Is this thing on?

Date: June 17-19 2005
John Day River Small Mouth Bass Float Trip
With only one response so far (and a maybe at that), I thought maybe a
little marketing of this trip might be in order.

In the latest issue of Fly Fisherman magazine, July 2005, Dave Whitlock has
an article entitled, "Surface Smallmouth." In this article, Dave
relates,"These tough fish (smallmouth bass) are stronger, more durable, much
more prolific, and more intelligent than trout. The have an admirable and
uncompromising personality of a true gamefish, eagerly attacking the fly
and, once hooked, respond with wild, acrobatic jumps, hard runs, and a
strong, stubborn fight that earned them the reputation of being
pound-for-pound the hardest-fighting freshwater fish."

The article goes on to rate the top 30 Smallmouth Rivers in the United
States. And guess which river is the absolutely top Smallmouth river in the
land? You guessed it happy campers, it is the John Day River in the State
of Oregon.

This trip is an easy float and it would be a great river for any beginner to
run a pontoon boat upon. There are pontoon boats, for rent, available right
at the put in point..

As I mentioned, I attended a presentation on this fishery last week and
those in attendance as well as the presenter could not remember any day on
the John Day River that did not produce, at least, 30 fish per rod. 50 - 70
fish is the normal for this fishery and fishing is good all day long! I
learned that early morning and late afternoon tend to produce the bigger
fish.

But wait there's more! If you respond to this offer within the next 30
minutes (or at all), I will share with you a few secret locations, where
people tend to overlook when they make this run and the fish are larger and
more aggressive in these little know hideaways.


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

River Mile 155, latitude/longitude N 44 47.845 / W 120 00.489
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.

Padishar Creel wrote:
Date: June 17-19 2005
John Day River Small Mouth Bass Float Trip
With only one response so far (and a maybe at that), I thought maybe a
little marketing of this trip might be in order.
snip

Sometimes, even if you build it, they do not come. ;-)

Sounds like a fun time, Chris. I wish I could be there.
--
TL,
Tim
------------------------
http://css.sbcma.com/timj

If you are among the first fifty callers......

Chris I absolutely love smallmouth fishing. They are the dominate fish in my
area. mid/southerenohio

....did I call soon enough?

john


"Padishar Creel" wrote in message
...
Date: June 17-19 2005
John Day River Small Mouth Bass Float Trip
With only one response so far (and a maybe at that), I thought maybe a
little marketing of this trip might be in order.

In the latest issue of Fly Fisherman magazine, July 2005, Dave Whitlock
has
an article entitled, "Surface Smallmouth." In this article, Dave
relates,"These tough fish (smallmouth bass) are stronger, more durable,
much
more prolific, and more intelligent than trout. The have an admirable and
uncompromising personality of a true gamefish, eagerly attacking the fly
and, once hooked, respond with wild, acrobatic jumps, hard runs, and a
strong, stubborn fight that earned them the reputation of being
pound-for-pound the hardest-fighting freshwater fish."

The article goes on to rate the top 30 Smallmouth Rivers in the United
States. And guess which river is the absolutely top Smallmouth river in
the
land? You guessed it happy campers, it is the John Day River in the State
of Oregon.

This trip is an easy float and it would be a great river for any beginner
to
run a pontoon boat upon. There are pontoon boats, for rent, available
right
at the put in point..

As I mentioned, I attended a presentation on this fishery last week and
those in attendance as well as the presenter could not remember any day on
the John Day River that did not produce, at least, 30 fish per rod. 50 -
70
fish is the normal for this fishery and fishing is good all day long! I
learned that early morning and late afternoon tend to produce the bigger
fish.

But wait there's more! If you respond to this offer within the next 30
minutes (or at all), I will share with you a few secret locations, where
people tend to overlook when they make this run and the fish are larger
and
more aggressive in these little know hideaways.


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

River Mile 155, latitude/longitude N 44 47.845 / W 120 00.489
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.

Padishar Creel wrote:
Date: June 17-19 2005
John Day River Small Mouth Bass Float Trip
With only one response so far (and a maybe at that), I thought maybe a
little marketing of this trip might be in order.

In the latest issue of Fly Fisherman magazine, July 2005, Dave Whitlock has
an article entitled, "Surface Smallmouth." In this article, Dave
relates,"These tough fish (smallmouth bass) are stronger, more durable, much
more prolific, and more intelligent than trout. The have an admirable and
uncompromising personality of a true gamefish, eagerly attacking the fly
and, once hooked, respond with wild, acrobatic jumps, hard runs, and a
strong, stubborn fight that earned them the reputation of being
pound-for-pound the hardest-fighting freshwater fish."

Smallmouth bass are *great* gamefish, that much is true, but
most of Whitlock's hyperbole is either opinion or bull****.
How do you compare the intelligence of a trout and a bass ?
Do you give them underwater IQ tests ? And everybody knows
that the hardest fighting freshwater fish, pound-for-pound,
is the bluegill.

