troutdude
What a trip! My buddies, and I, started planning this trip a year ago while camping/fishing at Detroit. This time, the coordinates were set for Central Oregon. Here's the scoop:
Last Saturday morning (June 30th), I rendezvoused with two of my favorite chums (and co-conspirators), Dale & Jerry. Jerry lives in Keizer; and Dale in Newberg. So, we zeroed in on Jerry's place about 10:00. We then forced Jerry--kicking and screaming--into Dale's rig. <just kidding...:lol:> Then, we proceeded to pick up some final supplies. While I was "guarding" our rigs, I snapped this pic of our boat; all loaded up and ready for bear...er...um...fishing. Then, we were OFF! (you know it is my sworn duty, to use the OFF moniker as much as possible...riiiiiiight?)
Our motorized caravan then proceeded, up and over the hills. At long last, we were headed eastbound and into the beautiful Oregon Cascades. It sure felt good, to leave work and the "daily routine" far behind.
We wound our way out Hwy. 22, along the North Santiam. We buzzed by Detroit. Farther and farther we traveled. Up and over the Santiam / McKenzie bypass. Soon, we were on the downhill side (no age or hair jokes here please...keep it civil...LOL). Past Suttle Lake we flew. We then made a brief pit stop in Sisters, took in a few breaths of the fresh Central Oregon O2, then OFF we went towards Prineville. Our ultimate goal: Prineville Reservoir.
As we left Sisters, it began to lightly rain (more like sprinkle). The closer our vehicular devices drew to Prineville--the more rain we encountered. After re-fueling at a local petrol dealer; we put a back up plan into motion. Visit Subway! It was a brilliant stratagem. We had seen the blue skies behind us, so we knew that we just had to wait out the rain. And we needed something fit for human consumption anyway. :shock:
Some twenty more minutes past--while needling our locomotives through the beautiful countryside. Then BAM! We pulled into the State Park, at Prineville Reservoir. And, we were a half hour early. But, the friendly staff had our slot prepared, and allowed us to pitch camp anyway! Here's a pic of our base camp:
Since it was getting late (once camp was established, and more scrumptious vittles were eagerly scarfed down)...we decided to bank it a bit and scope out the lake. As the following pics attest, it was a gorgeous evening.
And, here is how the lake looks at night (with an almost full moon):
Sunday morning, we attacked Prineville Reservoir with an all-out fishing artillery assault. We trolled like madmen! It was another lovely day. But, all we wound up with was a 12 inch stocked bow, a 10" smallie (both went eagerly down our hatches the next day, with some baked taters), and my one and only fish of the day: a 6 inch smallie! :doh: But, at least I wasn't skunked. Oh...and I did have a stocker on my new Lami rod...until it decided for itself--that it would do its own C & R maneuver!
Here's our take for Sunday:
Due to our dismal outing @ Prineville--and having made plans to descend upon another lake anyway--we set out the next morning for our next destination. However, since some peeps just can't seem to keep quiet about some things...this lake will herein only be referred to as LAKE AWESOME!
We set our boat to sail, about 9:30 on Monday morning. This lake (Awesome), is one of the prettiest lakes that my peepers have beheld. There were bald eagles adrift. There were only a few boaters and a few bankies. The wind was blowing, however, at about warp 9.8 (and I distinctly heard Commander Scott's voice ringing across my neural transmitters saying..."Captain...she's breaking up...she cannot take it any longer)! And we tried Rooster Tails, Little Cleo's, Thomas Buoyant's, a Dodger / Worm rig, etc. Nothing was working. It was, in short, an attempt in futility to troll). :wall:
But, I did get this FAT 18" to slam my OFFering! I brought it into the boat--courtesy of my ultralight Fenwick:
So, we decided to switch hit and vectored in on a spot to bank it. Dale had a really strong fish on, for a bit. But, it snapped his line! So, we'll never know how beefy that one was. As I recall, he had another one for a short bit. Then, he caught a 19" hawg. Look at the girth!!! My fish, are the top one and the middle one. Dale's is on the bottom, in this pic.
