Images from Leslie Gulch and the Owyhee Basin

Here are images from Leslie Gulch and the Owyhee Basin, the first stop on our fall fly fishing road trip.

Leslie Gulch Road thru Rocks | www.johnkreft.com

The image above is the road to Leslie Gulch, named for Hiram Leslie Silver City who was killed by lightning in 1882 here.

Leslie Gulch Sign | www.johnkreft.com

The Owyhee River flows into the Snake River and is the largest basin in Oregon at 11,049 square miles, but includes streams from northern Nevada and southwest Idaho.

The scenery was spectacular. Here are several of my favorite images.

Leslie Gulch Rock Formation (2) | www.johnkreft.com
Leslie Gulch Rock Formation (5) | www.johnkreft.com
Leslie Gulch Rock Formation (7) | www.johnkreft.com
Leslie Gulch Rock Formation (14) | www.johnkreft.com
Leslie Gulch Rock Formation (15) | www.johnkreft.com
Leslie Gulch Rock Formation (17) | www.johnkreft.com

At the end of the road is a small campground and boat ramp. These images shows how low the reservoir looks.

After leaving Leslie Gulch, we travelled north through the edge of Idaho and west, back into Oregon to fish the Owyhee River below the dam and found rising trout.

Owyhee River Brown Trout | www.johnkreft.com

Here are some images of the water we fished.

Fishing on Owyhee River | www.johnkreft.com
Owyhee River (4) | www.johnkreft.com

And the fish…

Owyhee Brown Trout | www.johnkreft.com

Bridge below the dam.

Owyhee Bridge below Dam | www.johnkreft.com

And the glory hole at the dam, holding back a 57 mile reservoir of the 280 mile long river.

Glory Hole Just above Owyhee Dam | www.johnkreft.com

Enjoy…go fish!

Similar Posts

  • Norm Wood Special TBT

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is the Norm Wood Special TBT. I’ve fished the Norm Wood Special off and on for many years on the Lower Deschutes River, OR. It’s an effective fly for the Golden Stone hatch. For some reason, it’s always intrigued me, perhaps because of the “odd” color wing, a tangerine…

  • Lawson’s E-Z Caddis

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Lawson’s E-Z Caddis, developed by Mike Lawson from Last Chance, ID. I bought this fly a several years ago in Maupin, OR for a fly fishing trip with friends on the Deschutes River. I really liked the profile of the fly and the under and overwing made of…

  • How to play and land fish

    Here are a few thoughts about how to play and land fish. Over the years, I’ve changed my tactics. I use a different leader size to fish my spring creek these days. I used a Rio Powerflex 9 foot 5x (5.0 lbs) leader right out of the package for years and was fortunate to catch…

  • Galloup’s T & A Leech

    This week’s Throw Back Thursday Fly is Galloup’s T & A Leech. I stayed at Galloup’s Slide Inn last week during our 2017 fly fishing road trip and had the opportunity to talk with Kelly about a few of his early fly patterns. I told him about my RiverKeeper Flies Throw Back Thursday fly feature and…

  • Next Cast Flyfishers Camp

    A couple of weeks ago, I helped my wife Karen teach 12 kids from ages 10 to 14 about fly fishing during the Next Cast Flyfishers Camp. It’s part of our fly club’s Next Cast Flyfishers (our youth program) goal to get kids into fly fishing in Central Oregon. This is a picture of the kids…

  • Goodbye Boise

    Well, it’s time to say “Goodbye Boise”! I had a wonderful time at the 2016 Western Idaho Fly Fishing Expo this weekend in Boise, Idaho. This is my 4th year tying flies at the Expo and it’s good to see people I recognize from year-to-year. On Saturday, I decided to demonstrate the RiverKeeper Callibaetis Emerger, which…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *