I am making a trip to the Owyhee in October for the first time. Will be camping with a buddy from Sweden. Any info on what to expect would be much appriciated. Thanks.
check out Westfly and the search there.
If you go to Westfly I would recommend that you ask your questions to both the Oregon and the Idaho forum. I read a lot about Idahoans hitting the Owyhee.
Tim
Where?..
eastern oregon near Boise
Owayhee - however it is spelled – in October should be good. It may be hunting season there but that shouldn’t be a problem. If you go too late, you might get into some nasty weather including snow. The river is basically atail water type fishery below a dam. The water is always a little off color. The river itself isn’t very deep so you can wade just about anywhere. The location of the river is in a desert canyon and I find it kind of pretty. Some days the wind really blows but like anything else, that comes with the territory
There are lots of primitive camp sites scatter along the river. Camping along the river is free. Plan on taking you water with you or going up the headquarters or park campground to get it. Along the river there a few porta-potties scatterer about. They are clean. There are also some large garbage bins to use.
There is a state campground up along t he lake and it has showers, water, etc. You drive up and over the dam and along the lake for about 5 miles. There is also a little store there for some essential; however, there are little farming communities close enough that you can drive there for the basics also. The road is narrow and shared with motor homes, people pulling boats, etc. As you drive up and over the dam, stop at the top and look way up the lake along the cliff to see if anyone is coming. If so, flash you lights or whatever to let them know – the road is narrow and hangs on the cliff with not a lot of turn outs.
Below the dam there is a kind of headquarters. There are also about 6 camp sites with pit toilets there. Water is available there also. Also flush toilets across the road from the campground in the picnic area. They ask for a donation. We were run out of there one day during the summer because they wanted to water the lawn – kind of hassle because we had to take down the tent and pack everything up— one advantage to just camping on the river–but I guess we could have moved back in.
I was there two years ago deer hunting and after I shot my deer I spent the rest of the time fishing. Used both nymphs and dries – some really small stuff like in the size 22 and 24 range–to catch fish up to 22 inches.
This is a place where you might not catch a lot of fish, but the fish you catch are well worth the effort. Mostly Browns.
Boise isn’t too far away (1-1/2 hours) and there is another town about 45 minutes away in Idaho --can’t recall the name right now–that had a fly shop or two.
Good luck, I’ll be back there this summer.
Nice post… thanks for the info. I see you live in Eureka… do you fish the Trinity much??
2d thought - Google “Owyhee Reservoir”. Lots of info.
Tim
good idea… most of the river stuff is rafting
I fished the tail waters about 6 years ago (was in Boise on business and skipped out one afternoon) in mid-September. I caught 2 browns in about 3 hours of fishing and they were both very nice healthy fish. The dry flies we used were mahogany duns (didn’t catch any on them, though) with a nymph on a dropper. We used small prince nymphs and a bright silver, flashy one similar in shape to a hare’s ear.
The size of the fish we caught made up for the quantity. I’d go back anytime. Enjoy your trip.
Yep, fish the Trinity alot. Will be there tomorrow morning.
I see that you are from Redding. I fish the lower Sacramento alot with the Drift boat. One of my favorite things to do. The Fly Shop keeps me broke.
Last year when I was plotting out my trip to Montana I was talking to a guy about my plan. I told him I intended to stop on the Owahee on the way. His comment was why would you want to go anywhere else?
The Owahee takes about 10 or 11 hours from Redding – took us about 12 hours to Eureka – to get to and that is driving like hell to get there.You can drive 75 to 80 miles an hour through some of that stuff and never see another car. There isn’t much worry about the Law once your 10 or 20 miles past Lakeview until you are about 20 or 30 miles from Burns. Same for Burns to Vale. One word of caution is that if you are driving at night between Lakeview and Burns, apparently there are some wild Burro’s that will sometimes wander down to the road. They can be hard to see apprently because their eyes don’t reflect like other animals do at night when your lights hit them ( I was told this by a Calif. CHP officer) Heading towards Ontario but I think it is Vale, Ore. that you can turn off and head south and drive across some desert and then farm land and drop into the canyon. Once you see the canyon you’ll get the urge to fish really quick. In some places you can walk or drive along the river and the road is elevated enough that you can actually look down and see the fish. When I was there, there were some great hatches coming off in the afternoon and you could see the browns crusing.
The river itself is about the size of the upper Sac. or Trinity river. Not real big and not heavy flow. Very comfortable fishing river. Cold water and easy to wade – take a staff.
When I was there in early October, they were still harvesting onions and if you followed the trucks or looked on the sharper corners, the onions would fall off the trucks – stop and pick up some pretty good onions.
yep Trinity, Lower Sac sounds like we have fished a lot of the same water. In fact I used to guide the Lower Sac. I mostly fish the Upper Sac and McCloud now along with a few local creeks.
I have been trying to get up on the Owyhee for about 5 years but something always seems to come up. My buddy from Sweden is coming out and he said to pick somewhere I have always wanted to go but never been, so the Owyhee it is.
Thanks for all the info. I am not really worried about the fish I am more just trying to figure out the longistics of getting the trip together.
If I was taking a “tourist” to Owyhee I would try to fit a trip to Leslie Gulch into my plans. I have visited it several times and find it facinating.
Tim
thanks Tim… I will look that up too
once you’ve been to Leslie Gulch you will surely want to return some day.
That river is only about an hour from my house. I typically fish it in the winter when other spots are closed, or if I just want to get out for a quick trip. I usually end up spending only around 15-20 days a year out there…PM sent…
Leslie Gulch is definitely worth a trip–all kinds of weird and strange rock formations-kind if like a science fictiony type thing. Would expect to see Hobbits or other similar animals.