John Day River Clave: July 17-19

Date: June 17-19 2005

John Day River Small Mouth Bass Float Trip
Happy Hacklers will have 5-7 people going as well and some are experience

With the river levels likely to be very low it was suggested, at the recent
Happy Hacklers meeting, that pontoon boats would be the best choice of
watercraft. The river is fishable down to 100 CFS but difficult to float, at
that rate, even in a pontoon. The recommended amount of flow was, at least,
400 CFS. It takes 1000 CFS to give the drift boats enough water to
navigate. (Today the river is raging at 13,100 CFS at Service Creek!)

Fishing equipment recommendation: 3wt to 5wt floating lines. If the water
level is high a sink tip line would be advisable as well. Travis, of the
Gorge Fly Shop, uses floating line pretty much exclusively because he loves
the top water action. Travis is the go to person for information on this
fishery:

http://www.gorgeflyshop.com/

Flies: Small chartreuse poppers with rubber legs were suggested as the most
effective top water fly for this fishery. White poppers were his second
choice.

Wooly Buggers - Olive, black and brown size 4 to 8
Crawfish patterns
Streamers (chartreuse, olive, black, brown)
Wet Flies (Anything with marabou in purple or black seems to work well)

Camping: Very primitive and there are rattlesnakes (I grew up near hear and
I have never had a problem with a snake) and cactus (it will poke holes in
air mattresses). We are required by the regulation to bring a
self-contained portable potty. In reality one for the group is enough and,
well, frankly it doesn't get used much. But you have to have one at the
start and the end of trip. One has already been arranged by the group we
are going with.

Shuttle Service: Jana, at Service Creek, has a shuttle service and it is
$50 per vehicle. There are others as well: Donna, of Donna's John Day River
Shuttles, Fossil, Oregon
(541) 763-4884 was highly recommended but I could not reach her today to get
a quote.

Location: Put in at Service Creek and take out at Clarno.

Meeting: We will be meeting at Service Creek at 7am, Friday June 17th, 2005
Service Creek Stage Stop
38686 Hwy 19 Fossil, Oregon 97830 (541) 468-3331
http://www.servicecreekstagestop.com/
Water Level Reports: http://tinyurl.com/b5dzp
Contact: Chris Fanning (360) 260-5545 if you are
planning to attend this trip, please contact me soon. I will be sending out
add'l info in the next few days.