Crooked River

October 11, 2026October 10, 2026

Enjoying the Season

Every day the aspen tree framed by our office window has a few more yellow leaves and bare branches.

As October gets underway we’ve been treated to a string of outstanding fall days. It looks like that pattern is going to keep going.

Days like these should not be spent inside. To that end we’ve been on the road quite a bit.

Made a swing over the pass to Hood River and around the Fruit Loop. We actually just went to Kiyokawa Family Orchards.

It’s peak season and the wooden box racks were loaded with pears and apples.

We filled bags with Warren and Tosca pears, Honey Crisp, Ambrosia, Green Dragon and Granny Smith apples.

We also snagged a jug of fresh pressed mixed apple cider.

We drove up Highway 35 along the East Fork of the Hood River. We pulled into Sherwood Campground to have some lunch and a glass of cider.

As you climb higher up the side of Mt. Hood the fall colors pop out of the forest and near the top, most of the low bushes have lost all their leaves.

Winter is coming soon to the high country.

We’ve set up our chairs along the Crooked River a couple of times this week and while extremely low water levels limit fishing, it’s still a great place to have lunch.

Our weather app assures us that this string of beautiful days will extend for another week or more and we’re planning accordingly.

September 27, 2026October 2, 2026

River Time

Just noticed someone is eating our Aspen leaves

The leaves on our aspen trees are a mix of green and yellow, mornings are often frosty, and the bird feeder needs refilling every day. Transition to fall is underway and we’re making the most of it.

A shaded spot by the river to keep an eye on everyone

Trips to the Crooked are spaced weekly, between an occasional rain storm. It’s easy to get on the river just before the sun crests the canyon walls and triggers a morning caddisfly hatch.

Layers are mandatory, but our warm sweaters are folded away by mid-morning. This also is about the time Tip is suggesting it’s time to have some snacks.

There is a day use area fifteen minutes upstream from Prineville that is a regular stop and these last few weeks we’ve mostly been setting up our chairs there.

That crest makes this Merganser look like he’s facing into a wind

A ‘Raft’ of mergansers has been in the area for most of those days.

Occasionally we see the osprey. Often he perches on a snag that dominates the opposite bank. This day the bare branches hold a heron, briefly, but no osprey.

Bull Thistle takes on a lethal quality in the Fall

Some time in mid-summer an SUV spotted JQ adjusting focus on a telephoto lens and pulled over to chat . . . photog to photog.

The gist of that conversation was there’s a Mountain Goat that inhabits the top reaches of the basalt columns on the far side of the river. Since then we’ve scanned the canyon wall, but never spotted him.

A week ago a fisherman chatted with Jack and besides sharing fly pattern information, also pointed out that the goat was on a ledge, over there.

“Fourth ledge down and just right of that outcrop . . . “

It’s no easy tasks to direct someones attention to a small white dot hunkered down on a rock face that is identical to the hundreds of other outcroppings and a mile away.

There are a lot of spaces for a goat to hang out on the canyon wall

But I got the general location. Once back at the car, with the aid of binoculars and JQ’s Telephoto lens we located a mound of white fur nestled in the rocks.

With a better idea of where to look and what to look for this week, we tried again. Pretty quickly we found him standing, exposed with the morning light making it easier to get a photo.

Fall continues to offer a smattering of rainy days amid stretches of clear sky, making it easy to pick out a good river day . . . or whatever outing we feel like. This is by far our favorite time of year.

September 13, 2026September 12, 2026

The Shift into Fall

One of many Woolly Bears hanging out on the river’s edge.

Smoke finally lifted over a favorite haunt and we are back on the Crooked River. There were days of on and off rain, which likely had some influence over the reduction of wildfire haze.

Our chairs are tucked into a shady spot. The cooler is opened long enough to pull out the boxes with quarter cut sandwiches and cold drinks.

The winter migration is picking up and the trees are filled with a greater number and variety of birds.

Osprey

Not sure what to call the season; late summer, early fall? We’re at a transition that is neither, but without a title of its own. We like this time of year.

Labor Day’s over and the crowds have started to thin. The cold of the morning can be warmed with a sweater that is easy to shed when the afternoon sun warms things up.

But it never gets that August hot that drives you off the river by noon. We’re back at the point where you can spend the whole day on the stream.

I rig up a couple of rods, one for wet flies in the morning, the other ready for the afternoon hatch.

The river level keeps going down just as the reservoir dramatically drops, but the fishing remains good.

A bunch of Wooly Bears (caterpillar form of the Isabella tiger moth) cling to riverside branches. If they are a harbinger of winter it would seem the El-Nino predictions are on target.

The weather reports are for mild clear days ahead . . . we take that as a sign to get on the road and enjoy all the fall weather we can.

July 19, 2026July 18, 2026

Fishing the Dry Fly

At least one excursion a week is focused on fishing. From May to August those pursuits are primarily in search of dry flyfishing opportunities.

We started flyfishing on the North Fork of the Flathead River, casting Royal Wulff patterns to West Slope Cutthroat Trout. Catching a fish off the surface of a river is, to me, the most fun.

These last couple of months we’ve been chasing the Caddisfly hatches on the Crooked River.

Starting around Mother’s Day and extending to early July, there are a series of these emergences nearly daily. Just before and during the hatch, fishing is optimal.

The biggest challenge with Caddisflies is they hatch, shuck out of pupal skin, and fly off to the bushes at dawn and dusk.

On the Crooked dusk in July is hot and windy . . . kind of miserable and not the best fishing conditions. But on the high desert mornings are typically much cooler and calmer.

All these insects are a boon to the birds, as well as the fish

We’ve been very successful leaving the house about 6:30 (yes after sunrise, so not technically dawn) and being on the river about an hour later. This has connected us with some really successful fishing.

By the time the afternoon wind picks up, we’ve had nearly four hours on the water and are ready to have a cold one and call it a day.

We’re not going to stop spending mornings on the Crooked, but as we move into July and August the target species shifts to Small Mouth Bass on the John Day River, and then the futile pursuit of Summer Steelhead on the Lower Deschutes.

We’ll take you along on those journeys as well.

July 5, 2026July 4, 2026

Windy Day on the River

We spend a lot of time on the Crooked River. The drive is short and we find there are very few people mid-week. Plus, we never get tired of sitting by a stream.

Fishing is only part of it. We have a couple of spots that offer good access and plenty of shade. These places are familiar, and regularly offer up a surprise or two.

This week’s trip started early. We wanted to avoid the summer heat, nab one of our favorite spots, and avoid the early afternoon when the wind kicks up.

Willows starting to crowd the bank and obscure our views

The gusts got pretty strong. The willow bushes that line the bank were tossing little Lincoln Sparrows around, though these delicate birds never lost their steely grip.

The bird population was really active. Fledglings are out and about, so there is a mix of watchful parents and opportunistic predators.

It was nice to get reacquainted with the local fauna. This time of year activity picks up and we have great fun watching the circus.

After the July 4th holiday the campgrounds get a lot fuller and for longer stretches. We will start looking for more remote sites to keep out of the fray.

This is what ‘sitting by the stream’ looks like.

That said, we try to make a trip to the Crooked at least once a week . . . just to sit by a stream.