By Mark Morical / The Bulletin
Published: February 02. 2012 4:00AM PST

Even in the dead of winter, parents can find places to take their children fishing.

Central Oregon is home to four ponds that are designed specifically for youth and family fishing and offer decent wintertime opportunity: Shevlin Pond and Pine Nursery Pond in Bend, Prineville Youth Pond, and Jefferson County Youth Pond in Madras.

These ponds are not blue-ribbon fisheries. But they are places where kids can throw out a worm or some PowerBait and experience the thrill of a fish on the end of their line. And while the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife stocks the ponds only in the spring and fall, many autumn holdovers can be landed by winter anglers.

“We stop stocking them in the fall, but if there's leftover trout, they will still bite,” says Jen Luke, a Bend-based fish biologist for the ODFW.

The ponds that should offer the best chances to catch fish this time of year are the Jefferson County Pond, located on the west side of the county's fairgrounds, and Shevlin Pond, located in Shevlin Park west of Bend.

“Those ponds received the greatest number of (stocked) trout in the fall,” says Brett Hodgson, the Deschutes District fish biologist for ODFW.

Since the Jefferson County Pond opened late last summer, it has become a popular spot for young anglers and their parents.

“I would say, just in terms of number of angler days of use, Shevlin and Jefferson County are probably getting the most use of ponds in the area,” Hodgson reports.

Jefferson County, Shevlin and Prineville ponds are open to fishing for youth ages 17 and younger only — though parents should not be discouraged from helping their kids cast and reel.

“Even though those (ponds) are youth only, we encourage parents to take their kids there and help their kids learn the angling craft,” Hodgson says.

The Bend Pine Nursery Pond, in northeast Bend, is open to fishing for all ages.

The Pine Nursery and Prineville ponds offer rainbow trout, bluegill and bass. Shevlin Pond contains rainbow trout only, and Jefferson County Pond is fishable for rainbow and brown trout, bluegill and bass.

The catch this time of year will most likely be trout, as those other warm-water species are inactive during most of the winter.

“The other species have pretty much shut down feeding this time of year,” Hodgson notes.

Sinking worms or PowerBait near the bottom is the most effective way to fish the ponds any time of year, Hodgson advises. Spinners and Rooster Tails can also land trout in the wintertime.

All the Central Oregon ponds are susceptible to being covered with ice during the winter, but Shevlin is the most likely to be frozen.

“With the relatively warm weather we've had, there could be some open spots that would enable kids to cast from the bank,” Hodgson says of Shevlin Pond. “We don't encourage ice fishing (on the ponds) — it's just too dangerous.”

Shevlin Pond is the only one of these ponds that is not filled by irrigation water, according to Hodgson. The cool water of Tumalo Creek feeds Shevlin Pond, in which some rainbows grow to 10 inches long.

The Bend Pine Nursery Pond is filled with irrigation water from nearby canals. Hodgson says biologists are still experimenting with how to optimize angler opportunity at Pine Nursery Pond. The trout, he explained, can have difficulty surviving in the warmer irrigation water of summer.

But he says most of the trout in all the ponds survive the harsh Central Oregon winters.

This coming spring, according to Hodgson, the ODFW will supplement its regular stocking program for the ponds with trophy-sized rainbow trout from the Desert Springs Trout Farm near Summer Lake. The fish range in size from 12 to 16 inches long and are scheduled to be stocked in the four ponds in April or May.

Children 13 and younger do not need a fishing license, while those ages 14 to 17 are required to have a juvenile license that costs $9. Adults do not need a license ($33) if they are helping a child fish, so long as they are not fishing themselves, according to the ODFW.

— Reporter: 541-383-0318, mmorical@bendbulletin.com