It’s been a wild week and half or so around Central Oregon. There is still an abundance of high water and certainly some areas to stay away from. There are also some places that are good, and a few places you just might not have thought of to go out and be on the water with a good chance of getting some fish.

So here is the rundown of water conditions and in some cases I’ll do my best to predict what’s coming for these waters:

Starting with the home waters, the Metolius is shaping up. The gauge at Lake Billy Chinook shows flows still about 1000 cfc higher than average, but dropped by 1200 cfs from the peak last week.
The area from Allingham to Gorge remains our choice for the best opportunity, but the Hatchery area isn’t quite as turbid and from there down river I believe offers very good opportunities for Bull Trout on streamers and a sink tip.

The Middle Deschutes surprisingly came up 50 or 60 cfs today. Maybe a canal maintenance thing? It is still too high to fish in my opinion, but I believe starting this week pretty much all of the irrigation districts will start their canals to begin delivering water to their patrons. So…I think the Middle D will drop quite a bit and be fishable very soon. I will update ASAP.

The Crooked is still way too high. Its just a no go at the moment. I did see an interesting website that shows snow data at the Ochocco Summit. On 3/31/19 there was 35 inches, yesterday just 24″ remain. https://wcc.sc.egov.usda.gov/reportGenerator/view/customSingleStationReport/daily/671:or:SNTL%7Cid=%22%22%7Cname/14/WTEQ::value,WTEQ::delta,SNWD::value,SNWD::delta,PREC::value,PREC::delta
The Reservoir is 88% full. I am going to assume the Bureau of Reclamation will be cutting back on flows from Bowman soon. Let’s keep an eye on that this week. https://www.usbr.gov/pn/hydromet/destea.html is the link to watch reservoir levels.

The Lower Deschutes at Warm Springs is just 9 days away from opening day. Hooray. It is dropping but still quite high. Let’s hope by April 22 she is running 6000 or less! I’m optimistic.

Fall River is crowded because it is the best river conditions in our area. Good BWO hatches and very good Euro Nymphing conditions. Snow is nearly all gone and access is available everywhere.

Lake Billy Chinook is good for Bull Trout and Kokanee now. The Deschutes Arm and the Metolius Arm are both fishing well. You’ll need a good boat with a good motor to actually get to where you need to be.

South Twin is a good option, especially along the shore line with balanced leeches. No access quite yet to North Twin as of earlier this week.

Chickahominy is fishing really well on leeches and waterboatman. Its a long drive but is worth it.

Ana River down by Summer Lake is another decent option. BWO hatches, Scuds, Micro Leeches and Perdigons are good.

I haven’t heard anything yet from Davis. Any of you?

I am psyched for the Crane Prairie Opener in 9 days!