A picnic on the Crooked

Weather wise it has been a very odd start to our spring. There was the late winter snow fall. Then…this week, within one single day, it started with snow, ended with warm sunshine, and included thunder and lightning with freezing pellets.

For the most part winter is subsiding and while no buds or blooms are visible yet, there has been increased bird activity.  We are also managing to get out a bit more these days. It feels great!

The Crooked River below Bowman Dam is one of our regular stops. Even with it’s steep canyon walls, plenty of sun warms the riverside. Open year around for fishing is one draw, but there are also lots of great camping and picnicking sites.

The Crooked is a very fishable stream, easy enough to wade and small enough to get to any spot a fish might be holding. There are quite a few people on the river, but you rarely bump into anyone and at most see another fisher up or down stream a few hundred yards.

There is a visit to the Crooked River marked in our calendar for mid-May. We have a guided trip on the river to learn Czech Nymphing. If you read our blog regularly you are going to see a lot of this river … your welcome!

This day we were coming from the John Day area and turned south out of Prineville to check on the Crooked. it was a perfect spring day filled with bird song and warm sun. Tip enjoyed paddling around in the water and we polished off a late winter picnic at one of the camp sites.