Frostbite Fishing: Crooked River November 29, 2014

Thanksgiving just passed us by, and with it comes the long cold snap that renders most places unfishable. While many anglers choose to hang up their waders for the year and pull out their long underwear, a few diehard fishermen choose to brave the freezing elements and continue to find ways to fish. Many of these men and women are of a species referred to as steelheaders, chrome-crazed fanatics with unkempt clothes and unruly hair. Withholding comments about my own physical appearance, I also like to fish for these turbo-charged torpedoes. However, there are many other places to fish during the darkness of winter. One of these is the Crooked River.

You try to take a decent photo from a moving car with your hands frozen into claws.

The Crooked is a small tailwater river draining from Central Oregon's iconic Prineville Reservoir. The stable temperature of the reservoir translates to the stable water temperature of the Crooked River, making it ideal for year-round fishing. Since nothing else was easily fishable in late November, we loaded up the jeep and headed out on the two hour drive. 

Organization is more of a secondary concern.

After an uneventful drive, we finally reached the river. The rugged canyon of the Crooked is beautiful, and I sorely regret not taking more photographs. Despite the sunshine, the air temperature was freezing, with ice having formed along the banks of the river. However, the fish didn't care, and I soon begun hooking native redsides on small nymphs. 

Although the fish in the Crooked River are  known for being small, they are numerous and obliging. Unlike most tailwater fisheries, the Crooked is a relatively easy place to fish. The wading is easy, the fish are not unusually spooky or selective (although they, like any trout, can be extremely frustrating at times), and the cafe-latte colored water allows anglers to approach the fish more confidently. 

Yes, I caught ones bigger than this.

It was after the first couple fish when the cold hit. When excitedly casting, mending line, checking rocks for nymphs, and landing trout, your hands tend to get wet.    This is usually not a problem, but when winter fishing, sub-freezing temperatures can numb your hands to the point of uselessness. The tiny flies on 7X tippet that are essential for this river become nearly impossible to tie on, and even simple tasks such as holding your rod and unhooking fish becomes difficult.

The wind had also seriously started to pick up.

As a result, I could take no more fish or scenery photos for the rest of the day and had to call it quits soon after. Although it was a successful day fishing one of Oregon's best native trout streams, the cold was a serious problem and future trips will have to be better equipped against the elements. 

Tight lines,

Kamran Walsh