John Day River Bass...Again....

[Curtis Fry]

Well it's that time of year again to bring up the possibility of heading to the John Day river in Oregon for some smallmouth fishing.

Cheech and I have been talking about going and we're wondering if anyone else would be interested.

Most likely we'd drive up and fish for a couple of days floating in pontoons. The fishing is done primarily on poppers with "50 -75 fish days very common", according to various reliable sources I have.

Anyway, if there is interest, I'll drum up some details. Let me know...

[jdubya]

my brother and i might be interested. we would be in a boat and float/camp. he and i have beat the idea around for that trip. interesting river.

[Trouty]

Let me know when you are thinking of going. I am definitely interested, depending on the work situation.

[Danny]

How far past Boise is this river? Is it large enough to handle a Drift Boat? When are you thinking about going? I may be able to drop the wife off with her folks in Boise and do a trip like that? I don't know if I could, but I would be interested in looking on to it.

[Curtis Fry]

It's about 4 1/2 to 5 hours past Boise. It can usually handle a driftboat except for times when I've heard it gets really low.

We're thinking of the last week in May or there abouts. I talked to Cheech today and we're also considering Brownlee Reservoir on the Snake. It's not as exciting (topwater) as the John Day, but the numbers of fish are right up there. We may do both of them during the same trip since Brownlee is only about an hour past Boise.

Jdub, we were considering taking Herb's driftboat or our pontoons with a raft to haul gear. That would be ideal to drift and camp. It could be an awesome trip!

I figure we'll throw some general dates out there and see what people want to do.

Just FYI, I've heard the John Day river mentioned as one of the top Smallie waters in the nation...

[Curtis Fry]

Some more info: I talked to a guide there last night and they would also be willing to be flexible on pricing if we wanted to take a bigger group (4 to 6 guys) down in May. That is, if we decide to do a paid trip.

It is doable by ourselves, so we can do either way depending on what people want.

jdub, I asked about the drift boat and he said earlier in the year (May/June) is better due to the higher water. He said in July, August they have to do a lot of riffle boat dragging....

[Jason]

I would love to go but I doubt I can take that much time off with the new kid. I'll just have to stay near home. Don't forget the Pelican Trip near the end of May or first of June. :-)

[cheech]

I would love to go but I doubt I can take that much time off with the new kid. I'll just have to stay near home. Don't forget the Pelican Trip near the end of May or first of June. :-)

Welcome to the world of responsibility... j/k ;)

Wait 2 years, and you'll be able to go on longer trips again.

This trip is going to be epic. I'm pretty sure that this is the year that it's going to work. If you guys haven't heard much about the John Day, just do a little research. It'll be hard to stay home on this one.

cheech

[Sedge]

There are some absolutely killer Smallmouth rivers down here as well.. I went last summer, and between myself and 3 friends we were catching between 100 - 200 bass a day. Average size was about 2-2.5lbs with numerous in the 4lb range. 90% of these are on topwater.

Really? Hotspot away. Or email me. ;-)

[Curtis Fry]

So do we steal Herb's driftboat or go on a couple of one-day floats with the Pontoons? I can't decide which would be better. If we want to camp along the way, I don't think the pontoons would be a good choice. If we do the "up and back" one-day floats, that may work better with pontoons.

The final word on wading is "good luck". The guy at the fly shop there said a lot of land is private and wading is not very productive.

I'm thinking the last week in May (26th, 27th and 28th) or the first week in June. We need to check on the water conditions since that is normally considered "early" in the season. Bigger fish, but not as many are active.

[Curtis Fry]

Ok, for anyone interested, we're setting dates for this trip.

We'll be leaving the afternoon of Weds May 25th and we'll be driving to Ontario Oregon (6 hours away). We'll stay the night there and then leave early the next morning to reach the river by 10am or so (3.5 hour drive from Ontario).

On Thursday we'll be floating from Twickenham Bridge to Priest Hole which is about 7 miles. We'll camp at Priest Hole and then float the next day down to Burnt Ranch (another 7 or so miles).

On Friday night, we'll either camp again and fish the river another day or we'll fish Brownlee Reservoir on the Snake River for more smallies and Crappie.

Then we'll drive back on Sunday.

So far, we have Cheech, Herb and Me for sure.

We would love to have another carload of two or three guys to help with any shuttling we'll need to do.

Again, this river is spectacular for smallies.


http://espn.go.com/outdoors/fishing/f_map_bare_04_OR_JohnDay_River.html

http://www.fisheyesoup.com/article_details/203.html

[jdubya]

i'll be in mexico that week. have fun!

[Slayer]

Can I take my pontoon boat?

[Curtis Fry]

Yep, we're going on Pontoons. I've talked to some people who've done it before on 'toons and they said it's a breeze. This is one place that I've heard more than a few people say they've gotten into triple digit fish (counting) on a consistent basis.

[Slayer]

Keep me posted.
No wife, no kids, flexable job, I can get my priorities straight.
Shoot me email if you like.

[fishin' idaho]

Hey Curtis- are you Frito?

