Bank fishing around Bend?

[CamoHunter]

My wife and I bought a house in Sunriver last fall. I have not fished around there much. How hard is it to find good bank fishing for trout around the area in the small to medium lakes.

I am not looking for specific lakes, just a general feel for the area.
Plan on spending a lot of time getting to many of the lakes this summer.

Thanks,

Camo

[The Trout Slammer]

Yeah I was wondering the same thing. I went to the lodge at Sunriver and the lady at the information desk told me there are two bridges that people bank fish from on the Deschutes. Also I was wondering if anyone knows if u can fish at the Old Mill District in bend on the Deschutes. We go there all the time and there looks like all kinds of cool spots around there I wonder if the big fish are in that area.

[Doc_Rhen]

I used to fish mirror pond pretty regularly, don't know if they changed the rules since then, but I only caught 8-12" trout out of there. Bank fishing is pretty much name a lake, only a few have issues with access and a fair number do pretty well for fishing from the bank. I have spent the most time bank fishing at Prineville Reservoir.

[skeetshtr]

CamoHunter, North and South Twin lakes are good early season bank fishing lakes. You will find pan size and larger Rainbows in both. Wickiup can be great off the bank for Brown trout and Rainbow but can be tough to learn. Prineville and Haystack to the north can both produce also. There are many others also. Get a copy of The complete Anglers guide to Oregon by John Shewey. well worth the $30.00 price tag. The fun is getting out there and giving it a try! Good luck.

[oldbendbeav]

Originally Posted by The Trout Slammer

Yeah I was wondering the same thing. I went to the lodge at Sunriver and the lady at the information desk told me there are two bridges that people bank fish from on the Deschutes. Also I was wondering if anyone knows if u can fish at the Old Mill District in bend on the Deschutes. We go there all the time and there looks like all kinds of cool spots around there I wonder if the big fish are in that area.

When the Old Mill District part of the Deschutes was actually a mill pond, some of the best brown trout fishing in all of Oregon was in that area. The mill pond was fenced and patrolled for safety, but some of the locals would get in and fish the area. However, I have not heard of a large brown being taken in that area since the logs and log debris were removed.

[CamoHunter]

Originally Posted by skeetshtr

CamoHunter, North and South Twin lakes are good early season bank fishing lakes. You will find pan size and larger Rainbows in both. Wickiup can be great off the bank for Brown trout and Rainbow but can be tough to learn. Prineville and Haystack to the north can both produce also. There are many others also. Get a copy of The complete Anglers guide to Oregon by John Shewey. well worth the $30.00 price tag. The fun is getting out there and giving it a try! Good luck.

Skeetshtr,

Thanks for the info. I have a freind who fished the Twin lakes a bit last year. Those are on my list for sure. I am going to focus on the small lakes first and see what I find.
There are so many lakes in that area it will be fun to explore them. I will look into that book.
I looked at a few maps and have some general areas to hit first when the snow melts. It should be a fun summer.

Camo

[kill2hunt]

i have seen some monsters off the bridges!!! both rainbow and brown! they were smart and wouldnt touch a thing, until i got smarter! drifted, well more like back bounced a crawdad pattern through the slots of grass where they were lying right before dark. works, i promise but usually only good for one fish an evening.

[njhadfield]

follow the deschutes towords LaPine. There's a fish hatchery and you can fish there from the bank.

[honker1]

Lava Lake does well from the bank. Sometimes it is better from the bank then from a boat.