Some questions about cats and the JohnDay

[wannacatchem]

I've spent the last couple hours searching for "catfish" and come up with a lot of info on Brownlee and the Johnday.

Maybe I have overloaded my brain...

Is there any road access from I-84 on the john day? I don't mind a short hike but will most likely have the wife and a wee one, so 2+ mile hikes won't work. I've looked at google maps, google earth, a road atlas and am less than informed

My main interest is sitting in a lawn chair on the bank and catching some cats.... or not(mental therapy).

I would like to go in a couple weeks. If I do any good, I'll pull the boat up there and try a trip on the water later in the year.

Does the boat park upstream get jammed up early? is it a reservation thing? I would love to try that later on.

I have been severely stressed out for a few months from work/life and while I would love to catch some fish, and I usually enjoy figuring out everything to get'r done... for this trip I would really like it if you could tell me which rock to find and where to cast. If I catch a couple - great. If I don't, thats fine. If the wife wants to go with me, that would be good, but what I really want to do is sit next to the water, listen to it flow(and if its silent, thats good, too), close my eyes with a line looped around my finger, blank my mind and relax.

Any help would be good

[Jrr]

Dont know about cats at the mouth but river access is at le page park also boat launch. Have seen kids catch bass with worms from the bank and under the bridge.

[nevermiss]

John Day River: milepost 114 off I-84.

[Don Fischer]

I had a guy tell me you could catch all the cats you want right under the bridge. The few times I went I went way past the boat park toward the falls. There's a road in from somewhere up there as I always see people in vehicles way back in on the west side of the river. Get an "Oregon Road and Recreation Atlas".

[1bigfish]

Originally Posted by wannacatchem

Does the boat park upstream get jammed up early? is it a reservation thing? I would love to try that later on.

No reservations. In fact there are no camping spots. Just show up and put up your tent. However it is helpfull to find a few trees to block the wind.

[Smj]

WARNING!!!!! If you're going to be there during "Lawn Watering Season", you need to find the sprikler heads and put rocks on them. From what I've heard they water around 3:00am every morning. We stayed in our canopy in the truck at Lapage and the tenters got a rude awakening in the middle of the night!

Smj

[budsfishin2]

theres a dirt road that comes in from somewere on the west side of the river its bout 5 or 6 miles up from the freeway,shrimp is good bait for cats,the only cats i seen caught lower are yellow bellies in the few years ive been goin up there,we will have a group of guys up there 5-1for a week,usually can get bass,crapie,carp,pretty easy around the boat park.i fish cats up at the narrows.by boat

[Too Much Lead]

how far up to the narrows? could you possibly show a rigging set up and what kind of bait to use? caught tons of bullheads and maybe a couple rigging setups! i would like to make a trip with my cousin in mid may early june! thanks Bill

[Pondscum]

Head up to the narrows and drift shrimp, cut bait, or livers in the holes off the cliffs. Park your boat on the west side and walk up. It gets pretty shallow about 500 yards below the narrows, so slow down and be careful. If the water is around 3000 cfs you should be fine. You can check the water level on Westfly.

If you stay at the boaters park DO NOT put rocks on the sprinkler heads as has been suggested by others on this post. The rocks will damage the gears in the pop up type sprinkler head mechanism. The park is falling into disrepair as of late, and the grass is in bad shape, maybe a result of people damaging the sprinklers. With such a tough economy, I doubt the Army Corp of Engineers is going to be pouring money into the place, although I have not been up there since September 2008.

There are 1/2 moon pieces of heavy PVC/ABS pipe that have stakes on either side so they can be pounded into the ground. These guards will divert water away from sprinkers and your camp, without damaging the sprinklers themselves.

The wind can be fierce, so you will want to bring a good tent, avoid the tall squarish cabin style external frame tents, I have seen a few of those get hammered during spring wind gusts.

There is no garbage service, so pack out what you pack in. It is a great place, I am sure you will enjoy it.

[Don Fischer]

Those sprinklers do come on about 3:00 or so. I found out buy not putting on my rain fly till after they came on. Just try putting on a fly in the rain, wind and dark. darn dog slep thru the whole thing!

[budsfishin2]

cant really show you a set up.i just use a stealhead rod,tie a 1/0 hook on and tie a weight bout a foot up.weight depends on the current.i dont bother with swivels or any thing cause your gonna lose a bunch of gear,i use 20 or 25 lbs line.cast out to the middle let it drift down till the line stops and wait.usually not very long.i think this year i mite try a liter short droper line for the weight or not .have to see when i get there

[dragon67]

If you go up in the narrows, alot of times I don't use any weight and I let it float around in the pools off to the side of the main current. I still pick up some good cats that way.

[steelheadking7703]

awsome steelhead fishing from december to feb. under the bridge