How is the Crooked River doing.

wungjird · 04-10-2010, 01:20 PM

I am going to be taking a trip to the Crooked River at the end of the month and was wondering how it is doing. I am also looking for suggestions on flies. I have never fished it before but have heard that Scuds, Caddis Larva, Adams, and Parachute Adams work well. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You

Derrick

perchmaster · 04-10-2010, 08:42 PM

fishing right now is excellent, early morning and late evening the dry fly pattens are starting to heat up. nymphs are producing well. soon the bwo. went by there yesterday and the water looked perfect. one good thing about the river this year is there seem to be less squaw fish/ white fish in the river making it a better trout fishery by far

clarkman23 · 04-10-2010, 09:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by perchmaster

one good thing about the river this year is there seem to be less squaw fish/ white fish in the river making it a better trout fishery by far

how is the presence of whitefish a bad thing?!?! the presence of whitefish indicates a very healthy system, not to mention that they are native...plus, where there are whitefish, there are trout...just in slightly faster water.

BTW, all of the flies mentioned will work just fine. Try retrieving a small orange scud just over the tops of the weed beds and you'll likely do ok....or, throw a wooley bugger through some of the deep pools.

typically, when you see a jump like this, it's usually good to wait until it either stabilizes or starts to drop to really fish well....at least in my experience.

wungjird · 04-10-2010, 09:44 PM

Thanks for the replies. I have always heard that whitefish are a good indicators for healthy water. Hope to have some fun out there in a couple of weeks.

Mikew · 04-11-2010, 09:41 AM

Today (041110) the river is up to 337 CFS. It's going to be awhile.
Mike

River Borne · 04-11-2010, 10:04 AM

I think fish like this are a good indicator of how the fishery is doing!
Look for water levels to get below 200cfs to be able to fish.

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Two Fister · 04-12-2010, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by clarkman23

how is the presence of whitefish a bad thing?!?! the presence of whitefish indicates a very healthy system, not to mention that they are native...plus, where there are whitefish, there are trout...just in slightly faster water.

clarkman23,
The Crooked was way out of wack because of a nitrogen super saturation event that they believe was associated with the dam repairs a couple of years ago. The excess nitrogen either displaced or killed (more likely) a lot of the redsides, but it didn't seem to have a significant effect on the whitefish. As such there was an abundance of whitefish and noticeable lack of trout. ODFW has been studying it for the last couple of years as they were concerned about the die off. This year the trout seem to have finally rebounded and the balance has started to return.

So while whitefish can be an indicator of a healthy stream, the lack of trout was a better indicator of a problem with the river.
TF

moa1999 · 04-12-2010, 07:03 PM

I just got back from fishing the lower Crooked below the highway 97 bridge. The water was very high and fast. Three of us fished hard all day (fly fishing) and landed 8 small rainbows total. I would advise the same as others...wait until the waters have subsided for a few days before trying to fish this water. We had huge thunder storms today so the water will be even higher for a while.

By the way....I consider the Crooked my home water and fish it often. I have landed more quality rainbows this year then ever before. I watched a fellow fly fisher land a 20" range rainbow 20' upstream from me last month a few miles below the dam and I have landed more 16"+ rainbows this year then I ever have before....and I have fished this water for over 20 years.

358norma · 04-13-2010, 02:58 PM

I fish that stretch of the crooked as well. I did well in that stretch the last few years, I don't think the water quality issues that harmed the bowman stretch did as much damage down in the CCR area. Did any of the fish you caught on your last outing have steelhead smolt characteristics? There should be bunch of them making their way though right now with the high water event.

moa1999 · 04-13-2010, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 358norma

Did any of the fish you caught on your last outing have steelhead smolt characteristics? There should be bunch of them making their way though right now with the high water event.

Now that you mention it......yes they did.

One of our members came home with a tick friend on his neck. I guess we will have to be a little more careful when tramping around the brush in the bottom of the canyon.

Mikew · 04-14-2010, 01:29 PM

As of 0300am today (041410) the Crooked is at 1052 CFS.
MW

clarkman23 · 04-14-2010, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Two Fister

clarkman23,
The Crooked was way out of wack because of a nitrogen super saturation event that they believe was associated with the dam repairs a couple of years ago. The excess nitrogen either displaced or killed (more likely) a lot of the redsides, but it didn't seem to have a significant effect on the whitefish. As such there was an abundance of whitefish and noticeable lack of trout. ODFW has been studying it for the last couple of years as they were concerned about the die off. This year the trout seem to have finally rebounded and the balance has started to return.

So while whitefish can be an indicator of a healthy stream, the lack of trout was a better indicator of a problem with the river.
TF

good point, although I'm not sure why excess nitrogen wouldn't harm the whitefish as well...perhaps some physiological differences.

do they actually know what the problem was? or do they just think it was excess Nitrogen?

wungjird · 04-14-2010, 07:56 PM

So at 1000cfs it doesn't look good right now, but hopefuly it will drop by the end of the month. Hoping to use the new 3wt soon!

Two Fister · 04-14-2010, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by clarkman23

good point, although I'm not sure why excess nitrogen wouldn't harm the whitefish as well...perhaps some physiological differences.

do they actually know what the problem was? or do they just think it was excess Nitrogen?

They found evidence of nitrogen saturation in some of the fish that were collected from their surveys. Bubbles of nitrogen show up around the eyes and gill structure when fish are exposed to nitrogen super saturated water. The fish essentially get the Bends like a diver would if he rose up from the depths too quickly or without adequate decompression along the way.

The theory is that the contractor that was working on the dam neglected to mention some very high and sudden releases of water that caused the nitrogen saturation. They had guidelines that prohibited that kind of release, but it would appear that B. of Reclamation didn't have anyone minding the store.

The reports this year (prior to the increase in flows) have been very encouraging.
TF

clarkman23 · 04-15-2010, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Two Fister

They found evidence of nitrogen saturation in some of the fish that were collected from their surveys. Bubbles of nitrogen show up around the eyes and gill structure when fish are exposed to nitrogen super saturated water. The fish essentially get the Bends like a diver would if he rose up from the depths too quickly or without adequate decompression along the way.

The theory is that the contractor that was working on the dam neglected to mention some very high and sudden releases of water that caused the nitrogen saturation. They had guidelines that prohibited that kind of release, but it would appear that B. of Reclamation didn't have anyone minding the store.

The reports this year (prior to the increase in flows) have been very encouraging.
TF

good thing those guidelines are in place...

I'm actually really curious as to why the whitefish population didn't suffer the same fate as the rainbow population. maybe it did, but there were just so many of them to begin with? who knows...I know that I hadn't fished the Crooked since that event until this last winter.