Pull those spinning rods and fly rods out of the closet, tie up leaders, and wind new line on the reels. Here are three great spring fisheries that you need to know before you hit the water.
The warming water raises trout metabolisms and quickens an angler’s pulse as rise rings appear within an easy reach of shore.
CHICKAHOMINY
Chickahominy Reservoir is a trout fishing oasis on a windswept plain 100 miles east of Bend. Driving by on Highway 20, you see two blue fingers, a few campers, and picnic tables. Nothing more. What could draw campers to this windy place?
Rainbows are stocked in Chickahominy as fingerlings and reach ten to eleven inches in length by the following year. Two-year-old fish reach eighteen inches. Three years later, they will weigh between three and four pounds.
A narrow reservoir with many coves and fingers, much of the best fishing can be had from shore. Watch for depressions adjacent to shallow bays. Trout use these spots as staging areas prior to feeding in the shallows. A careful presentation yields a strike.
Early in the season, dragonfly nymph patterns are productive, as are scuds and red and black leech patterns. Concentrate on weed beds, edges, and drop-offs. The reservoir reaches a maximum depth of 28 feet. A slow-sinking fly line provides the best control for fishing below the surface.
Bait fishermen do well in the bays and inlets with nightcrawlers, salmon eggs, or jar bait. Use a sliding sinker to take your bait to the bottom. Leave a little slack in the line so a trout won’t feel resistance.
There is a paved boat launch near the dam. Troll trout spoons, or 1/6-ounce Rooster Tail spinners, in the narrows or explore the shoreline, casting to the shallows and letting the lure flutter over the drop-offs.
KRUMBO
A shallow lake on the west side of the Steens, Krumbo Reservoir, is a great rainbow destination in the desert.
Best bet is to bring a float tube, a canoe, or a car-topper. But there is bank access. Anglers can fish at the dam or walk from the ramp to one of two rocky points that look out over some of the lake’s deeper water. Fish a sliding sinker and 48 inches of leader terminating at a No. 8 single hook with Power Bait or Gulp!
With a boat, launch at the ramp and fish out from the cove to 15 yards from the rocky point on the south. A long weedbed stretches north across the lake. The lake averages ten feet deep. Rainbows stack along the weeds and grow fat on callibaetis and chironomids.
Use a clear intermediate sinking line and troll along the weedbed. Fish a No. 12-14 callibaetis nymph, or better yet, a pair of them. To tempt with chironomids, employ No. 16-18 zebra, black, or red midge larva imitations under an indicator.
Leech patterns are effective. Use black, red, or olive buggers, weighted at the head. Twitch the fly with one-inch pulls.
Krumbo is stocked in late March or early April. Trout that winter over grow to 16 inches in their second year. Every season, the lake produces a number of 20-inch and bigger fish.
Covered tables are provided. A restroom can be found near the dam and at the boat ramp. A handicap-accessible fishing platform is near the boat ramp. The launch is paved with a nice dock. Electric motors are permitted.
Krumbo is open for day-use-only from the opening of trout season through October 31. Access is controlled by an automatic gate that opens a half hour before sunrise and closes a half hour after sunset.
Page Springs campground is a few miles down the road. There is RV camping available in private campgrounds on both sides of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
WILLOW CREEK RESERVOIR
Willow Creek gathers her water from the Blue Mountains and runs it down to the Columbia. An impoundment, built to control periodic flooding of the town of Heppner, Willow Creek Reservoir, is located less than a mile upstream from the town.
The 110-acre lake draws anglers from nearby Hermiston and other towns to do battle with its piscine inhabitants. April and May are the best months for rainbows.
Trout put on weight fast in this food-rich water. Most anglers opt for a bobber and worm or a jar bait to put fish on the stringer, but spinners, trolling, and fly-fishing techniques are productive.
The best trout water is along the rip-rapped south bank and across the lake along the north shore. The water drops off quickly to a maximum depth of 85 feet at the dam.
Good bank fishing access makes this reservoir a safe bet for anglers without a boat. Drive past the boat launch along the south shore and take a gravel road down to a parking lot above a riprap bank. Walk down to the water or fish from the car. A trail along an old roadbed provides plenty of room for fishermen to spread out.
Fly fishermen should troll small spinners or flies such as the No. 8 Woolly Bugger or Spruce. Use minnow imitations like the Zonker to spark the predatory instinct in the bigger rainbows. Change direction, speed, and depth to simulate the escape tactics of a worried minnow.
Willow Creek Campground is located high on the western shore, overlooking the dam and the lake. It has 24 hook-up sites, offering water, electric, and sewer. Maximum length is 40 feet. Covered tables, barbecues, flush toilets, drinking water, showers, and telephones are available.
From I-84, turn right at Exit 147 and follow State Route 74 south to Heppner. Proceed through town and follow the signs uphill to the reservoir.
There won’t be crowds of people, and there probably won't be a line at the boat ramp, but there are trout to fight.
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For a copy of the Fishing Central Oregon book, send $30 to Gary Lewis Outdoors, PO Box 1364, Bend, OR 97709 To contact Gary Lewis, visit www.GaryLewisOutdoors.com
CAPTIONS
Gary Lewis 5 - An ODFW legal teased up out of Willow Creek Lake near the town of Heppner on a spring morning. Photo by Gary Lewis.
Gary Lewis 8 - In early May, trout can still be found feeding opportunistically and may be caught on a variety of techniques. Photo by Gary Lewis.
Gary Lewis 18 - Gary Lewis with a hatchery rainbow caught on jar bait. Photo by Gary Lewis.
Gary Lewis_Isom 23 - A high desert rainbow caught on a fly. Photo courtesy Dave Isom.
