The Owyhee River is Oregon's premiere brown trout stream, located along the border with Idaho 35 miles south of the city of Ontario. It's a tail water fishery created by the Owyhee Dam and its 65-mile-long impoundment, which in itself is a remarkable warm water fishery. But that's another story.

The best fishing takes place in the 13-mile stretch from the dam downstream to Snively Hot Springs. This is beautiful canyon country with majestic red rock walls and abundant wildlife. If you take the time to look (this is easier said than done considering the fishing) it's not uncommon to see mule deer, coyotes, chukars and the occasional bighorn sheep. This section is primarily BLM (public land) with plenty of public access. Camping is allowed, but remember this is desert country with little shade and grass.

The river is open year around and I have personally fished it every month except December. While fishing can be good all year, it's best to break it down to the 4 seasons. Remember this is an irrigation river and it’s subject to the whims of the Treasure Valley water needs.

Winter - While fishing can be good, it's really dependent on the weather. If there's a cold spell, the river can ice over and be unfishable. Usually this time of year the water flow is around 10 to 20 CFS (cubic feet per second) so there isn't much flow. If you can hit it during a warm spell, good fishing can be had over BWO (Blue Winged Olives) and Midge hatches.

Spring - One of my favorite times. Two of my favorite hatches occur at this time, the Skwala Stoneflies and the Callibaetis Mayfly. These two hatches have produced my best fishing days, particularly the Callibaetis hatch. The fishing is excellent from about the 15th of March when the weather starts to warm until the 15th of April when the irrigation season begins. When they start to dump water for irrigation the CFS jumps from 20 to 200 CFS. This puts the river off for a couple of weeks.

Summer - Expect the CFS to be around 160 to 200. The river fishes well at these flows with the increased flow making fly presentation a little easier. This is PMD (Pale Morning Dun) and Caddis time. I have had many hours of pleasure presenting PMD emergers to large "bank-feeding" browns. This is the most surfaceoriented river I have ever fished. It seems that there are always fish rising. The weather can be HOT at this time so be sure to carry a lot of extra water and some sort of shade. Another thing to remember is that this is a tail water fishery so the water stays cold even on the hottest day.

Fall - Again one of my favorite times. The CFS has usually been lowered to the 60 to 75 range. The BWO's come back along with a Mahogany Dun hatch. Both are very abundant especially on overcast days. Midges hatch all day but really come on in the evening. If you can handle small flies this is a great time to do the 20/20 thing. That's catching a 20+ inch trout on a size 20 or smaller fly. I really don't like to fish much beyond the first week in November because the brown trout are spawning and I personally don't feel it's right to bother them.

The Owyhee River is an extremely fertile river. Don't be put off by the turbidity of the water; it's a sign of the extreme nutrients it carries. It holds a diverse and very abundant aquatic food chain for the fish to feed on. This includes mayflies, caddis, midges, sScuds, leaches, crayfish, snails, aquatic worms and bait fish. Speaking of bait fish, those people who know me see that I'm an ardent streamer fisherman and have had some heart-stopping action seeing big brown trout boiling behind my streamer. While the brown trout hold the majority, one can catch the occasional rainbow, especially closer to the dam. Some of these rainbows can really clear your reel of backing in a hurry.

About the only bad thing I can say about the river is that it's about a 7-hour drive (from Portland) to get there. While that keeps a lot of anglers away, it doesn't hinder the Boise crowd. Fully 75% of the fishermen on the river will be from Idaho. Some days it can get crowded but there's always room to fish.

While you’re over that way I suggest you take the time (again, it's tough to leave the river) to visit Succor Creek State Park and especially Leslie Gulch. You can do this trip in a half day or so and I believe it's the finest scenic trip in Oregon.