I'd love to go fly fishing for smallmouth with poppers. That's
one of the reasons I paddle far into the Canadian backcountry.
The reason I don't fish for them more around central Illinois
is that they rarely hit surface flies in our streams. Around
here it's mostly wooly bugger fishing and phooey on that ****.

Sounds like a great trip, Chris. Wish I could load up my canoe
and join you !

Good luck.

--
Ken Fortenberry

"Ken Fortenberry" wrote And everybody knows
that the hardest fighting freshwater fish, pound-for-pound,
is the bluegill.

i must agree with that. those big, thick purple *******s, with a profile
about the 4-5 inches tall, will wear you out over the course of a late
afternoon.

I'd love to go fly fishing for smallmouth with poppers. That's
one of the reasons I paddle far into the Canadian backcountry.

when you were in tons, you were about 100 miles southwest of one of the
great smallmouth fisheries anywhere--the new river, up in ashe county, nc.
bring your ass back down here, and we will take my new mad river up to
jefferson, nc. and blow 'em up!

wayno

"Ken Fortenberry" Smallmouth bass are *great* gamefish, that much is
true, but
most of Whitlock's hyperbole is either opinion or bull****.
How do you compare the intelligence of a trout and a bass ?
Do you give them underwater IQ tests ? And everybody knows
that the hardest fighting freshwater fish, pound-for-pound,
is the bluegill.

I believe I'd have to go with the rock bas, pound for pound wise...

I'd love to go fly fishing for smallmouth with poppers. That's
one of the reasons I paddle far into the Canadian backcountry.
The reason I don't fish for them more around central Illinois
is that they rarely hit surface flies in our streams. Around
here it's mostly wooly bugger fishing and phooey on that ****.

Well, YOu have to hitthe water early enough that you tied your popper on
before you left 'casuse it's barely starting to break light..
'reverse that for night time poppers-right about dark thirty



Sounds like a great trip, Chris. Wish I could load up my canoe
and join you !

Good luck.

--
Ken Fortenberry

john

"asadi" wrote:
.....(past snipped)...
I believe I'd have to go with the rock bas, pound for pound wise...

I tend to agree however I must say Rock Bass seem to have no stamina. And it
does not seem like they are tired I guess it is that they just give up. They
fight like hell and then all the sudden just roll on their side. But on
release they bolt off. I like catching Rockies but they are quitters, But
still fun to catch. ( and not that I have kept a fish in 20+ years but Rock
Bass DO taste good. they make a hell of a sandwich )

On the topic of Smallmouth. I love fishing for Smallmouth. I can think of 2
times last year that it was all I could do to even get them on the reel, and
still played hell getting my hands on them. It is not at all uncommon that
once brought to hand you risk a hook in the hand because they just will not
stop thrashing around. And then... caught, lipped, pictures taken, talked to
(you gotta tell 'em how pretty they are) upon release you still take a face
full of water. Kind of their way saying '**** off '. They are sassy
*******s, no doubt about it, and fun to catch.

I'd love to go fly fishing for smallmouth with poppers. That's
one of the reasons I paddle far into the Canadian backcountry.
The reason I don't fish for them more around central Illinois
is that they rarely hit surface flies in our streams. Around
here it's mostly wooly bugger fishing and phooey on that ****.

Well, YOu have to hitthe water early enough that you tied your popper on
before you left 'casuse it's barely starting to break light..
'reverse that for night time poppers-right about dark thirty

Yep, I couldn't agree more.
One hour before sunrise. (Dim light, gray mist coming off the water. What a
time to be alive!)
Sunset to "dark thirty".

Sounds like a great trip, Chris. Wish I could load up my canoe
and join you !

Good luck.

--
Ken Fortenberry

john

Wish I was going.
~Chad

The strongest fresh water fighters are, I think, Channel Catfish.
And you can easily catch them on a flyrod--although not so easily
with flies. To catch channel cats I use a long strip of fresh
pork skin (not smoked) threaded onto a plastic worm rig,
with a split shot at the eye of the hook. Channel Cats don't jump, but
they sure do pull, and they never give up. A spinning rod might
work better than the flyrod, by the way.....but I don't even own one.
So I use what I have.

wrote:
The strongest fresh water fighters are, I think, Channel Catfish.
...

No, not even close, the strongest fighters in fresh water are
the humongous striped bass below the Guntersville Dam on the
Tennessee River, but we were talking about hardest fighting
freshwater fish *pound-for-pound* and I'll still go with the
bluegill.

And tossing split shot and pork rinds with a fly rod ? Good
lord, that's just *so* wrong.

--
Ken Fortenberry

wrote:
The strongest fresh water fighters are, I think, Channel Catfish.
And you can easily catch them on a flyrod--although not so easily
with flies. To catch channel cats I use a long strip of fresh
pork skin (not smoked) threaded onto a plastic worm rig,
with a split shot at the eye of the hook. Channel Cats don't jump, but
they sure do pull, and they never give up. A spinning rod might
work better than the flyrod, by the way.....but I don't even own one.
So I use what I have.