If you havent already- check out this board for John Day info:
http://www.westfly.com/forum/ultimatebb.php?ubb=forum;f=4

There's a pretty good thread going right now about the John Day.

Josh.

[Curtis Fry]

Yep, that's me. We're going up there with a group of Utah guys.

I actually grew up in Ontario and never fished the river, so I've been itching to fish it for years.

[fishin' idaho]

Thought it might be- sounds like an awesome trip.

I'd be begging to join you guys- but I've got twins arriving in March and multi-day trips are out of the question for a while. Have fun- There's nothing like smallmouth fishing!!

Josh.

[Herb]

Fishin'idaho
Congrats on the twins! All I can say is, say good bye to sleep and fishing for a little while. My twins are a hand full.

Do you know what you are having yet? I have twins that are almost two. By the way, we are looking to get rid of a ton of stuff. I pretty sure we are done having more children. Let me know if you need anything.


Curtis, Sorry for hi-jacking this thread. If we would like to take the drift boat we can, As long as Cheech rows the entire time.

Herb.

[Curtis Fry]

Well seeing as how I'd rather not crash into the rocks a lot, we'll stick with the pontoons.

Now all we have to do is figure out our shuttle system from the takeout back to pick up the truck. I wonder if we could hitchhike....

[CycleFish]

http://www.flyfishusa.com/newsletter/071402/#Smallmouth

http://www.oregonrivers.com/jdb_article.pdf

http://www.oregonrivers.com/jdb_article99.pdf

[cheech]

It's gonna be fun. For the trip we plan to show Napolean Dynamite a couple of times... GOSH...

[Curtis Fry]

Well combine the John Day excellent smallie fishing, with Brownlee Crappie and Smallies, throw in some Napolean Dynamite with a bunch of yayhoos on a truck driving 600 miles and that's a recipe for a lot of fun.

We'll take plenty of pics for you guys to drool over.

Thanks for the links Cyclefish. I hadn't seen those last two and I've searched high and low for info. Good stuff!

[CycleFish]

Now all we have to do is figure out our shuttle system from the takeout back to pick up the truck. I wonder if we could hitchhike....

Don't know if we will be able to help one another or not. I'm floating Clarno - Cottonwood 26th - 30th. If you can think of anything let me know.

[Curtis Fry]

26th - 30th.

Of May? Well, I guess we can yell for you real loud from up where we are. I was talking to a guy I know that guides there and he said that the fish down where you'll be are generally bigger, but not as plentiful. Either way, I'm sure you'll have a blast. Since we're doing the two one day floats, we chose the Twickenham area and plus, we're coming in from the Southeast (from Ontario to Vale on up) so it's closer for us that way.

[CycleFish]

Of May? Well, I guess we can yell for you real loud from up where we are. I was talking to a guy I know that guides there and he said that the fish down where you'll be are generally bigger, but not as plentiful. Either way, I'm sure you'll have a blast. Since we're doing the two one day floats, we chose the Twickenham area and plus, we're coming in from the Southeast (from Ontario to Vale on up) so it's closer for us that way.

Yep, May.
We are leaving Salt Lake around noon the 25th & plan on driving straight through.

[CycleFish]

Curtis,
Are you guys postponing till June? Not looking good.
M

http://nwis.waterdata.usgs.gov/or/nwis/dv/?site_no=14046500&agency_cd=USGS

[Curtis Fry]

Actually, I've been following this graph:

http://www.nwrfc.noaa.gov/river/station/flowplot/flowplot.cgi?SERO3

I've talked to some JD regulars who say the flow forecasts are fairly accurate. Plus combine that with the extended forecast for sunny and warm weather with little snowpack and I think it should be fine.

http://wwwa.accuweather.com/forecast-15day.asp?partner=accuweather&myadc=1&traveler=1&zipcode=97750&metric=0

I think we're going if it's anything under 4500 cfs. If it's above that, then we're going to fish Brownlee for big smallies and big crappie. We have about 3 backup plans in place.

In the end, we might possibly change plans, but it's not likely.

[Curtis Fry]

Mike,
Just another note. I've been checking with a guy who fishes the JD a LOT. He has had 100 fish days in early June with water levels above 6000 CFS. Water clarity and temp are the keys. The high levels they're having now are due to big rain storms dumping moisture they've missed out on all year.

The forecast looks like around 4000 CFS during M-day weekend, so I'm pretty sure we're still on track to fish there.

[cheech]

Today is the day. We head out at 3PM, and we'll be ripping smallies tomorrow morning early. We should hit the flows at 4100 cfs or less on Thu-Fri. Have fun at work this week fellas!

[Jason]

Have fun guys. I wish I was going. Take a lot of pics.

Oh, and don't let Curtis have have any chili cheese omlettes or your trip won't be very pleasant. Danger, danger.

And Curtis, don't let Cheech eat any of the week old burritos from Maverik.

....and don't forget your life jackets too.

[THeBLender]

Today is the day. We head out at 3PM, and we'll be ripping smallies tomorrow morning early ... Have fun at work this week fellas!

cheech sux.

