Print  email 

Ice fishing on Oregon reservoir can yield large trout

Chickahominy proves to be one of the Northwest's best spots

By Mark Morical | The (Bend) Bulletin • Published January 16, 2009

• Comments (0)

BEND, Ore. – The ominous sound of the ice expanding and contracting beneath our feet came every few minutes or so, at random. It was hard to ignore because it sounded distinctly like cracking.

The three experienced ice fishermen with me did not give the sound a second thought, but they could sense my unease.

"When it cracks right between your legs in the spring, it's even more nerve-racking," said Herb Ekstrom.

The 72-year-old Ekstrom, along with Jack Ensworth, 83, and Bob Butcher, 82, have been ice fishing on Chickahominy Reservoir for nearly 50 years.

The trio from Bend seemed content in their camping chairs positioned next to holes the anglers had drilled in the ice, so I figured all was safe.

Remote Chickahominy, in Harney County about 100 miles southeast of Bend and 30 miles west of Burns just north of U.S. Highway 20, offers Northwest anglers a unique opportunity in the winter. Each year, typically from about mid-December to mid-February, the 500-acre reservoir is transformed from a fly-fishing hot spot to an ice-fishing … well, hot spot.

The same thing that brings fly anglers to Chickahominy in the summer draws ice anglers in the winter: healthy rainbow trout ranging in length from 16 to 18 inches.

On a cold, sunny Saturday, dozens of anglers could be found drilling holes with their ice augers and waiting for a bite on Chickahominy.

Tim Walters, a fisheries biologist at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife office in nearby Hines, said he will never tell anglers the ice is safe because ice conditions can vary across the reservoir and from day to day.

But Walters was fishing on this day.

"I'm not worried about the ice at all," he said, after drilling a hole with his ice auger, a long tool with blades on the end that is turned manually to cut through the ice.

Walters took a measuring stick and set it against the inside of the hole. (For safety, ice-fishing holes can be no longer than 12 inches in diameter, according to Walters.) He noted a total of 7 inches of ice — 5 inches of strong, clear ice, and 2 inches of more slushy, weaker ice on top.