Prineville Reservoir

About Prineville Reservoir

The 3,030-acre Prineville Reservoir is a public recreation area developed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Oregon Department of Natural Resources.

Prineville Reservoir is located on the west side of the Columbia River, north of Portland, Oregon, USA. The wildlife - observation, fishing, hiking, camping and hiking - is worth it, but the highlight for visitors is the 3,030-hectare, 3.5-mile walk to the shore and the 2,000-meter-high, 2-kilometer-wide, 4-diamond trail.

The new Prineville reservoir was created by flooding a gorge filled with juniper bales (see bales) from the Crooked River, which flows upstream from Prinesville, Oregon. The Arthur R. Bowman Dam was built by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in the 1930s as part of the construction of a new dam on the Columbia River. The new lake - man-made - was used to store irrigation water, mitigate flooding and provide welcome recreational opportunities for the public, storing more than 150,000 hectares of water.

The Prineville reservoir reaches 130 feet at its deepest point, and the 43 miles of shoreline around it offer great opportunities for anglers looking for rainbow trout that reproduce in the lake. Optimum conditions allow many trout to reach up to 10 inches, often catching fish up to 14 inches high; 170,000 trout are caught annually.

Many of the bays within the bay itself are home to a variety of fish species that guarantee a sure success for almost all visitors.
From January to June you can expect excellent fishing and ice fishing is often productive for trout. On the coast, whitefish, blue and other small fish, as well as the more common trout, are often successful, and from January to June you can expect excellent fishing opportunities.

The northeastern part of the lake covers an area of about 1.5 million acres (2.2 million hectares). This protected land and water area provides habitat for a wide variety of wildlife including birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds of prey and other bird species.

Prineville State Park is a camping destination that includes Jasper Point Campground, a 2.2-kilometer (2.2-mile) canoe circuit. The course is open from May to September and has a boat ramp for camping. For geocachers, there are many caches within the 5-mile area, and the Jasper Point site has electricity.

While the calm and serenity of the reservoir, combined with the huge starry sky, makes visitors hesitate to leave the reservoir, a visit to these days can take up to a week. Pack your fishing rods and head to Prineville Lake for a day of fishing, kayaking, canoeing, hiking, camping and other activities.