[CycleFish]

Curtis,
How did you guys do, did your thumb get worn out from picking up fish?
M

[Lonnie]

Yeah. Spill it.

L

[Sumner Newman]

Cummon' . . . where's the report from you mighty bassmasters????

[Lonnie]

Can we deduce that if they had slayed 'em we would have head about it Tuesday am? ;)

You can always get bass redemption at Pelican....

L

[MWSpearo]

I am sure there will be a spin to make it sound like it ended up being a great trip but....

I spoke with Cheech this AM and he said that the John Day was running gigantic and like chocolate milk. They did a 6 hour float in 1 and a half. They caught a handful of fish in the 4 to 8 inch range.

Ouch!

[Sumner Newman]

Can we deduce that if they had slayed 'em we would have head about it Tuesday am? ;)
L

That's sorta what I'm thinkin', Lonnie. And now it appears confirmed by MW.

I feel your pain guys - no need to report. Been there, done that.

[Lonnie]

They caught a handful of fish in the 4 to 8 inch range.

At least they didn't get skunked!!!

[Curtis Fry]

Well 'ah tell yuh what....

The fishing was sub-par for sure. The flows were down, but the water was a nice brownish green color (and not from Cheech's feet contamination).

Herb actually did fairly well and caught more than anyone else. I think we might have had better luck if we had just fished it a lot deeper. In the end, Cheech and I busted it down to the takeout thinking we weren't even 1/2 way down. In the end, the float was fun and it was nice to get out there. I ended up with 5 or 6 of the little red-eyed buggers. They were scrappy for sure.

We then hit Brownlee Reservoir in Oregon/Idaho for some smallie and crappie action. That was pretty dang good in the morning and then tapered off during the afternoon. The highlight of that day was Cheech catching a 10 lb carp. I thought his rod was going to bust in half.

Then we went back to our roots and fished a few reservoirs for trout on the way home. We at least had a couple of solid fishing days there for some nice 'bows.

So next year, we'll plan the trip for later in June and we'll hope for lower flows.

I'll post some pics later....

[CycleFish]

Guys that sucks,
What days did you fish? I was for sure you being further up would be killin'em.

We had an awesome float. Thursday, the day we put-in was the slowest fishing with high brown soup water. Only 13 fish boated. Things just got better from there on, 48, 66, 100+. It was quite the experience.

Here's some pic's.
M

[CycleFish]

more pic's

[WyFlyGuy]

What happened to the rod in that middle picture? That's a pretty sweet job of puting it back together. I think a roll of duct tape would have been the perfect touch!

[CycleFish]

dumbass me happened. & that was the backup!! #^%$#

[Sumner Newman]

Fish a few reservoirs for trout on the way home, now did ya?

Good choice.

[Curtis Fry]

That's cool Mike -- I'm glad you guys did well. Where did you end up floating? We considered staying around for the 2nd day of the float, but it didn't seem like it would improve that much. Not many people were catching much where we were (Twickenham to Priest Hole). And yep, that was Thursday! Just our luck.

100+ fish? Sweet! Er, I mean, Fred will have something to say about that....

Yes, Sumner, the fishing on the way home was by far the fishing highlight of the trip. Damsels and Callibaetis galore!

[CycleFish]

We floated from Clarno - Cottonwood, 5 days. I tried some dries on the third day, but only caught a couple so switched back to the subsurface stuff. Just pounded the banks all day long.

We also got a couple of Northern Pikeminnows.
M

[Curtis Fry]

I think next year, we're going to look at planning a longer float like that from Clarno to Cottonwood. You didn't run the Clarno rapids did you?

All in all, that's a really nice place to fish though.

[CycleFish]

You didn't run the Clarno rapids did you?


Oh yeah!
It was a blast - totally swamped! Lost & retrieved my "P" bucket, lost & retrieved my beer kooze 5 miles downstream. Too much fun:)

[Curtis Fry]

Nice! Yeah, Cheech almost lost it going over Fossil rapids. He ended up going sideways down them. I got swept into the willows along the bank and had to fight smacking willow branches as well as the rapids. Quite fun.

[Sumner Newman]

Yes, Sumner, the fishing on the way home was by far the fishing highlight of the trip. Damsels and Callibaetis galore!
OK, if that was the fishing highlight of the trip, I'm kinda wondering what the other highlights were :-). Then, again, maybe I don't want to know? Cheech's moldy feet turning the river green? Process gas from chili cheese burritos?

[Curtis Fry]

Well let's see...there was a LOT of driving. We saw several rattlesnakes, a few coyotes, a bald eagle, full moon from Cheech.

At lake 222 on the road back from the JD Cheech got into a few rainbows at dusk. We ate a lot of my Dad's donuts and we realized that 1/2 the Asian population in Washington and Oregon fish Brownlee reservior in Toyota Tacomas and then sell the fish back home. Herb likes to sleep in a Pokemon bed and Ryan likes it when we sleep in the trailer and move around a lot in the night.

We also met a friend of yours Sumner...a guy named Alan Wilson who likes to pick up garbage with his dog. He gave us some good information.