Crooked River – Page 3

September 7, 2025September 6, 2025

Summer Ends in a Cloud of Smoke

Didn’t really get out much this week. We remain sandwiched between two project fires and spent most of the week engulfed in smoke.

The opening, when it presented itself, was taken with a trip to the Crooked. Yeah . . . we’ve been there a lot lately, but it’s dry fly season and that tailwater has been very active.

Fuller’s Teasel (bull thistle) frames a lush riparian

Last year my brother-in-law passed and among his possessions was an old Sage Graphite II 9-foot 5-weight fly rod.

A very nice rod, but with one problem. It was missing the tip section. Not broken, which is common, but not in the rod case and nowhere to be found.

Sage rods are, in theory, lifetime warrantied. So I figured why not give that a try. I mean with only three fourths of the rod it wasn’t going to fish like that.

Long story short . . . Sage was unable to repair the old rod, but they did replace it with a new one . . . my choice. I opted for a 9-foot 4-weight, an ideal dry fly trout rod. It arrived this week and was immediately put into service.

Post-meal preening by another successful fisher.

Now there are negative points to late summer in Central Oregon; heat and wildfire smoke top that list. But on the positive side, the dry fly fishing is peak.

The Crooked River is a tailwater (flows out from a dam), a type of water that’s fished most of the year sub-surface.

Bull Thistles are regular obstacles along the stream edge.

Anytime of year, some type of aquatic insect is moving around and an imitation of that bug will catch fish.

In early spring and late summer, the aquatic insects hatch (present on top of the water) in greater numbers. You can have success with a dry fly any time, but during a hatch it gets crazy.

A Eurasian-collared Dove floats in for a landing

Dry flys require a more precise presentation than sub-surface fishing. However, the payoff is seeing the strike . . . often missing the strike . . . but it puts you more directly into the process.

It’s a lot of fun. The last few weeks have afforded us some great dry fly days on the water.

The signs of fall are around us. Days will be cooling off and we’ll soon move onto the Deschutes River to cast for Steelhead.

For now, we’re enjoying morning coffees on the Crooked and plying Small Black Sedges to hungry Redband Trout.

July 27, 2025July 25, 2025

High Desert Mornings

Early morning light glitters across this expanse of river

The pace of our lives is not brisk and our days of multitasking projects is long past.

That’s not to say we’re idle. Quite the opposite, as summer gets up to full blast our weekly schedule fills up.

Along with more excursions, come early starts. It’s all part of getting into summer.

The High Desert in this season can be oppressively hot from noon to sun down. To counter this, we are out the door at first light . . . conversely, back in the house by mid-afternoon.

A young Western Kingbird sports a mix of juvenile plumage and adult feathers

This week’s trip to the river was highlighted not by fishing, though that was good, but by a proliferation of fledgling sightings.

A Magpie flock harassed this juvenile Osprey trying to enjoy his catch.

A young Osprey was getting a lesson in Magpie gang warfare.

There were moments when we thought the Magpies would succeed in getting the young Osprey’s meal.

In the end, he finished the fish and brought back another.

A Western Tanager dives down to catch insects mid-air

A group of Western Tanagers were also spotted. Likely a stop on their migration to either the Cascades or Ochoco range.

The sighting is a rare treat, not only because of their brilliant colors, but also they only spend a few days in the canyon on their summer jaunt to the mountains.

Black-billed Magpie

We also got treated to a family of Redwing Blackbirds.

It appeared to be flight practice. We observed the family hopping along the tops of willow bushes at the river’s edge.

Often these trips are filled with long stretches of sitting quietly, watching the natural world move around us. Morning hours seem to be a good time to get the most of that activity.

July 13, 2025July 12, 2025

Back on the Crooked

We headed back up to the Crooked River this week. We lucked out and found our favorite campground . . . completely empty.

That’s unusual this time of year. But as they say, “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”

For now, mornings remain almost cold. All too soon summer’s sun will beat back the chill.

