PRINEVILLE, ORE. --- Years ago, I went to a Central Oregon Flyfishers meeting and heard noted photographer Brian O'Keefe say that Crooked River rainbow trout were some of the prettiest fish on the planet.
I agreed then -- I was living in Bend at the time -- and I still do, especially after spending an afternoon on the river Saturday.
Trout after trout came to my flies -- in the best tradition of the Crooked River, which has always been known as The Spot for lots of pretty wild trout. Check out this fish, which came to a dead-drifted Lightning Bug:
I'm not sure whether I could find a prettier fish.
Anyway, I love the Crooked from September through November, and I'm really fond of the river in December, January and February -- when it may be the best winter river in the Northwest. The Crooked flows out of the bottom of Bowman Dam, which means the water is cold in the summer and stays pretty warm in the winter.
The Crooked doesn't have the sheer, Trout-O-Rama numbers of the early part of this decade, when there were more than 7,000 trout per mile in the section between mile markers 11 and 18. High water a few years ago blew out the trout population. But Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists say there are about 900 or so trout per mile right now, and the river is coming back nicely.
I can live with 900 trout per mile on any river, but it's easy to make me happy on a wild river that flows through a rocky basalt canyon. Rain showers blew in and out of the canyon, and the scent of wet sagebrush wafted through the air.
Even better: some of the river's fish are getting pretty big. I managed to land one fish that barely made 16 inches Saturday, and I bungled one that was bigger. Why is it that the trout I want to photograph most always, always, always come off the hook?
Anway, the river rocks -- rounded basalt with a few jagged, sharp ones for variety -- are still more slippery than a corporate CEO. I fell in twice, which is about average for me.
I did luck into a nice Pale Morning Dun hatch, and the trout -- as always -- ignored the river's silty, cloudy flow and rose steadily to the golden bugs. It's cool to see the trout loom out of the murk -- they look so sharp and clear against the cloudy water -- and sip in the fly.
I also noticed trout whacking grasshoppers that were falling into a deeper slot near the bank. I often wish I had someone -- a sort of caddy -- carrying two or three rigged rods for me whenever I fish this river. I always end up drifting scuds and mayfly nymphs, casting a dry fly and tying on hoppers or beetles.
I tied a little foam hopper onto the line and had the pleasure of watching a nice redband rainbow come up and hit that fly -- and then slip the hook. The Crooked is one underrated hopper river -- especially in September and early October.
Most of my fish came to flies that imitated the billions of scuds -- small, shrimp-like crustaceans that set up shop in the many huge weedbeds. Scuds are what the fish eat all year long, and that is one rich diet.
And the Crooked is one special river -- especially from now through next spring.
I have fished the river for more than 20 years now, and I guess I'm old enough to carry lots of memories of this small, intimate, generous stream. I thought of old fishing friends the entire afternoon, and I left the water knowing that I need to fish this river more often -- and fish with old friends more often.
