Crane Prairie Reservoir

Crane Prairie Reservoir floods a mountain meadow on the upper Deschutes at about 4,450 feet, along the Cascade Lakes Highway southwest of Bend. It covers about 4,000 acres and is rarely more than 20 feet deep, and the drowned forest left when the dam went in still stands as snags and stumps across much of it. That shallow, fertile water grows rainbows big and fast, the fish locals call cranebows, along with brook trout and kokanee.

The old creek channels are the key: the Deschutes, Quinn River, Cultus River and Rock Creek channels stay cooler and deeper than the flats, and the fish follow them, especially in summer. Chironomids under an indicator start the season, then damsels from June and callibaetis through midsummer. A float tube or a small boat lets you work the channel edges and the snags, and a heavy tippet keeps a big fish out of the wood. The reservoir is drawn down for irrigation through the summer, and largemouth bass, put in illegally, now share the water.