For the present, we set up chairs along the river and settled in to enjoy our good fortune.

Fishing was good, I brought a few to the net. The willows nearly overpower the rivers edge, making it difficult for Tip to keep an eye on me or get a drink.

Checkered White Butterfly floats among flowering wildflowers

An abundance of butterflies danced across the leaves in the still lush riparian.

An Osprey surveys it’s surroundings from a very high perch.

Around noon we moved downstream to a new piece of shade and a different stretch of river. At this spot we found the kestrel’s tree occupied by an Osprey.

A lack of defensive efforts (on the kestrels part) suggested the brood has moved on. The osprey seems content in getting his perch back.

It’s already the second week in July, and summer is slipping away. We’ve not had to endure wildfire smoke . . . yet.

So these peaceful excursions are treasured times.

A shaded vantage point to keep track of everyone

All too soon the dog days of August will require more careful planning on where we might find patches of shade. We do have a few places in mind.

June 29, 2025June 28, 2025

Settling into Summer

This is likely the end of warm days and cool mornings.

Pretty soon we’ll have to seek shade before noon. For now, soaking in some solar energy is a pleasant respite.

There were two trips to the Crooked this week.

This weather brings out Mayflies, as well as mosquitos. That was the excuse used, but there’s little reason needed to set out chairs and picnic along a stream.

The fishing was adequate, but the weather was superb.

The wildflowers have shifted from large yellow and white petals, to tiny blossoms in shades of purple and blue, with an occasional flashy daisy.

The Kestrals are still very protective, ganging up an any large raptors even just flying along the water. We saw them knock an osprey off a tree limb, easily sending it on his way.

The geese are raising goslings, and ducks are always trailing a brood amid the tall grasses at streams edge.

An abundant run off left lush growth and great habitat for birds and water fowl.

One of the trips to the river was an afternoon drive.

We were trying to hit an evening hatch and some dry fly fishing. There were lots of strikes, but not a lot of hookups. I got in my casting practice though.

Campers are getting more common, which makes it hard to find secluded spots.

Headed back to camp after checking on the fisherman.

With campgrounds filling, we’ll move to different locations (primitive sites) and wait for fall to return to the river in less crowded conditions.

But then . . . that’s all part of settling into Summer.

June 15, 2025June 14, 2025

Summer Ritual

Grasses against a backdrop of riparian green.

For many years (due to my teaching schedule), summer didn’t begin until the second week in June. While that constraint came off when we retired, this week’s heatwave really felt like the start of summer.

There were a string of eighty degree days this week, matched with a dozen small wildfires. It feels like summer (our new norm).

A kestrel preens during a brief stop on a busy feeding schedule

A few things shift for us when the weather warms up.

Primarily our schedule . . . early starts to the day and early ends. This practice has two advantages; first it gets the active part of our day away from the heat, but it also tends to keep us away from the hordes.

Keeping an eye on things

About the time people start showing up on the river, we’ve had a choice of parking spots, a couple of hours of fishing, and lots of peace and quiet.

That is how we managed this week’s trip to the Crooked River.

Lupine seems to like the gravel edges of forest roads

Most of the spring wildflowers have been reduced to leafy stems, replaced with hardier summer varieties.

Lupine for example, is in full bloom on nearly every gravelly borrow pit. It lines our route with a carpet of purple and blue hues.

Fishing was better this week. The river has settled into its summer flow and fish are taking up their usual holds.

Witnessed the kestrel pair fight off a bald eagle with incredible acrobatics. The falcons harried the eagle, and at one point, one plunged from above onto the back of the eagle hitting with ferocious impact.

The kestrels were in full hunt mode, stopping only long enough to drop off some tasty bits for the fledglings, before swooping back up the canyon walls.

By the time the breeze was starting to loosen it’s cooling power, a small group of picnickers set up a few hundred feet from us. That was our cue to load up and head for home.

Daytime temp, even on the river, was just over eighty and climbing. We’ll be back again during the cool of another morning.