Eager anglers can expect nearly full lakes and reservoirs and relatively easy access to several high lakes as fishing season gets underway in Central Oregon.

“We’re excited about this year,” said Jerry George, the Deschutes Watershed District fish biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “It’s nice to have a lot of water for a change in a lot of our lakes and reservoirs after several years of drought. In some of our reservoirs, that might make it a challenge for anglers to locate fish with them being a little more spread out this year.”

April 22 was the official opening day for fishing on popular Wickiup and Crane Prairie reservoirs southwest of Bend in the Deschutes National Forest. George said both reservoirs are ice free and accessible. Cascade Lakes Highway remains closed between Mt. Bachelor ski resort and the entrance to Lava Lake, so high lakes must be accessed from the south until the Deschutes County Road Department fully opens Cascade Lakes Highway later next month. Most lakes are open to fishing year round, but snow and ice can make some of them hard to reach until later in the spring.

“They’re making progress on Cascade Lakes Highway and they will have it open well before Memorial Day Weekend,” George said.

Wickiup and Crane Prairie reservoirs

Wickiup is 77% full, so anglers should have no difficulties launching boats, according to George.

“With the new water management, Wickiup gets drained first and Crane Prairie is held full,” George said. “Those boat ramps become a challenge for big boats once the water starts coming down.”

Wickiup was drained down to the stream bed in 2020 and 2021, harming the fish population. But a decent amount of refill last year made for a surprise kokanee fishery in 2023, according to George.

“We know that there’s fish in there and the potential for people to have a good day there, but they will be a little bit spread out and hard to locate,” George said.

Crane Prairie, just north of Wickiup, is a popular place to fish for big native rainbow trout. The fish will be spread out in the cooler water during the early season, then will hunker down into the old river channels as the temperatures rise, according to George.

Odell Lake

Located farther southwest of Bend off state Highway 58 near Willamette Pass, Odell Lake also officially opened on Monday. Odell is an extremely popular kokanee fishery, and some anglers also target large lake trout there.

“Last year it was a good fishery,” George said of Odell. “The kokanee were bigger than they had been in the last couple years, averaging about 12 inches.”

Kokanee fisheries have been a positive in Central Oregon, George noted, especially at Odell and Paulina Lake. (The road into Paulina and East lakes in the Newberry National Volcanic Monument east of La Pine is expected to open later next month.)

Kokanee populations are doing so well that the ODFW has added a kokanee bonus bag for East, Paulina and Crescent lakes.

“Some anglers get confused about what that means,” George said. “You can keep 10 fish. You can have up to 10 kokanee, but a maximum of five trout. So it can add up to 10, but only five of those can be trout.”

On Odell Lake, anglers can keep 25 kokanee per day in addition to the daily trout limit.

Haystack Reservoir

Haystack Reservoir near Culver has been fishing really well for rainbow trout, George noted. The reservoir was drained completely down for work on the dam a couple of years ago. That gave the ODFW an opportunity to reset the fishery there.

“We put quite a few rainbow trout in there and they have grown really well and are healthy,” George said. “We also put some of our excess broodstock fish in there this spring. We’ve gotten a lot of positive reports for trout fishing at Haystack.”

As temperatures rise this spring, fishing should improve throughout Central Oregon.

“Warmer weather will speed up the hatches and will get the fish more active, and get their metabolism going coming out of winter,” George said. “Having some nice warmer days will get the whole food web fired up.”

Some river sections are set to open May 22, but many are open year-round in Central Oregon. The Upper Deschutes River from Benham Falls to Little Lava Lake opens to fishing on May 22, as does the Fall River below the falls.