John Day Report

[gottsmack]

Hey all!
I floated the John Day from Service creek to East Clarno this last weekend with my son and a buddy. We caught loads of small fish 8" - 12" with a few bigger fish. Most people I talked to said it was the slowest they had experienced. The river was on it's way down from 1300+ after going up from 800+. Friday was a scorcher as far as the weather was concerned with rain on Saturday and Sunny again on Sunday. We didn't have to drag the Hyside once, pretty smooth except for Burnt Rach Rapids which still wasn't that bad. We used BIG hair poppers or small cork poppers. The small poppers produced most of the small fish. WHEN I do it again (and I will for sure) I would put in at Twickingham or Priest Hole and fish harder for 3 days. I didn't get to fish much due to all the rowing.:shrug:
I'm definitely hooked on the John Day! No more Deschutes trips for me, Smallies all the way! It was incredible watching these fish streak out of the weeds to SLAM those poppers! I don't care how big the fish were, they were AGGRESIVE!
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[Klamanite]

I made the same trip a number of years ago in a cataraft. Unfortunately I was the only one aboard that knew how to row (wife), so that cut wayyyyy down on my fishing time. I did manage a 3 1/2 lb'er on a white sassy shad with numerous smaller fish. That seemed to be the hot bait during that trip. Beautiful scenery, but we also got caught in some nasty weather and the river rose and got really dirty. Nice float though.

[gottsmack]

I made the same trip a number of years ago in a cataraft. Unfortunately I was the only one aboard that knew how to row (wife), so that cut wayyyyy down on my fishing time. I did manage a 3 1/2 lb'er on a white sassy shad with numerous smaller fish. That seemed to be the hot bait during that trip. Beautiful scenery, but we also got caught in some nasty weather and the river rose and got really dirty. Nice float though.

White was the color on our trip also! I would of thought Black or Brown would be the killer. My son did get a few on a purple/pink small jig.