Crane Prairie is open and accessible.  This year there is an added bonus to fish there.  Crane has been chosen as one of the sites for Cabelas "Catch a Fish, Win a Million" contest.  Make sure you read the tags on any trout you catch.

Fish are spread out in the lake and will concentrate in channels when the water warms up.  For now,  try sculpzillas, light brite leeches and zuddlers.  Chironomid pupa, damsels, and mayfly nymphs can also be effective.

Closed for the season

Although we had high hopes for this season on Crane, things just never heated up so to speak. We know that there are plenty of big fish cruising it's waters, but they just were a little bit more illusive this year. Conditions always play a big role in our fishing success and it's not always just the fish that we need to worry about. The late spring and cool water temps, along with below average weed growth kept the fish scattered. Although we caught some beauties, the numbers landed just weren't as high as previous seasons. All we can do is hope that the conditions for next season are a little more favorable, because we know there are some true trophies swimming these waters. We will be back at it in May!

Sorry for the delay in reports. We have been busy here at the shop. I was fortunate to fish with two good friends over the labor day weekend. Jamie Lusch and his wife Sally camped at Crane for three days, so I decided to join them on Sunday Evening and Monday Morning. Overall the fishing was slow, but the fish caught were big. This lake has been a fickle on all year, but if you put your time in the rewards can be great. Chironimds accounted for all the fish, red being the best, with black a close second. I don't have too many chances to fish with Jamie and Sally anymore, as they live in Medford. Jamie and I have covered some water in this state, and it's always a pleasure to fish together. He is a professional photographer and works for the Mail Tribune in Medford. It will be easy to see which Pics Jamie took, check a few out.

Chuck, Mitch, and I fished crane a couple days ago... We covered allot of water moving the boat every 15 minutes or so. We finally found a couple good fish. On his third day of fly fishing Chuck landed nice 23 1/2 inch and a 20 inch Cranebows in the last stop of the day.

I  fished Crane on Friday and Saturday with Sean and Nathan. Friday was hot and calm and the fishing was a little tough. We landed a couple smaller bows and a big Koknee and the last stop of the day payed off big time with a 21 inch and 26 inch. It only takes one good fish when fishing Crane. Saturday we missed a couple and landed a couple in a half day trip and boated one nice fish that was 21 inches.

I had a few minutes to download some of the pictures form the last couple weeks on the water. Check them out.

Fished Crane for a few hours in the evening on Thursday. The conditions were great, just enough wind to bob that bobber, clarity was great and my depth finder read 74 degrees on the surface. I would say the fishing was a bit slow. I had little time to move around, so kept fishing the Quinn channel in hopes of hookups. In 3 hours one fish was hooked and landed, a beautiful wild fish of 18 or 20". It was a quick trip and if we had time to move more, I feel we would have run into a couple more, but the lake has been a fickle one this season. Remember there is always the chance at the biggest rainbow you've ever seen here so give it a go.

I have fished Crane a couple times in the last week. The water temp and weed growth has hit the ideal conditions. This was a 29 inch Cranebow caught yesterday. If you have been waiting now is the time.

I fished Crane with John an Wes yesterday for a couple hour is the midday. We landed 3 small bows, a nice Kokanee, and a 23 inch fatty Cranebow. It was a great day on the water with good friends.

Crane has been a bit of a bugger this season. The water temps. and weed growth are behind schedule with the cool weather, so finding concentrations of fish has been tough. There has been a few fish caught, but it's been a lot of searching. The weather forecast looks promising over the weekend, with hot weather coming in. If we see a jump of just a few degrees it should help get the fish in the channels, where we can find good numbers. We'll just have to keep trying!