John Day River cats!

[Perfect Drift]

Went over Saturday morning at O Dark Thirty, put in at Lepage Park. Fished small mouth on the way up to the falls, as the water temp. was pushin 76.4, catching wasn't so good. Think we each landed about 5. It's nearly 12 miles up river and yah can't go any farther. We caught some nice cats, in the 24" range. We had worms and chicken liver, the worms seemed to be doing better. We saw some other folks carring nice size fish out as well. I had a corkie about 6" from the worm, this seemed to help keep from snagging rocks and it may have helped hook some fish also. Keeping the bait about 16" off of the bottom, worked for me.
The wind blew the entire weekend, made bass fishin a little tougher but it wasn't real bad.
The wished I had list - only took a small anchor, needed a much bigger one for the wind. A second anchor for the rear end of the boat, a must in the wind. I took way to many rods, I only used 3, one for cats, one for grubs and one for plugs. Didn't even use the tent, it was so warm, just slept outside, didn't even use the blanket until about 4am.
This place is a must go to each summer for me, saw 1/2 a dozen deer and 2 coyotes on the river bank, always fun to see the natives watching us as we go by.

[Elwix]

Even if the smallmouth weren’t biting as well as you hoped, it sounds like you had a fun trip. Smallmouth and catfish; deer and coyotes - good stuff. [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]
I spent a few hours Saturday fishing Goose Lake north of Carson. The wind that was giving you trouble on the John Day kept things from getting too hot at the lake. Getting wet when my float tube leaked helped cool me off too. :depressed: In spite of the leaking float tube, I caught a few fish, and had a pretty good time. :smile: I didn’t see any deer, or coyotes, and I certainly didn’t catch any fish remotely close to 24 inches. Sounds like you had a great time. [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] Good story too. Get any pictures?

[Walleyed]

Thanks for the report.
Got a bunch going up aug.1st
last year the kidds got cats right off the dock.
26",24" with a zebco.
leave it to the kids to show ous the way.

Walleyed

[Perfect Drift]

Elwix, sorry I didn't have a digi camera with us.
It's such a special place, a 12 mile run to the falls, that's a lot of water to find bass and cats. We did last year catch a walleye on the way back to the launch. I did get a really nice crappie under the bridge on the east shore, casting right next to the bridge pillar. Enjoy the river if you get over there.
Be sure and watch your speed as you leave and enter the 'no wake zone' near the launch, sherriff's are watching it very closely.

[Walleyed]

Going back up this weekend and now you had to go and say the W word. Looks like I'll have to pull around a bottom walker just to see what happens. Well let you know all about it come monday.
Walleyed

[bassin]

Walleyed: If I did not have a Club tournament this Sunday I would see you there. Love to Cat fish up that way. and If the W--- is not bad a walleye for the pans not a bad thing.

[Walleyed]

Hope the tournament went well bassin.
Had a good time with the family.
the water was 71.4 and the wind wasn't to bad.
sorry didn't get any pictures but most
of the fishing was at night.
total for the trip was
7 cats 16"-17"
1 huge carp
a mess of hand size bass
smaller mess of perch.
the hight of the trip was when I went skinny dipping at about 3:00 am
Got out of the water bent down to grab my pants only to find that it wasn't my pants but a porkupine(sp)
Thank god thats the end of that story.
All the fish,tackle and cridders are still up there so go have so fun.
Walleyed

[bassin]

The Tournament was not good to me. I was on fish two days before. But they moved off that area and I did not fine the fish I needed. My buddy won with 13 1/2 lbs. Not a big string. But worked for that day.
Glad to here you got fish. And you need to watch those guys with the quills,They are funny to watch. But touchie if you try to pet.