| The Central Oregon Flyline
Online Newsletter of the Central Oregon Flyfishers |
Fishing the Crooked River
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Random Casts December Program Meeting Date and Location Tips & Tricks Round Butte Conservation Column Fishing Clinic Sacramento River From Alice Internet Stuff Support Our Local Flyshops Officers and Board Members COF Committees |
Random CastsIt's a whole new year ahead of us and I'm looking forward to it with excitement. Based on the survey we did last year you're going to see some changes in several areas of Club activities and at the meetings. First, with as far ahead as the scheduling must be planned, there will be some changes in the programs. Dick and Jeanene Stentz have stepped in to chair the Program side of the meeting and, with that, there will be more local information. Lots of you wanted more information on local waters, improving techniques and making better choices in flies. We're hoping to cover that, and a whole lot more. One of the specials I'm looking forward to is an evening that will present the history of fly fishing and the changes it has seen. This will be coming from our own local "long term" expert Clyde Keller. We'll also be hearing from Skip Morris and his wife Carol and, with a little luck, reports on various local waters and what's working there. Along with that the Banquet has changed a bit. The survey had mixed feelings, but one in general was that we should have a recognition meeting and do something else for fund raising. Well, that's what is on the schedule. This years Banquet will cost $16 per person and will be aimed at recognizing those that deserve recognition, with a little fund raising. That will be followed in April by and "open to the public" fund raising expo. The "expo", titled "Fishing Central Oregon Expo", will be aimed at all forms of fishing, fishing reports from ODF&W experts, raffles and auctions, a KK information presentation and several other activities. You'll find more on that as the time approaches. Now for the thanks. A special thank you for each of you that made it a great year as President. Yes, it is a time consuming job. Yes, it is involved. Yes you made it easier. For all of you that have renewed, thanks, and I'm looking forward to another great year with lots of help. For those of you wondering what you can do to help, let me know and I promise, I won't overload you. See you at the meetings. Phil @ COF |
January ProgramGail Achterman, the Executive Director of the Deschutes Resources Conservancy, will be discussing water use in the Deschutes Basin and opportunities for restoring instream flows to sustainable levels. In particular, she will talk about the work currently underway to restore the Middle Deschutes River and Squaw Creek."Brad Chalfant, the Executive Director of the Deschutes Basin Land Trust, will be discussing the "Back to Home Waters" Initiative. With the imminent re-licensing of the dams on the Deschutes River, a remarkable opportunity exists to reintroduce and restore anadromous fish to the upper Deschutes Basin. This will require a focused and sustained effort to restore and protect critical spawning and rearing habitat. Working with agricultural landowners and conservation partners, i.e. Deschutes Resource Conservancy among others, the Land Trust intends to pursue the restoration of these critical fish habitats with the goal of bringing these wild fish "Back to Home Waters". |
COF Meeting Date and LocationThe Central Oregon Flyfishers meet on the third Wednesday of the month at The Central Oregon Association of Realtors, 2112 N.E. 4th Street, Bend,Oregon. The Monthly gatherings start at 6:30 PM and the program begins at 7:00PM. Everyone is welcome to attend. Invite a neighbor or friend to join us at the next meeting. |
January Tips & TricksWith a little luck, and a little help from the members, this will become a monthly article that may help you while fishing. The intent is to improve your methods, make things a little easier or increase the production and fun of fishing.Tip from Ron Anderson: To help protect your waders, and your feet, from internal debris damage, stop by a carpet store and get a couple of carpet samples. Different colors works well so one can be the "dry" one and the other can be the "wet" one. Use the dry one to stand on while putting on the waders and shoes to prevent picking up rocks, etc. on the socks. Use the wet one while taking off the shoes so you have something to protect the waders after removing the shoes. Tip from Phil: Grab some old fly line and cut pieces about 12" long for each fly box. Tie a small swivel on the end of the line then add another 3" to the other side of the swivel. Now find a tab on your fly box and tie the short side to the box. (If your box doesn't have a tab drill a hole the size of the line in the end of the box. Push the line thru the hole and tie a double knot in the end so it can't pull back thru the hole.) Now tie a release hook swivel to the other end of the long line and hook that thru a flap on your vest pocket. No more chasing fly boxes down the stream or across the lake when they fall out.
