is typically one of, if not the first trips of the season and is also commonly the last trip. It seems like it is always a good time to float the Deschutes with a wide season of good weather, predictable flows and great fishing, I don’t know what else to ask of a river. Fishing seems like it is on the decline, but I don’t ever see a year in the future without the Deschutes.
