Central Oregon Road Trip

Hi,

I recently took 9 day camping road trip to Central Oregon with the family for some yaking, fishing and mountain biking.  We drove from Seattle to the mouth of the Descutes River and camped at the State park.  Did not take the yak out but caught a couple of Smallmouth Bass spey fishing for Steelhead.  We headed South upriver and camped in the canyon below Maupin and caught a couple of small whitefish and redbands fly fishing.  Day 3 we headed to Hosmer Lake on the opposite side of Mount Bachelor from Bend.  Spent 2 days camping at this idyllic lake stocked with Brookies and Atlantic Salmon.  The water is clear and the fish wise and wily so fishing was tough. Caught a couple of Atlantic salmon on some small light may fly patterns.  The lake is for non-motorized boats and is fly fishing only which is my preference.  We then headed to Bend for a night at a Hotel for a hot shower and meal out. Day 6 we headed to Camp Sherman on the Metolius and fished a bit with no luck.  Day 7 we drove north to Olallie Lake near Breitenbush Hot Springs.  This large Alpine lake which sits at 5000 ft has a nice view of Mt Jefferson.  There is a small resort which has Yurts, cabins and manages several camp sites under an agreement with the forest service.  The resort changed ownership 2 years ago and the cabins where being rebuilt.  There are pit toilets but no running water or garbage receptacles due to the renovation activities.  The store had no ice and few supplies but was told that this was temporary.  The lake is stocked with rainbows which where plentiful.  I trolled flies with a full sink tip and tried wooly buggers and some nymphs with no luck but did very well with a muddler/minnow pattern.  Caught a number of fish and let my 3 yr old reel in his first fish.  Very nice lake but the Mosquitoes where insane.  We spend most of our time paddling as the Mosquitoes did not follow.  The lake is non-motorized but allows tradition fishing and retention.  It was a great trip with good fishing and I look forward to my next trip to Central Oregon/

Tomas

sounds idyllic to me!
 Nice report and pic's.
glad Y'all made it home safe.
 

Great trip report... I have to ask, is that a Kaskazi Dorado I spy? If so, how do you like it?

Very cool! nice fish and report. I didn't realize Hosmer was a fly fish only lake. great scenery.

Hi,

Yes it is a Kaskazi Dorado I and I love it.  Most of my kayak experience has been with traditional fiberglass Sea kayaks so the Dorado was one of the few sit on top fishing specific boats that performed like a sea kayak.  The down side compared to the more common plastic sit on top fishing yaks is that you sit low to the water and get a bit wet when there are waves. I have an older model that does not have scuppers or drain holes in the seat and foot wells.  I am working on retrofitting a pump system to pump out the seat and foot wells.  There is a new version Dorado II that has some mods that reduce water uptake and has scuppers and a venturi water removal system.  One other down side of the low seating position is that one can't move around much and reaching back to the gear crate behind the seat is challenging.  I find I have to do some stretching before yaking so I am flexible enough to twist around to reach my gear.  I am happy to let people paddle my boat to see what it is like.  

Tomas

If you find yourself down this way again, I might have to take you up on that! Thanks for the mini review. God knows I have read plenty online, but very hard to pull the trigger on one of those SA boats site unseen.