Oregon Move Completed

[Hexagenia51]

Not sure if you guys saw last year I posted I was moving to Northeast Oregon, well we made it in May and am now a resident. From the sounds of it I haven’t missed much on the ice fishing front back in Indiana, but unfortunately there’s not much in the way of ice fishing opportunities near me here either. There’s a couple reservoirs south about thirty miles but so far I haven’t found any ice fishing reports. Being new to the area sucks big time! I met a guy up the street that has a cabin in Idaho on Cascade Lake so that may be an option not sure about the ice over there though yet. It’s supposed to be super perch fishing, fingers crossed. I have had night crawlers in my yard the last couple nights, weird! I caught some nice rainbow trout in the headwaters above town last summer fly fishing but haven’t been on the ice except one excursion to a small pond but I couldn’t mark anything and no bites. Stay safe if you venture out, and good luck! Hex

[tater140]

Hi Hex,,  good to hear from you.  We met one time out on the ice a few years back.  Sure has been a short season so far here.  Life has me pretty busy as of late.  Send us some pics of your area if you get a chance… im sure its beautiful.

[TeacherPreacher]

Hang in there Hex!
I'm sure you'll make some connections and find some spots!
In the mean time, stay positive and think of us NW Hoosiers sitting here waiting for spring warm up. Stay well!
Teach

[zcm_82]

Good luck out there 

I wasn't in Oregon, but I did live out west in Nevada a few years, and the key to finding ice out there is generally high elevation for areas that don't get super cold. The trick is hoping you can get to the ice because of the snow at altitiude and general lack of any plowing of remote roads.

[Hexagenia51]

Good to hear from a few of you fellow Iceheads! Here’s a few pictures of the Grand Ronde river that runs through town and then to the Snake River, this is the headwaters above town. Some of the trout I caught fly fishing also not real big but they bite,fight and taste real good. Later

[Hexagenia51]

My daughter just sent me an article from the paper about a 69 year old ice fisherman who was found drowned in one of the reservoirs south of town. The article said someone saw a chair on the ice and a large hole in the ice beside it and a dog was laying under the guy’s truck. Very sad to hear! It took a couple days to find his body and recover him. Looks like he made the mistake of going out alone, never a good idea. Stay safe out there, no fish is worth drowning for! We’ve been having above freezing temperatures for about a week now and the wind has been blowing really hard, so I’m not looking to get out again this season unless the weather does a major downturn and I doubt that will happen. Hell I’ve had night crawlers all over my lawn for about a week now, weird! Hopefully next year will be better, couldn’t be much worse! Lol Later Hex

[tater140]

Nice pictures Hex.  Always sad to hear when someone goes in and doesn't make it back out on the ice.  Right now i'm looking forward to the spring/summer open water season.... got a few things to tune up on my boat first though. 

[FishDoktor]

Not sure if you guys saw last year I posted I was moving to Northeast Oregon, well we made it in May and am now a resident. From the sounds of it I haven’t missed much on the ice fishing front back in Indiana, but unfortunately there’s not much in the way of ice fishing opportunities near me here either. There’s a couple reservoirs south about thirty miles but so far I haven’t found any ice fishing reports. Being new to the area sucks big time! I met a guy up the street that has a cabin in Idaho on Cascade Lake so that may be an option not sure about the ice over there though yet. It’s supposed to be super perch fishing, fingers crossed. I have had night crawlers in my yard the last couple nights, weird! I caught some nice rainbow trout in the headwaters above town last summer fly fishing but haven’t been on the ice except one excursion to a small pond but I couldn’t mark anything and no bites. Stay safe if you venture out, and good luck! Hex

I'm in Idaho (former Indiana native) and Cascade is crazy popular for perch. Big jumbos. But the top end does appear to be in the decline a little bit. The biggest issue with Cascade can be access and slush. Minimal public access points open in the winter and they can fill fast. You also will want transport on the ice as you will often need/want to travel a few miles from an access to get to where you want to fish. Slush can be super bad at times to where even snowmobiles bog down and have trouble getting around. Other times, guys will sit on their snowmobiles to fish or wear snow shoes to try to stay up top. One guy reported mid-calf slush recently right after drilling a hole. But, if you hit it right and there isn't much snow on it yet, or there has been a good cold snap to lock up slush and get that snow to settle, it will be much easier to get around. I haven't had the opportunity to fish it yet unfortunately but know people who have and they enjoy it a lot. We have had a shorter, hit or miss season in Idaho so far but I have gotten out 4 times on 4 different lakes. Lots of trout of course, but many reservoirs also have perch. And there are some that can have good Kokanee. Some, especially in the panhandle or southeast will also have other panfish including bluegill and crappie and largemouth or smallmouth bass. A few panhandle lakes have pike. And there are a couple lakes in south central (where I am) that have walleye stocked. In certain years it may be worth a week long trip or something to get on ice over here.

[Hexagenia51]

Hey Fishdoktor, thanks for the information on Idaho water. I plan on doing some excursions over there this summer and next winter if we get cold weather next year. Maybe we could meet up and do some fishing sometime in the future. Hex