Antelope Reservoir in Malheur County: How and When to Fish It

• Overview

  Antelope Reservoir is one of the Malheur County listings for Oregon. The water sits 4,304 feet up. Roughly 3.2 sq miles of surface: treat each bay as a water in its own right. It ranks high for size among our Malheur County listings. Marsing lies 50 miles from the water. Homedale follows at 52 miles, then Nampa at 56 miles. The nearest boundary is a fair way off.

• Where to Fish on Antelope Reservoir

  No depth figure appears in our records, so the bank has to tell you. Levels move with the draw rather than the rain on water like this. Look for where the old bank line still shows under the surface. Malheur County records list rainbow trout, smallmouth bass, common carp, flathead catfish and channel catfish among the fish reported. What holds for the county may not hold for this water. The shape of Antelope Reservoir rewards a slow walk along one bank.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Long-term averages put August at about 69°F and January near 28°F. The year turns gently, without extremes at either end. In a normal year the cover is thin and short-lived. Late winter often fishes better here than midsummer does. The season on Antelope Reservoir rarely departs from it.

• Tackle & Baits

  The rules here are undocumented as far as public sources go. Nothing formal is recorded here: no ramp, no car park, no marked path. Largemouth respond to soft plastics tight to cover; go weedless where the growth is heavy. Take the rules with you rather than trusting memory. Barbless rules turn up on managed water more often than not. Parsnip Creek Diversion Reservoir at 8.3 miles is the sensible second choice. Rules at Antelope Reservoir are worth checking on the day.