Lake Billy Chinook

Lake Billy Chinook fills the canyons where the Crooked, Deschutes and Metolius rivers meet, behind Round Butte Dam west of Madras. Its three long arms run between basalt walls, and it holds one of the few fisheries anywhere where bull trout may be kept, under a 24-inch minimum. Kokanee, rainbows and smallmouth bass share the lake, and the kokanee feed the bull trout.

Bull trout are a streamer fish: big baitfish patterns on a sinking line along the drop-offs and points, best in spring and fall when they come shallower. The Metolius arm, cold from the spring-fed river, is the classic bull trout water, but it opens only from March 1 through October 31 and needs a Warm Springs tribal permit. Smallmouth fill the rocky shores in summer. The Cove Palisades State Park, on the Crooked and Deschutes arms, has the ramps, a marina and campgrounds.