Stay tuned...more to follow...
Last Saturday morning (June 30th), I rendezvoused with two of my favorite chums (and co-conspirators), Dale & Jerry. Jerry lives in Keizer; and Dale in Newberg. So, we zeroed in on Jerry's place about 10:00. We then forced Jerry--kicking and screaming--into Dale's rig. <just kidding...:lol:> Then, we proceeded to pick up some final supplies. While I was "guarding" our rigs, I snapped this pic of our boat; all loaded up and ready for bear...er...um...fishing. Then, we were OFF! (you know it is my sworn duty, to use the OFF moniker as much as possible...riiiiiiight?)
Our motorized caravan then proceeded, up and over the hills. At long last, we were headed eastbound and into the beautiful Oregon Cascades. It sure felt good, to leave work and the "daily routine" far behind.
We wound our way out Hwy. 22, along the North Santiam. We buzzed by Detroit. Farther and farther we traveled. Up and over the Santiam / McKenzie bypass. Soon, we were on the downhill side (no age or hair jokes here please...keep it civil...LOL). Past Suttle Lake we flew. We then made a brief pit stop in Sisters, took in a few breaths of the fresh Central Oregon O2, then OFF we went towards Prineville. Our ultimate goal: Prineville Reservoir.
As we left Sisters, it began to lightly rain (more like sprinkle). The closer our vehicular devices drew to Prineville--the more rain we encountered. After re-fueling at a local petrol dealer; we put a back up plan into motion. Visit Subway! It was a brilliant stratagem. We had seen the blue skies behind us, so we knew that we just had to wait out the rain. And we needed something fit for human consumption anyway. :shock:
Some twenty more minutes past--while needling our locomotives through the beautiful countryside. Then BAM! We pulled into the State Park, at Prineville Reservoir. And, we were a half hour early. But, the friendly staff had our slot prepared, and allowed us to pitch camp anyway! Here's a pic of our base camp:
Since it was getting late (once camp was established, and more scrumptious vittles were eagerly scarfed down)...we decided to bank it a bit and scope out the lake. As the following pics attest, it was a gorgeous evening.
And, here is how the lake looks at night (with an almost full moon):
Sunday morning, we attacked Prineville Reservoir with an all-out fishing artillery assault. We trolled like madmen! It was another lovely day. But, all we wound up with was a 12 inch stocked bow, a 10" smallie (both went eagerly down our hatches the next day, with some baked taters), and my one and only fish of the day: a 6 inch smallie! :doh: But, at least I wasn't skunked. Oh...and I did have a stocker on my new Lami rod...until it decided for itself--that it would do its own C & R maneuver!
Here's our take for Sunday:
Due to our dismal outing @ Prineville--and having made plans to descend upon another lake anyway--we set out the next morning for our next destination. However, since some peeps just can't seem to keep quiet about some things...this lake will herein only be referred to as LAKE AWESOME!
We set our boat to sail, about 9:30 on Monday morning. This lake (Awesome), is one of the prettiest lakes that my peepers have beheld. There were bald eagles adrift. There were only a few boaters and a few bankies. The wind was blowing, however, at about warp 9.8 (and I distinctly heard Commander Scott's voice ringing across my neural transmitters saying..."Captain...she's breaking up...she cannot take it any longer)! And we tried Rooster Tails, Little Cleo's, Thomas Buoyant's, a Dodger / Worm rig, etc. Nothing was working. It was, in short, an attempt in futility to troll). :wall:
But, I did get this FAT 18" to slam my OFFering! I brought it into the boat--courtesy of my ultralight Fenwick:
So, we decided to switch hit and vectored in on a spot to bank it. Dale had a really strong fish on, for a bit. But, it snapped his line! So, we'll never know how beefy that one was. As I recall, he had another one for a short bit. Then, he caught a 19" hawg. Look at the girth!!! My fish, are the top one and the middle one. Dale's is on the bottom, in this pic.
Stay tuned...more to follow...
Last edited by a moderator:
