Fishing the John Day

Dave G

Dave G

Steelhead
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I'm planning a 3-day float of the John Day from Service Creek to Clareno in mid-May. I'll be going with folks who know the river, but not fly fishing.

Is this section strictly a bass fishery, or should I plan for trout as well? What's the go-to fly setup? Is a 6-wt the right rod?

Any insight would be appreciated!
 
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I've never done it, but as far as I know, that's pretty much just a bass game. Trout are a by-catch at best.
 
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I floated that section two mays ago. Awesome float, a ton of fun. No signs of trout. Carp were porpoising all over. The water was chocolate milk, fishing was tough. Apparently they were catching them on poppers only a week before.

I would bring a floating line setup and a long sink tip. Something like the streamer max long. 6 or 7wt. If your conditions are anything like mine you'll use the sink tip the majority of the time. My favorite pattern was a bassmaster. No need to overthink flies.
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Bass only. Think 6 or 7 with a sink tip line.

Mid May really depends on when runoff comes. You could be at 500 CFS or 5,000 CFS.

Buggers, streamers, poppers. They’ll all work.
 
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DFG said:
I'm planning a 3-day float of the John Day from Service Creek to Clareno in mid-May. I'll be going with folks who know the river, but not fly fishing.

Is this section strictly a bass fishery, or should I plan for trout as well? What's the go-to fly setup? Is a 6-wt the right rod?

Any insight would be appreciated!
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Bass, 6wt , buggers streamers and poppers.
Pretty easy fishing.
 
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Easy fishing, all poppers for me. The geology is awesome. Hope you have less wind than we did a couple of June’s ago, and why is it always upstream? So much rowing.

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This will sound funny, but bring a few flies on big hooks. If the conditions are somewhat normal you will get tired of 3-6" fish and the big hooked flies will keep fishing until a bigger fish gets interested. I like a rabbit strip streamer with rubber legs, a der hair collar and a conehead on a size 2 or 4 B10 hook. Fish that on a light tip or poly leader, hit the bank and it should follow the river contour down to the bigger fish. That and sudsy back eddys.
 
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Yard Sale said:
This will sound funny, but bring a few flies on big hooks. If the conditions are somewhat normal you will get tired of 3-6" fish and the big hooked flies will keep fishing until a bigger fish gets interested. I like a rabbit strip streamer with rubber legs, a der hair collar and a conehead on a size 2 or 4 B10 hook. Fish that on a light tip or poly leader, hit the bank and it should follow the river contour down to the bigger fish. That and sudsy back eddys.
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Unintentionally this is what I’ve always done. I don’t think I’ve fished anything smaller than a 6 and mostly in the 1/0 to 4 range.
 
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