The other side of the reservoir

Roberts Bay was hiding in plain sight.

Through the years, Prineville Reservoir has been one of my go-to spots for fishing, picnicking, birding or wildlife watching. Powder House Cove, Bowman Dam, Prineville State Park, Jasper Point and Skeleton Rock are all on my day-trip radar. I don’t own a ski boat, so I don’t know the lake well from that perspective.

I stumbled upon Roberts Bay while driving up Reservoir Road though Alfalfa from Bend the other day. At the intersection of Reservoir Road and state Highway 27 (the only gravel highway in Oregon), there’s a sign where one never used to be (at least I never noticed): Roberts Bay, 18 miles, with icons telling motorists it’s a full-fledged recreation area on the reservoir.

Turns out, it’s a lightly used destination on the reservoir’s south shore, accessed via a gravel road off of another gravel road.

Roberts Bay East, maintained by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (the dam builders), has a boat ramp, bathroom facilities, a primitive campground and a wetland that’s off-limits to motorized vehicles.

When I drove up there on Monday, the only living souls there were me, my dog and a lone angler in a boat way out on the reservoir. If you like a little elbow room, fall is a fine time to explore the 15-mile-long impoundment without the drone of outboards or the joyful squeals of kids on the beach.

And the weather can still be nice for another month or so. This is, after all, the banana belt of Central Oregon.

No matter where you go on the reservoir, you might consider packing a spinning rod or two. The lake is fed by numerous trout streams, including the Crooked River. It’s a fertile environment for a variety of game fish.

One summer’s day, I was dunking worms with my son from shore on the other side of the reservoir and we caught rainbow trout, crappie, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and bullhead all in a single afternoon.

My dog Hoss and I walked the shoreline at Roberts Bay and traipsed inland across a flat that had clearly been under water not long ago. The reservoir is primarily used for irrigation water storage, so the level goes up and down.

Hoss ran out ahead, scaring up killdeer and mountain bluebirds along the way. The once-muddy ground served as a road map of the birds and beasts that went before. Critters of all sizes, including deer and coyotes, had ranged through here not long ago. A few years ago, during a drought, Map Guy and I spotted mountain lion tracks in the dried-up lake bed to the east.

I was delighted to have found this beautiful corner of the reservoir.

Although we opted simply to hike, take photos and relish the changing season, Roberts Bay would be an excellent place to:

• Launch an inflatable boat and poke around the coves with a fishing rod (don’t forget your personal flotation device).

• Walk the shore casting spinners or worms.

• Set up in the evening with a pair of binoculars and watch the local wildlife head for the water.

• Camp overnight, catch the sunset and sunrise and drink in the stars far away from the lights of Prineville or Bend.

• Pack your life list (a birder’s list of all species they’ve seen) and go birding. It’s a hot spot.

Prineville Reservoir was created by damming the Crooked River upstream from Prineville. The reservoir behind Bowman Dam is part of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Crooked River Project, completed in 1961.

The only down side of our day trip was that, after an afternoon full of running and splashing and swimming and blasting through the brush, Hoss was covered with dozens of little green cockleburs embedded in his long, curly springer spaniel fur, clumping on his floppy ears and massing about his lower legs. It took my wife and me almost two hours to snip them all out.

If you go

Getting there: From Bend, drive east on U.S. Highway 20 and turn left at the sign to Prineville/Alfalfa. Turn right on Alfalfa Market Road, which turns into Reservoir Road. Turn right on state Highway 27 and drive about 10 miles to Salt Creek Road and turn left. It’s about 8 miles to Roberts Bay.

Contact: Bureau of Reclamation, 541-389-6541.