Owyhee River Fly Fishing

OWYHEE RIVER GUIDE TRIPS

The Owyhee River is Oregon’s finest tailwaters. The river is perfect for taking in vast desert landscapes with steep-walled canyons and a very prolific river chock full of massive brown trout!

Three Rivers Ranch is proud to offer Owyhee River Fly Fishing Trips.  We have been in business for nearly 100 years and have been guiding fly fishing trips since 1974.  Our veteran guides have been fishing the Owyhee River their whole lives and treat the river and other anglers with respect.  The Owyhee River is about an hour and a half away from our Boise Fly Shop – located in the town of Eagle, Idaho.  If fly fishing the Owyhee River is not enough, we also serve you gourmet lunches from Porterhouse Deli in Eagle, Idaho.

Owyhee River Trip Prices

OWYHEE RIVER INFO

Beginning in northern Nevada, the Owyhee River flows northward toward southeastern Oregon and southwestern Idaho before it joins, as a major tributary, the Snake River.

The Owyhee and its tributaries gather watershed from the Owyhee Plateau. The river travels through steep canyon area, valley communities and the Duck Valley Indian Reservation. Once it crosses the Idaho border, it eventually meets up with the South Fork Owyhee River.
As it passes through the lower southeast corner of Oregon, it combines with the West Little Owhyee River (from the south), the Middle Fork Owyhee River and the North Fork Owyhee River (both from the east).

Other tributaries such as Jordan Creek, Rattlesnake Creek and Crooked Creek merge into the Owyhee as it makes its way toward the Snake River near the Idaho-Oregon border.
Before the river officially meets up with the Snake, it’s stopped by the Owyhee Dam, which creates man-made Lake Owyhee. Below the dam the river then merges with the Snake River.

WHEN TO FISH THE OWYHEE RIVER

Summer is the best season on the Owyhee River (below the dam). The flow of the river is dictated by summer irrigation demands. Skwalas and Blue Winged Olive will start as early as March. Caddis will creep, most likely, mid-April. May brings a wide variety of hatches including PMD’s, Callibaetis, Yellow Sally, Ants, Beetles, and Grasshoppers (Mid July). By September, we’ll see Mahogany Duns and Crane Flies. Check out our Owyhee River Hatch Chart and feel free to call our Boise Fly Shop at (208) 939-6065 for up to date info.

Fishing is technically open year-round; however, we stop fishing the Owyhee River from October until December due to spawning brown trout. Sometimes later into the winter, due to extremely low flows which put added pressure on trout.

HISTORY: OWYHEE – HAWAII

The explorer, Donald McKenzie led an expedition in Southern Idaho, Eastern Oregon and other locations in 1818-21 for the North West Fur Trading Company. McKenzie sent three Hawaiian natives to explore the river in the winter of 1819-1820, they never returned. Most historians and books assumed the group was killed by Indians.

If you pronounce “Hawaii” without the “H” you get Owyhee. Back in 1918, they nicknamed the three Owyhees. After the group came up missing, McKenzie honored them by naming the river after them.