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Pelton RelicensingPrior to the late 1950's, Chinook and Sockeye Salmon and Steelhead were able to access the Deschutes below Steelhead Falls, the Metolius and the Crooked River. The construction of Pelton Dam and its smaller regulating dam were completed in the late 1950's and although an impediment to fish they did not totally block passage. However, the completion of Round Butte Dame in 1964 proved to be the end of successful migration of anadromous fish. Although Pelton's ladder and Round Buttes bucket lift worked fairly well in getting adults over the dams the outgoing smolts were forever lost in Round Buttes reservoir. Sockeye switched to using Round Butte Reservoir as their ocean and the Metolius as their spawning tributary (they formally migrated to Suttle Lake and used the feeder streams as spawning grounds). These small offspring are the Kokanee that are fished for in Round Butte Reservoir and we see spawning in the Metolius in October and September. PGE's current license expires on December 31, 2001. PGE filed an application for a new permit on December 17, 1999. The Confederated Tribes of Warms Springs filed a competing application. They have subsequently settled among themselves to file jointly for the new operating license. The Federal Energy Regulating Commission (FERC) is presently scoping the request for the new license to assure all inputs concerning this project are heard and reviewed. PGE and the Tribes have proposed enhancement measures including water use and quality, fisheries and aquatic resources, terrestrial resources, recreational resources, land use and aesthetic resources and cultural resources. Alternatives to PGE and the Tribes proposals will be considered as well a no action alternative. What's at stake for PGE and the Tribes is a power source needed to supply peaking power needs for PGE's distribution system and a reliable source of revenue for the Tribes. The description of the facilities includes:
The plan keeps and hopes to improve the steelhead post-smolt liberation program and will include implementing a northern pike minnow control program in Lake Simtustis. In addition the steelhead and chinook smolt production at the Round Butte hatchery will continue and hopefully be improved as well. There is anticipation and intent that upstream riparian habitat can be improved including water quality and quantity, better fish habitat and fish passage. Plans are under way to acquire more water in upper Squaw Creek (Wy chus) to provide access and spawning areas for the anticipated return of Steelhead and even a grand hope of once again allowing steelhead to pass Bowman Dam and access the upper Crooked. (I'm not quite sure how they will make their way past all the dams and withdrawals in that section of the Crooked from Bowman to Paulina). It appears that there are possibilities for additional fisheries resources once again above the Pelton/Round Butte complex. Many hurdles must be cleared. Many are concerned that fish passage past the complex will spread disease into the upper river areas. Also landowner cooperation and balancing of competing uses will be a challenge. Hopefully, the end product will benefit all of us. It is too late to officially comment concerning the first phase, but if anyone wishes to comment in general or wishes more information the following party(s) can be contacted. David P. Boergers, SecretaryFor local information you can contact: Nan Allen - FERC Project Coordinator-Aquatic Resources
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Musings of a Dust DevilBy Wayne BowersThe moisture is piling up in the hills and that's good!No matter what the weather does the rest of the year, pond and lake fishing in the southeast corner of the state will be a little lean next spring and summer. It's going to take a year or so for newly filled puddles to grow some fat, feisty trout. An empty Chickahominy Reservoir is ready to receive whatever runoff the Snow God will deliver in the spring. There is a nice new cement boat ramp complete with boarding dock. The new digs are courtesy of your marine fuel tax and boater registration fees and low water level. The rainbow trout are growing at Wizard Falls Hatchery so let's hope the snowpack continues to build and fills the reservoir to the brim! Krumbo Reservoir and Mann Lake should be good next spring and summer. Krumbo should have a good number of fat rainbows and Mann should produce good catches of Lahontan cutthroat trout. Don't be surprised to catch an occasional rainbow at Mann Lake that escaped from the Mann Lake Ranch's private fishing puddle up the creek from the lake. The Donner und Blitzen River has been producing some nice 16 inch plus redband trout