Crane Prairie Resort & Campground

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

http://www.crane-prairie-resort-guides.com/index.html

They rent small outboard skiffs for $60/day.

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Walt Bennett stayed here in his travel trailer every summer for many years.

Walt was one our best Sacramento fly fishers from the Great Generation.

Was one of the orginal founders of the local fly club, CFFU - California Fly Fishers Unlimited.

He also fished the north coast for many years and is interveiwed in the movie" Rivers of a Lost Coast".

Walt is mostly house bound in south Sacramento now at around 90 years old but is sharp as a tack. Many here know him well. He was a master baker in Sacramento. Walt worked for the Fenwick rod company and for Sage rod company teaching their fly fishing schools and working the sport shows for them.

If you want to call and talk with Walt I am sure he would enjoy it. He has tons of great information about fly fishing.

Walter P Bennett

(916) 447-2638

561 Robertson Way

Sacramento, CA 95818-3601

[Icastnblast]

Big Fish there! I highly suggest a guide or at least some trustworthy local knoledge. When you find them the fishing is excellent.

Plus Bend is wonderful, good people, food, outdoor activities and above all amazing beers. I think that town is up too 8 or 9 breweries now!!!

[jbird]

Everybody just be quiet about Crane! ;-) :-) The fishing is way too good to be talking about it in public. ;-) hint hint nudge nudge, knowhatamean?

[Tracy Chimenti]

Yes, those big redbands have a routine and if you're out of it, it will show!

[Scott V]

hint hint nudge nudge, knowhatamean?

Your wife sir, is she a goer? know what I mean nudge nudge say no more

[FRSam]

That whole serries of lakes offers some fantastic fishing and beautiful scenery. I used to fish them quite a bit years ago...it's really a Stillwater paradise. Hosmer, Davis and Crane Prairie were my favorites. Although not part of the Cascade Lakes Rock Lake is another stillwater I'd put on that list which is just south of Bend.

Pete

[JAWallace]

I'll be making that visit to Klamath, Craine, and Hosmer and maybe East in August along with a morning on the Deschutes. Other than size, the thing about Craine is the fish are HOT. I think Craine and Crowley hold the hottest trout on the west coast. A guide on Craine can be helpful, but the local fly shops will open up after a few flies are purchased. There are two or three channels and that's where they will be this time of year. You absolutely need a boat or a float tube.

[RDS]

A friend and I fished it a couple of years ago about this same time of year with a guide. LocalCenters is correct, our guide used his fishfinder to find the old river/creek channels. He then put out buoys to show us where the channels were located. We threw out between the buoys and the results were great. There are some big fish in there. Our guide said they were triploids which are rainbows that can not reproduce. He said all the energy that would normally be used for reproduction is used for growth and the triploids grow very fast. Bottom line is that when it is warm the fish get as deep as they can in those channels. If you find those spots you should catch some big fish.

[JAWallace]

If it is true that ODFW is planting triploids in Craine, then that marks the end of a top quality fishery. The beauty of Craine has been the naturally spawned or fingerling, even subcatchables that grow to 30" or better. Trips don't reproduce so we might as well call it a put and take resource if that's the case. Shame. Makes sense though with the bass population.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

We were taken there by our old Cortland Rep Joe Patterson in the mid-1970s.

We went for years and it was a little different every summer.

First summer was adult damsels on top from old round float tubes. It was a wild year at Crane Prairie out of Rock Creek camp ground.

Next year we were catch them in a channel out in the lake on chub minnow imitations on sinking lines. That year we all had new TP&L 8 foot fiberglass prams.

Third year we ended up fishing Davis Lake where we motored out to the Odell Channel and got out of the boat and waded, casting down wind with a dry Davis Lake Special on a callebatis hatch.

We always took a day and drove up to Hosmer Lake for the land locked Atlantic Salmon.

That is beautiful country.....

.

[JAWallace]

I'm leaving shortly for the Cascade Lakes trip, and have heard that Big Lava is fishing well. That's usually not one of the top lakes but apparently ODFW has moved some Crainebow brood stock there so I'm going to give Lava a try this time too. A day on Craine could be fishless or could be rewarded with a pig. You definitely have to put in your time there. A boat is better but I'll be with the 'toon this time and probably stick with Quinn Channel.

From what i hear from up there, Hosmer is inundated with kayaks and canoes and can be irritating. It started to get that way a few years ago. It's fun to catch Atlantics but they don't fight and the novelty wears off quick. Fall Brookies are more fun and challenging there.

Fall River and Upper D are also fishing well, and East Lake is probably the best of them all, although my experience there is big numbers, smaller fish, unless you tie into a big Brown which is tough in the summer.

Steelies are coming up the D and should be in Maupin soon. The D only gets a summer run but they run around 5# and provide great sport on a 6 wt. with a floater. The first fish I ever caught on a fly was a Deschutes Steelie on a dry fly and it ruined me.

Klamath Lake is still up in the air. Not sure I can fit it in this time. There are so many good places up there it makes your head spin trying to plan a trip.