IFish Fishing Forum banner

Best all around camping/fishing

6K views 29 replies 19 participants last post by  plhldrbus 
#1 ·
I am starting to brainstorm for a new place to camp/fish this coming spring. I only know of a couple places where I can have my boat in the water at the campsite/campground. I would like to fish for largemouth and have always fished tenmile. However Tenmile sucks for tent camping and having your boat at your site(non-existent). I have considered hitting up brownlee but have heard none of the camping areas at this lake offer this type of luxury. I would also like to fish for some species in the same trip that will be tasty table fare(a.k.a.- crappie,catfish, kokanee, etc.). I have fished billy chinook, prineville, and don't wish to be stuck with stunted table fare fish. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.
 
#8 ·
Ok. Stupid question, is there any campgrounds where I can have my boat in the water on Oregon side. Farewell Bend? I've never been to Brownlee and would like to plan a productive trip to there or Owyhee. Thanks for all the help. I have a 14 ft. aluminum boat with a 15 hp. I can get up and move just not at mach speed. I would really like to be able to catch great quality fish without having to travel all day.
 
#10 ·
You could beach your boat at Farewell Bend, but it wouldn't be very close to your campsite. The Graveyard area and Spring campground would allow you to be closer to where you beach your boat. Farewell bend is the most well developed campground on the south end of Brownlee. If you can do without running water and toilets, there are literally hundreds of rocky beaches to camp on all up and down Brownlee.

Woodhead park on the Idaho side and Richland arm on the Powder arm are 2 better developed campgrounds that will allow you to camp closer to your moored boat. They are both designed more for the RVers though, in my opinion.
 
#11 ·
Guru, why do you want to stay on the Oregon side? If you are going to travel from PDX to E. Oregon, and if you want a decent camping experience (meaning the softer side, with showers and crappers), I would not avoid the Idaho side. Woodhead really is a very nice camp ground. Nice launch, nice facilities, nice topography. Plus, from there, you can get crappie, catfish, bass, whatever. If you're going to put the time and effort into going across the state, consider that from the boat you can fish Brownlee with your Oregon license. If you want to fish from the bank, it's worth it to buy the Idaho day license or possibly the annual license. But it sounds like you're fishing from your boat so you should be fine. The park manager told me that if I fished from my boat, even if it was beached, it would be cool, while camped at Woodhead. I have been carded a few times on foot on the Idaho side so keep that in mind as well. It is well patrolled.
 
#12 ·
The mouth of the John Day, Lepage Park has docks, camping etc. Smallmouth fishing, or go upriver to Phillipe (sp) Park, boat in only with docks and showers etc. If you stay there you can then motor up to the narrows, smallies plus a short hike to the falls for some killer catfishing. Beware of the winds as sometimes they can really whip it up!:flag2:
 
#13 ·
If you get to woodhead on a weekday you can probably get a camp site where you can put your boat on the dock that's away from the launch. Thats what we did and it worked great. The boat was less than 75 yards from the camp and you could see it at all times. Woodhead is a great camp ground as well. There were probably 6-8 campsites that would have worked for this, of course some were a little closer than others.
 
#15 ·
Brownlee has some camping, both pay, & free with Boat moorage right next to your camp, if you have a small enough Boat, or some way to moore a Boat without it banging on the shoreline with a wake from a passing Boat, we use a old tire to keep our 15' aluminum Boat out of harms way, only the pay sites have showers, & electriticy, & all sites with boat moorage will fill up fast during the peak season, espically on the weekends, Owyhee res. is limited to Owyhee state park if you need showers, & or electriticy, we stayed at mc cormack camp(Owyhee st pk) last spring, & parked our motorhome in a tent space...cause it was closer to the water, where our boat was parked, others parked their Boats next to ours in the small cove on the north side, other Boat moorage camping to the south also, all fill up fast during peak season, & weekends, plenty of free primitive camping all along Owyhee res. by Boat, some drive in access also, but are a long drive on rough dirt roads, where trailers are not reccomended.
 
#16 ·
We park the car at Hewitt Park (Brownlee) and then go look for a primitive campsite by boat. It costs a little to park, but you can come back to stock up, take a shower, etc. and then go back to the campsite. One time we found an open shack to stay in, but usually we set up in a quiet cove.
 
#18 ·
Cottage Grove may work for what your looking for. Bass fishing is very good and a lot of trout and bluegill to fish for also. You can camp on the grounds and pull your boat up to the shoreline. I would recommend lloking at thr website and you can view each site to its relationship to the shoreline. If none are available, the upper launch is only a couple minute drive from the campground.
 
#21 ·
Cottage Grove may work for what your looking for. Bass fishing is very good and a lot of trout and bluegill to fish for also. You can camp on the grounds and pull your boat up to the shoreline. I would recommend lloking at thr website and you can view each site to its relationship to the shoreline. If none are available, the upper launch is only a couple minute drive from the campground.

Be aware the the Army Corp of Engineers has BANNED alcahol on Dorena AND Cottage Grove Resivoirs AND in their respective campgrounds! So if you like to drink a beer while camping you run the risk of being fined and/or ejected from the camps!

Smj
 
#19 ·
Some one has already mentioned Lepage park at John Day and Columbia river. We love to go to Boardman Park on the Columbia river. It has Full hookup sites alongwith tent sites with restrooms and showers. If you want to leave your boat in water you can leave at dock in marina next to campground.
 
#20 ·
LePage is really nice but if you are going to use a tent, be aware that they run the sprinklers on the lawn during the week so you can't camp on the lawn sites during the week. Weekends they turn the sprinklers off at the tent sites on the lawn. I guess you could set up a tent on the RV site @ RV rates during the week if you wanted to go that route.
 
#22 ·
Detroit lake is a nice lake with good fishing, rainbows, chinook, sockeye,catfish and koks are all a possibilty in this lake. It has nice state campground, boat moorage.. Also heard that they were building moorage for the island camping, not sure if they did tha yet..tent camp sites on the island. If there is no moorage, you just beach the boat...
 
#27 ·
Thanks for all of the awesome suggestions. I know I posted and disappeared(busy,busy). It is looking more and more like Owyhee is the spot. Never been that far over with the Gregor. I am sure it will be a fun time regardless. I am currently in the process of restocking the store. Please come see the new stuff we ordered for the spring when you drop off your reels/rods/airguns/trolling motors/coleman lanterns,stoves etc.... FYI,we are getting very busy with repairs. Get them in sooner than later. Thanks again for the suggestions.
-Ryan
 
#30 ·
I hav'nt bought oregon license past two years so maybe somthing changed but in may of 010 we went to owyhee but couldnt park the short bus anywhere near the water,ended up at brownlee with a gillion of our best friends but could camp and beach boat. you can boat camp almost anywhere in the west,anytime of the year,but dont think thats what o.p had in mind.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top