Stan Fagerstrom
08-01-2002, 01:39 PM
Oregon’s John Day River
A Super Spot For Smallmouth & Solitude
By Stan Fagerstrom
Looking for a spot where you can find excellent fishing along with solitude amid ruggedly scenic surroundings? I have. Pull up a stool while I tell you about it.
The guide slid our boat into the beautiful central Oregon River at 8 o’clock in the morning. By day’s end we had caught more than 150 smallmouth bass---and we hadn’t seen another boat all the time we were on the water.
There’s more. The day before my companion and I had boated more than 50 largemouth bass. They came out of a small lake hidden away in the hills not far from the river where we caught all those smallmouth.
Sound like a fairy tale? No way, partner! At least it’s not if you have the good fortune to drift the John Day River in the Fossil area with that region’s most experienced guide. Greg Zash, the manager of the Bi-Mart store in Florence, OR, accompanied me on the late June trip I’m talking about. Greg works just as hard at his fishing as he does in keeping things humming at his store. He caught most of those 150 smallmouth, including a pair that were 18 inches or longer.
http://www.ifish.net/sfgz.jpg
You'll have your hands pleasantly full when you hook a sizeable river smallmouth like this John Day beauty. The angler is Greg Zash, of Florence.
That 18-inch size might not sound like so much to a salmon or steelhead angler unfamiliar with smallmouth bass. Guess again! For my bucks no freshwater game fish fight harder than river smallmouth. Use light tackle, and that’s what’s required if you expect to put many in the boat, and they’ll flat wear out your wrist.
The trip Greg and I made in late June wasn’t the first time I’ve been with the guide I mentioned. He is Steve Fleming. Fleming runs an operation called Mah-Hah Outfitters out of Fossil. He’s been at it for years. I’ve never been with a guide who works harder, or more efficiently, to see that his clients get fish.
I drifted the John Day for the first time last year with my friend Rick Bozman. Rick lives on the Oregon Coast’s Siltcoos Lake and is one of the area’s top professional bass fishermen. The success Rick and I enjoyed on that trip a year ago was similar to the great fishing Greg and I experienced late last month. On both occasions much of the credit for that success was due to Steve Fleming’s expertise.
I’ve kicked around the world a good bit on fishing adventures of one kind or another over the past half century. It isn’t often these days you’ll find a river in the United States where the smallmouth bass fishing is as good as it is on the John Day without having lots of competition. Perhaps other areas of the John Day are subject to the pounding so typical of most productive rivers, but that certainly isn’t true of the sparsely populated region of the river Fleming fishes.
One of the reasons it continues to be so productive undoubtedly is due to the conservation procedures Fleming and his clients follow. Anglers who fish with Steve know going in that they will be expected to practice catch and release. Every one of those 150 plus bass Greg and I put in our boat was there but briefly. Once we got them unhooked they went back into the river. They’ll be there to thrill the next anglers Steve guides down the river.
As anybody who hangs his fishing hat in Oregon knows, it rains in this part of the world now and then. When it does rivers often get high, dirty and sometimes unfishable. Fleming doesn’t sweat it when the raindrops come. You’ve heard that old bit about having “an ace in the hole.” Well, Steve Fleming is a guide who has “a hole that’s an ace.”
Let me explain. You’ll recall my mentioning the 50 plus largemouth bass Greg and I caught the day before we hammered those John Day smallmouth. The largemouth came out of a private 100-acre lake to which only Steve and his clients have access. We didn’t get on Steve’s private bass lake until mid-morning. Even so we caught those half a hundred largemouth by mid-afternoon.
http://www.ifish.net/sfsfpl.jpg
Only guide Steve Fleming's clients have access to this private bass lake. The lake is located in an isolated area of central Oregon not far from the John Day River.
The bluegills in this little lake provide forage for the bass. I’d be willing to bet big bucks I could take a fly rod to Steve’s private lake and catch 100 bluegill an hour if I chose to work at it. The lake is loaded with those little devils. It wasn’t unusual to have a dozen of them chasing the lures we threw for largemouth. Many of Steve’s clients opt to do as Greg and I did. That’s fish for largemouth one day and a second day drifting the John Day for smallmouth.
You’ll get plenty of exercise casting and catching fish on a trip with Fleming on either the John Day or his private lake, but don’t count on losing weight while you’re there. Besides his guiding skills, Fleming is a cracking good cook. Chances are about mid-morning you’ll notice your tastebuds doing a toe dance as the odors from a Dutch Oven come wafting up from the middle of Steve’s boat. He fires up the charcoal in his oven when the trip starts in the morning. Around noon the food he has prepared is fully and expertly cooked. At that point Steve heads his drift boat to shore and ties up. Once there he serves his clients a delicious and piping hot meal right there on the riverbank.
Because I’ve been involved in fishing and writing about it for so long, I often get calls from folks wanting to know if I can point them to a spot where they are guaranteed to catch fish. Usually I won’t do that. Fish don’t come with guarantees. I’ll make an exception if you line up a trip with Steve Fleming on the John Day. Listen to the man, do what he tells you and you will catch fish. Even the inexperienced angler can score here. It’s a great place to take your wife and youngsters.
http://www.ifish.net/sffl.jpg
Steve Fleming's private lake is loaded with largemouth and bluegill. Stan displays one that smacked his spinnerbait.
If you want more details on Fleming’s Mah-Hah operation they are easy to obtain. His toll free number is 1-888-624-9424. There is also a wealth of information available at Fleming’s Internet website. You’ll find it at www.johndayriverfishing.com. (http://www.johndayriverfishing.com.)
As I mentioned in the beginning, combine solitude with super fishing in a beautifully scenic area and you’ve got a concise picture of a John Day fishing adventure with guide Steve Fleming. I wish I was headed back in that direction again next week.
