Wet weather can't dampen Oregon fishing trip's success
Friday, May 21, 2004 7:55 AM PDT
By Chuck Downer
Printable version
E-mail this articleI think I'll title this particular excerpt of Facts "Chuck and Tom Go Fishing," or maybe "Travels with Murphy."
As I wrote in an earlier column, a nonresident fishing license in Oregon increased in price $15 over what it was last year. Tom Bunn and I just spent eight of the past 10 days trying to get our 63 dollars worth.
Tom has spent a lot of time on Lake Owyhee, in eastern Oregon, over the past 20 years. He first discovered just how good the crappie and bass fishing was when he and a couple of buddies drove over to hunt chukars. This was my fourth trip.
Owyhee Lake is an impoundment of the Owyhee River, located east of the small farming town of Nyssa, Oregon, which is south of Ontario, near the Oregon-Idaho border. The reservoir is approximately 53 miles long. Largemouth and smallmouth bass, crappie, channel catfish, blue catfish and trout swim in its waters.
The air temperature was near 80 degrees when we arrived at the boat ramp in the early afternoon. It was nearly dark when we returned to the ramp that evening. It was obvious by that time that the fish were going, big-time. We put several nice bass, of both species, and some big crappie in the boat that day.
Bright and early the next morning, Murphy paid us a visit. We were approximately 20 miles up the reservoir, when we noticed that black clouds were beginning to pile up above the canyon. An occasional rumble of thunder could be heard, way off somewhere in the distance.
The wind picked up, and soon it began to rain. I don't know if monsoon can be used as a verb, but believe me, it monsooned. And then the rain turned to hail. In just a few minutes, the deck of the bass boat looked liked it had been snowed on. Fortunately, the electrical part of the storm abated as the deluge increased.
We spent the rest of the week catching up, as far as the weather was concerned. By the end of the week, the air temperature was back in the high-60s to low-70s.
The vagaries of the weather didn't seem to effect the fishing at all. The upper section of the reservoir was the warmest, and the bass had already spawned. In the middle section, some bass had already spawned, but many were still building spawning beds. Near the darn, the water was the coldest, and while there were a few fish intent on spawning, many were still in the pre-spawn mode.
In a little over five days, Tom and I caught approximately 200 bass, both largemouth and smallmouth, most of which would run 2-3 1/2 pounds. We caught numerous crappie, but the bigger ones were scattered, and hard to find this year. We did keep and eat approximately 20 crappie that would average 10 inches or better.
McCormack State Park is located a little upstream of the dam and has all the amenities -- rest-rooms, showers, electrical hook-ups and water, all for $16 a night
Indian Creek Campground, which is a little farther uplake along the twisting, one-lane road, has places to dry-camp (meaning no showers or electricity) for $8 per night. Indian Creek has the best boat ramp.
After Memorial Day weekend, Indian Creek is slated to close, so it can be converted to full-hookups, like the state park. If you don't mind things a little primitive, this is a great place to go fishing.
Unless you can tolerate the heat well, plan your trip for the spring or the fall. After June 1, daytime temperatures in that region routinely hit the high-90s to well over 100.
Two nights of sleeping in my own bed, and it was off again, this time to Green Peter Reservoir, located near Sweet Home, Oregon. Green Peter Reservoir is an impoundment of the Santiam River, and is home to bluegill, largemouth bass, kokanee and trout, and surprisingly, smallmouth too.
You remember that severe electrical storm that came through last Monday evening? Guess where Tom and I were when it hit?
We hadn't been on the lake a half hour when the thunder began to roll and the lightning flashed. The storm just seemed to hover over the lake. For two hours we were treated (?) to one of the most violent fireworks displays I've ever seen.
We ran into a shallow cove, and tied the boat off to some rocks on the bank. We abandoned ship immediately because there were at least eight graphite lightning rods (fishing rods) lying on the boat decks.
We sat under a brushy overhang for two hours while the thunder boomed and the lightning whited the sky. The ever-constant rain fell to the earth in buckets.
Now, Tom and I have lived and fished in this area all of our lives. Even if the temperature is 90 and the sun's beating down, we always carry rain gear. This time was no exception. But, since this was just to be an overnight trip, we didn't bring much in the way of extra clothing. Boy was that a mistake!
The rain began as the storm moved through, and it finally quit as we were leaving the next afternoon. We managed to towel off that night before climbing into our sleeping bags. We crawled into wet gear the next morning. But we fished.
We caught largemouth, smallmouth, and rainbow trout, but the fishing was slow. It appeared that the storm had a major effect on the fish this time around. We're going back again.
There's a primitive county campground at Whitcomb Creek, with water and toilet facilities, for $11 a night, but that's it. The campsites are big, with room to pull a boat in, and each site has a picnic table and a fire pit.
Boat ramps are located at Whitcomb Creek, and at Thistle Creek. Launching a large boat, such as a bass boat, can be tricky during low water times, like right now.
Is the fishing worth the three-hour trip? Time will tell.
I'm just back from my travels and still on vacation. Hopefully, I'll be up to date on local goings-on next week.
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