Prineville Reservoir

Fishing

Fishing can be quite good with rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, catfish, crappie, and crayfish. The trout fishing experience is year-round, with ice fishing in winter.

Boating

There is no speed limit on the lake and so boating of all kinds is very popular. Water skiing, wakeboarding and tubing are some of the most common sports and about half of the boats on the lake are there for this purpose. There is a marina with a boat ramp.

Camping

There are two state parks that allow camping, Prineville Reservoir State Park, and Jasper State Recreation Site. Both have facilities and offer RV hookups. There is also a privately owned resort that rents cabins, offers campsites (with hookups), maintains a boat ramp and marina, and also owns a general store and restaurant.

Wildlife

Prineville Reservoir is a popular place to see waterfowl, shorebirds, and birds of prey in one setting. Spring and fall migrations bring common loon, while in summer blue-winged teal, cinnamon teal, spotted sandpiper, American avocet, and black-necked stilt. Also seen is the bald eagle, golden eagle, osprey, prairie falcon, and red-tailed hawk, black-throated gray warbler, pinyon jay, and ash-throated flycatcher. Willow shrubbery may hold orange-crowned warbler and gray catbird.
Non-avian wildlife in the area include bats, black bear, coyotes, red fox, gray fox, bobcat, lynx, mountain lion, mule deer, elk, black tailed deer, pronghorn, badger, striped skunk, spotted skunk, porcupine, rockchuck, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, snakes, and other assorted small mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.