Oregon Trip

[Jgoding]

Went up to Crater lake for a few days and ended up at La Pine Recreation area Monday and Tuesday. Didn't fish at all in the Crater Lake area but we did camp at Diamond Springs Res. but didn't fish it either.

The Deschutes looked good but was a little murky. Apparently it's still recovering from a 2002 spill of fire retardent that occurred in the Fall river. It's also an interesting river as it has moderate flows and steep banks, but plenty of downed trees to fish. The first day I got about 15 fish to hand, 4 of the native red bands and the rest were all browns but the biggest fish was only about 9". I managed about 12 fish yesterday fishing the morning and going back out in the afternoon as it was overcast. Landed one nice brown about 14". I will say this, small fish, but some of the most beautiful fish I've seen. Some of the smaller fish I almost thought were brookies as they had orange and white fins as well but since I still haven't replaced my camera no pics so I guess I'll have to make it back up there one day.

[fj40]

I to was up in the area last week. Fished my arse off for a week. All the likely spots. Crooked, Upper Deschutes, Fall River and some of the lakes. Fishing the UD we were into plenty of small brookies and rainbows. Definately sounds like brookies you were hooking. What part of Deschutes were you on. I was having a lot of luck enticing the bigger brookies to come up for a skated dry but I could not keep them buttoned. I geuss the way they grab the fly being skated they are not able to push the fly into their mouth diving back down into the water and I end up pulling the fly right out of their mouth. Crooked is coming back nicely with lots of fish in the system. On the smaller side but lots of numbers. Hooked the better ones on wollybuggers. Good to see after the release that put a hurt on it a couple of years ago. Thanks for your report. Dave

[Jgoding]

Dave,

We were at the La Pine Rec. area, which is a ways below the Wickiup dam/Resevoir. It was known for the native red-bands and browns before the spill and seems to be recovering nicely. They were definitely browns except one fish I had to look at twice because it had colored fins like a brookie but like I said, it was a young fish with par marks etc... as well and was definitely a brown. They were probably the prettiest browns I've seen and the few red bands I caught were beauties as well.

I too was skating a caddis and it was tough to keep fish hooked or even connect at times but the fish were taking very aggressively. I had one of the best takes ever on a dry as I was fishing a downed tree and as the fly passed the end of the cover I saw a fish pop out below the cover looking up for a second then dart up and grab the fly and turn down all in about 1/2 second. I hooked it briefly but lost it but it gave me that feeling of seeing something amazing.

[Kurt P]

Thanks for the report guys. Our family is going camping tomorrow, heading up to Crater Lake, then across to the coast and back down to Sacramento. I have young kids and was wondering if you could recommend a few likely spots for us to try. My oldest and I will probably fly fish, but I am looking more for a couple of spots my young ones can get a few trout with spinners, maybe even bait (stocked fish, as the 6-year old doesn't often lip them and we enjoy eating a few trout over the campfire). Any recommendations about particularly nice campgrounds, regardless of fishing proximity would be appreciated, too.
thanks,
Kurt

[El Rey]

Try Diamond Lake. It's nearby. Probably need a boat, but they rent them at the north end of the lake (I hope they still do, it's been a few years). Nice campgrounds on the east edge of the lake, right on the water. It's probably pretty crowded, but worth checking out.

I caught my largest trout there when I was a kid. Trolled a Flatfish behind something called a Ford Fender. My kid brother caught an even bigger one. Flyfishers were catching them on the surface--I wanted to do that, too. That looked like more fun. I eventually found out that it was more fun.

[Kurt P]

Thanks El Ray, I'll check out Diamond Lake.

[Jgoding]

Yeah, Diamond lake might be worth it but a boat is probably needed as it's shallow especially around the edges. Mosquitoes were bad there though as we camped there a few days. The Mazama campground seemed really nice at crater lake as well and there's some streams to fish in the area.

[Bill Markwood]

What about the Rogue River above Lost Creek Reservoir? It flows right next to Hwy 62 and is loaded with brookies (no limit on the brookies). You could take 62 to Medford then over to the coast or back to Sacramento.

[fj40]

Dont know if your going as far north as LaPine but if you are East and
Paulina lakes have great campgrounds, amazing scenery and pretty good fishing. High elevation with afternoon thunderstorms you can count on. You might not want to leave there though! We had some young ones with us as well and were looking for the same and there is not alot out that way for kids type bank fishing. The flyfishing up that way involved lots of downed timber and tight catsing. I am learning to try to avoid the usual trip to the ER with my family vacation so had to promise the kids I would take them up to my HWY 108 spots upon return from Oregon! Have fun!! Dave

[kyburz]

East Lake can be awesome, but you need a boat or float tube. Rainbows, Browns,Brookies, and small landlocked salmon.