Camping and fishing late May in southern / central Oregon

[Mosherpit]

Hi all. I am from Calgary Alberta and am coming to southern/central Oregon in late May to meet my very good friend from Spain for a week. We are looking for some nice secluded camping, fly fishing (not too busy of a spot) and do a little hiking. Hoping to have an awesome home base and move around a little from there. Looking for some spots / suggestions. If it’s a spot you’d rather not share to the larger group, you can DM me and I can also share some southern Alberta spots with you (some gems around here are the bow river, oldman river and crowsnest river) if you like. Thank you!

 

[Irishrover]

Haven't been there in years but just out of Paisly is the Chewaucan River. It's a small stream that used to offer some good fly fishing. The Sycan and Sprague also come to mind. Not sure where in South Central Orgone you mean. If you go further west there is the Williamson and Wood Rivers. Up north a bit is the Ana River out of the Summer Lake Area.

 

[O. mykiss]

I second the Ana river. It’s a small spring fed river that flows out of a small reservoir. It stays a constant temp year round and offers good fly fishing for planted rainbow trout. If there is decent water, as stated above the chewaucan river can be fun for desert red and trout. Also look into Thompson valley reservoir and silver creek that flows out of it. Silver creek can offer great small stream fishing for brook trout and desert redbands up to 16”

 

[Casting Call]

Any OFF peps know if the Illinois river has camping near-by? Tony

 

[troutdude]

There used to be a member on here--I think his name was Ben--who used to fish the Sprague. And, I believe, the Williamson and Wood rivers too. While he tossed plugs and didn't wave a bug wand...he caught a lot of LARGE fish!

Good luck @Mosherpit. Let us know how you and your friend do and where you wind up fishing.

 

[TheKnigit]

All of the suggestions would be a lot of fun and offer some good fishing. You could also look at the upper portions of the Rouge River further west. There are decent hiking trails that follow most of the river, and its tributaries, from the town of Prospect on highway 62 almost up to the junction of highways 230 & 138 to the north. There are a lot of campgrounds, some more out of the way than others, as well as a decent chance to catch browns, rainbows, and brook trout.

 

[DOKF]

Hi all. I am from Calgary Alberta and am coming to southern/central Oregon in late May to meet my very good friend from Spain for a week. We are looking for some nice secluded camping, fly fishing (not too busy of a spot) and do a little hiking. Hoping to have an awesome home base and move around a little from there. Looking for some spots / suggestions. If it’s a spot you’d rather not share to the larger group, you can DM me and I can also share some southern Alberta spots with you (some gems around here are the bow river, oldman river and crowsnest river) if you like. Thank you!

I lived in Sparwood for a bit, and and enjoyed fishing the local rivers (Elk, Oldman, Crowsnest, Bow ...).

I am not up on the central Oregon fisheries, but look forward to your eventual reports.

 

[Mosherpit]

All of the suggestions would be a lot of fun and offer some good fishing. You could also look at the upper portions of the Rouge River further west. There are decent hiking trails that follow most of the river, and its tributaries, from the town of Prospect on highway 62 almost up to the junction of highways 230 & 138 to the north. There are a lot of campgrounds, some more out of the way than others, as well as a decent chance to catch browns, rainbows, and brook trout.

Ultimately, I am going with your suggestion! I will let you know how the trip goes. Really looking forward to it! Starting the drive tonight. Cheers!

 

[TheKnigit]

Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

 

[Mosherpit]

So here is what I learned. As you likely know, the upper Rogue above dam fluctuates a lot and is primarily stocked. Our camp site was great but fish weren’t stocked yet and the river was super high this year for late May. So Rogue fishing was a bust but still glad we set up camp there. Beauty wild camp spot.
I fished the holy water one day and caught a nice 20” rainbow. Otherwise, very busy section! Nice though. Good technical stretch.
The golden ticket for me though was the North Umpqua. We ventured there and caught a lot of coastal cutties in an afternoon. That’s my kind of fishing. Was quiet and so serene. What an area. Highly recommend. Really want to go back for steelhead runs.
Thanks all!