A Super Spot For Smallmouth & Solitude
By Stan Fagerstrom
Looking for a spot where you can find excellent fishing along with solitude amid ruggedly scenic surroundings? I have. Pull up a stool while I tell you about it.
The guide slid our boat into the beautiful central Oregon River at 8 o’clock in the morning. By day’s end we had caught more than 150 smallmouth bass---and we hadn’t seen another boat all the time we were on the water.
There’s more. The day before my companion and I had boated more than 50 largemouth bass. They came out of a small lake hidden away in the hills not far from the river where we caught all those smallmouth.
Sound like a fairy tale? No way, partner! At least it’s not if you have the good fortune to drift the John Day River in the Fossil area with that region’s most experienced guide. Greg Zash, the manager of the Bi-Mart store in Florence, OR, accompanied me on the late June trip I’m talking about. Greg works just as hard at his fishing as he does in keeping things humming at his store. He caught most of those 150 smallmouth, including a pair that were 18 inches or longer.
http://www.ifish.net/sfgz.jpg
You'll have your hands pleasantly full when you hook a sizeable river smallmouth like this John Day beauty. The angler is Greg Zash, of Florence.
That 18-inch size might not sound like so much to a salmon or steelhead angler unfamiliar with smallmouth bass. Guess again! For my bucks no freshwater game fish fight harder than river smallmouth. Use light tackle, and that’s what’s required if you expect to put many in the boat, and they’ll flat wear out your wrist.
The trip Greg and I made in late June wasn’t the first time I’ve been with the guide I mentioned. He is Steve Fleming. Fleming runs an operation called Mah-Hah Outfitters out of Fossil. He’s been at it for years. I’ve never been with a guide who works harder, or more efficiently, to see that his clients get fish.
I drifted the John Day for the first time last year with my friend Rick Bozman. Rick lives on the Oregon Coast’s Siltcoos Lake and is one of the area’s top professional bass fishermen. The success Rick and I enjoyed on that trip a year ago was similar to the great fishing Greg and I experienced late last month. On both occasions much of the credit for that success was due to Steve Fleming’s expertise.
I’ve kicked around the world a good bit on fishing adventures of one kind or another over the past half century. It isn’t often these days you’ll find a river in the United States where the smallmouth bass fishing is as good as it is on the John Day without having lots of competition. Perhaps other areas of the John Day are subject to the pounding so typical of most productive rivers, but that certainly isn’t true of the sparsely populated region of the river Fleming fishes.
One of the reasons it continues to be so productive undoubtedly is due to the conservation procedures Fleming and his clients follow. Anglers who fish with Steve know going in that they will be expected to practice catch and release. Every one of those 150 plus bass Greg and I put in our boat was there but briefly. Once we got them unhooked they went back into the river. They’ll be there to thrill the next anglers Steve guides down the river.
As anybody who hangs his fishing hat in Oregon knows, it rains in this part of the world now and then. When it does rivers often get high, dirty and sometimes unfishable. Fleming doesn’t sweat it when the raindrops come. You’ve heard that old bit about having “an ace in the hole.” Well, Steve Fleming is a guide who has “a hole that’s an ace.”
Let me explain. You’ll recall my mentioning the 50 plus largemouth bass Greg and I caught the day before we hammered those John Day smallmouth. The largemouth came out of a private 100-acre lake to which only Steve and his clients have access. We didn’t get on Steve’s private bass lake until mid-morning. Even so we caught those half a hundred largemouth by mid-afternoon.
http://www.ifish.net/sfsfpl.jpg
Only guide Steve Fleming's clients have access to this private bass lake. The lake is located in an isolated area of central Oregon not far from the John Day River.
The bluegills in this little lake provide forage for the bass. I’d be willing to bet big bucks I could take a fly rod to Steve’s private lake and catch 100 bluegill an hour if I chose to work at it. The lake is loaded with those little devils. It wasn’t unusual to have a dozen of them chasing the lures we threw for largemouth. Many of Steve’s clients opt to do as Greg and I did. That’s fish for largemouth one day and a second day drifting the John Day for smallmouth.
You’ll get plenty of exercise casting and catching fish on a trip with Fleming on either the John Day or his private lake, but don’t count on losing weight while you’re there. Besides his guiding skills, Fleming is a cracking good cook. Chances are about mid-morning you’ll notice your tastebuds doing a toe dance as the odors from a Dutch Oven come wafting up from the middle of Steve’s boat. He fires up the charcoal in his oven when the trip starts in the morning. Around noon the food he has prepared is fully and expertly cooked. At that point Steve heads his drift boat to shore and ties up. Once there he serves his clients a delicious and piping hot meal right there on the riverbank.
Because I’ve been involved in fishing and writing about it for so long, I often get calls from folks wanting to know if I can point them to a spot where they are guaranteed to catch fish. Usually I won’t do that. Fish don’t come with guarantees. I’ll make an exception if you line up a trip with Steve Fleming on the John Day. Listen to the man, do what he tells you and you will catch fish. Even the inexperienced angler can score here. It’s a great place to take your wife and youngsters.
http://www.ifish.net/sffl.jpg
Steve Fleming's private lake is loaded with largemouth and bluegill. Stan displays one that smacked his spinnerbait.
If you want more details on Fleming’s Mah-Hah operation they are easy to obtain. His toll free number is 1-888-624-9424. There is also a wealth of information available at Fleming’s Internet website. You’ll find it at www.johndayriverfishing.com. (http://www.johndayriverfishing.com.)
As I mentioned in the beginning, combine solitude with super fishing in a beautifully scenic area and you’ve got a concise picture of a John Day fishing adventure with guide Steve Fleming. I wish I was headed back in that direction again next week.