this winter. The new angling regulations requiring catch and release in the winter should carry over some larger trout. If you get a hankering for some winter fishing keep your eye on the weather and head on down to the Blitzen. Shoot, it's only a 3-hour drive - just a hop, skip, and slide over winter roads! Remember, if you are watching the Burns weather forecast it is most always warmer down in the Page Springs area. On a warm winter afternoon there are often some newly hatched bugs rising off of the water. When chukar season ends, former COF'er, Cal Elshoff might be looking for a fishing partner. Cal lives at Frenchglen. It's going to take awhile to rebuild the 50 miles of trout fishery on the Malheur River from Warm Springs Dam down to Gold Creek. The fishery was wiped out this summer by hot, muddy water when the irrigation reservoirs were drained to grow spuds and onions down Vale way. The 20 miles between Juntura and Gold Creek were stocked with fingerling rainbow this late fall. Stocking was a gamble since fall stocked fingerlings don't often make it through the winter to well. The fish were available so we gave it a go. More fish are growing at the hatchery for stocking this coming spring. Yellowjacket Reservoir should have good numbers of small rainbows this spring barring a winterkill. It is always a good place to take kids because there are good numbers of small trout eager to bite. It takes a snowmobile to get there this time of year and it requires a precision cast to drop a fly into a 6 inch diameter hole in 12 inch thick ice. The way the snow is piling up in the mountains Delintment Lake will probably winter kill so there won't be much to do up there but look at birds until it gets planted with legal sized rainbows in June.
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SKIP MORRIS FISHING CLINIC"Tying and Fishing Flies for Trout Streams"February 13, 2002 6:30 - 9:00 P MCentral Oregon Realtors 2112 N E 4th St, Bend Price is $30 in advance only, limited to 50 persons
Note: this IS NOT a club event. We have to pay Skip and rent the room, so it is a for profit event (although the charge is low).
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A Great Place To Goby JC PoultonRedding, California, nestled on I-5, just south of Lake Shasta, at the head of the Sacramento Valley. The Sacramento River flows through the town and as such is open for catch and release fishing all winter. The trout are 99.9 percent Rainbow and big, averaging about 18 inches. There are some big browns in the river too, but you hardly ever see them. The state record in the river is 32 inches. You will see salmon there too as they still get four runs a year, but the most fun is drifting through town fishing from a boat or raft; dead-drifting a two hook rig (a salmon egg and small nymph). I was there last Monday doing just that and catching at least ten fish in the 19-24 inch range. I called the FLY SHOP (1-800/669-3474) asked for Shane. He books his guides everyday. I personally like Chris, or Lonnie, or Cory, but all of the guides are good. Fish a whole or half day. Rates are 295.00/day or 185.00/half day. When I'm working in the bay area, I get my friends to go for just half a day, especially during the week is better, but weekends if they have to work.When that rug yarn indicator dips under the surface, you haul line, set the hook into that fish's lip there is nothing finer winter or any other time. That adrenalin charge is just what I need, better than staying home, but remember to take your poncho along as it is the rainy season and it can really rain in California..... |
From Alice ElshoffAs president of Malheur Wildlife Associates, I want to thank Central Oregon Flyfishers for your offer of volunteer hours for our river restoration work on the Blitzen river here on the Malheur Wildlife Refuge. I must apologize for not being able to make use of your offer this year. The necessary permits to start the riverbank work still have not come through, so we will be unable to do the plantings this spring. We are hoping the work can be accomplished throughout the coming fall and winter and that we can do the sedge, willow and cottonwood plantings in the spring of 2003.Thanks again for your offer, and we'd like to count on your help when the time finally comes. The native plantings we are growing in the nursery are doing very well. If your members are over here fishing this summer and would like to stop in, we will give them the grand tour. Alice |
Internet StuffWEBSITE is:www.coflyfishers.org
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2001 COF Officers & Board MembersOfficers
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COF Committees
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