It is currently 28 Mar 2024, 14:37


New Topic Add Reply
Author Message
Bass-o-matic
Post 09 Aug 2017, 14:25 • #1 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/06/15
Posts: 1249
Location: Central Oregon
No, not Dan Akroyd, putting a bass in a blender.
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/ ... 8631?snl=1

The automatic bass are the smallmouth of the John Day River. The John Day runs through Eastern Oregon's high desert, and at 284 miles is the third largest undammed river in America. Smallmouth took it over in the 1970's and thrive there. They tend to be small, but for sheer numbers the fishing is remarkable. You hear stories of 100 fish days, fish on ten straight casts etc. Our club was planning a trip to a campground on the lower portion, but it was cancelled because of record heat, and no shade anywhere. I was looking forward to going, so I made my own plans.

Basically the hotter the weather and the lower the water the better the fishing. I had gone of a couple of spring rafting/kayak trips during high water, and caught a few fish on a spinning rod, but they were paddling trips. This year river flow peaked at 20,000 cfs in March. Prime boating is May-June, as it drops to 4,000-2,000 cfs. Below 800 cfs the boating is tough, grinding drift boats and grounding rafts. I went at 120 cfs.

I didn't want to try a long wilderness canyon at those flows, so I thought I'd check the fishing on a section with a road next to the river. Maybe the fishing would be good in spite of the easy access. First cast, a feisty fish grabbed the fly and ripped off some line. He puked up some minnows and two more bass grabbed those. I got four fish on the first five casts. OK, the section by the road works just fine.

I fished that afternoon and booked an eight mile shuttle, and the next morning launched my frameless pontoon:
Image

Image

I had been told the fish might run just 5-7", but they would make up for size with good topwater action. I found plenty of 10" fish, fat and powerful enough to move the boat, and some line ripping 12-14" fish. The best fish of the day I named Bruce Banner, the guy who turned into the Incredible Hulk when stressed. I caught this little guy:
Image

Suddenly the rod bent double and some basszilla headed to the bottom of the pool. I figured either he had turned into the Hulk, or was eaten. I managed to get it stable in a deep hole and tried to wear it out, when suddenly it turned back to Bruce Banner. This little fish had a bad day, but swam away.

The best fly was a thing called an Tequeely Streamer. You can get them from Orvis for $2.75 "hand tied in Kenya" but I got some on ebay direct from Kenya way cheaper. It is unweighted, and I found I could cast to the grass, pull it in and get the fish waiting for a hopper, but in open water it took more and bigger fish than a surface fly, and it ran shallow enough to see the takes.

Like many of the glass fanatics I brought a pile of gear. The first day I used my Orvis Superfine glass 5wt, but after 30 fish the Sharkwave textured line burned my stripping fingers out. I caught most of them on a Fewnwick FF 807, a super rod for big or small fish, but after two days and over 100 fish my wrist and arm were wasted and I finished with a light and easy to cast 4wt pack rod I brought. Here's some fish and scenes:

Image
Image

Image
Image
Image

Oh yeah--Never saw another person!


Top
  
Quote
Re: Bass-o-matic
Post 09 Aug 2017, 15:02 • #2 
Guide
Joined: 06/25/16
Posts: 156
Location: Southeast PA
Nice pictures, Great looking river !


Top
  
Quote
Re: Bass-o-matic
Post 09 Aug 2017, 17:17 • #3 
Master Guide
Joined: 07/04/15
Posts: 388
Location: Coppell, TX
Great report. Looks like a terrific river. Thanks


Top
  
Quote
Re: Bass-o-matic
Post 09 Aug 2017, 19:01 • #4 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/05/10
Posts: 5229
Location: Mid Hudson Valley of New York
Verrry coooool! I like that pontoon boat....


Top
  
Quote
Re: Bass-o-matic
Post 09 Aug 2017, 19:22 • #5 
Master Guide
Joined: 09/29/09
Posts: 906
Location: US-MI
A fine time and fun report to read.

Still thinking of the SNL skit with your title.


Top
  
Quote
Re: Bass-o-matic
Post 09 Aug 2017, 19:42 • #6 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 05/22/16
Posts: 1760
Location: SJC
That looks super fun ! Have to check out that pattern.


Top
  
Quote
Re: Bass-o-matic
Post 10 Aug 2017, 00:03 • #7 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/06/15
Posts: 1249
Location: Central Oregon
picketpin52 wrote:
Verrry coooool! I like that pontoon boat....


Thanks picket. I love that boat. I had a Costco framed pontoon which was too heavy to lift onto the roof, to big for the back of the Tacoma, and had more places to snag a line than a blackberry thicket. This boat is wonderful, and at 120 cfs of water, I can just stand up and walk it through the riffles.

http://www.outcastboats.com/frameless/2 ... -scout.asp


Top
  
Quote
Re: Bass-o-matic
Post 10 Aug 2017, 00:12 • #8 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/06/15
Posts: 1249
Location: Central Oregon
Odonata wrote:
That looks super fun ! Have to check out that pattern.


It is also spelled Tequilly. Mine had a black body, but most are crawdad brown, and I'll bet even better. The yellow legs are great---if they jerk or vanish, set the hook!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr2zcYsankE

http://www.orvis.com/p/tequeely-streame ... v5EALw_wcB


Top
  
Quote
Re: Bass-o-matic
Post 10 Aug 2017, 09:07 • #9 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/26/14
Posts: 3578
Location: US-MN
That looks like a fun time!


Top
  
Quote
Re: Bass-o-matic
Post 10 Aug 2017, 10:56 • #10 
Guide
Joined: 03/24/14
Posts: 217
Location: US-CA
So extremely cool. What a resource to have close by! Great Fenwick shot too.


Top
  
Quote
Re: Bass-o-matic
Post 10 Aug 2017, 20:27 • #11 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 05/19/14
Posts: 3924
Location: USA - Illinois
Great stuff - looks like several age classes of smallmouth you have. Healthy river system I bet.


Top
  
Quote
Re: Bass-o-matic
Post 11 Aug 2017, 12:03 • #12 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 03/30/09
Posts: 1525
Location: Hamilton,Ontario,Canada
Nice bass even though they aren't monsters.I really like that frameless pontoon boat.That was one problem I had with the boat I had,putting it together.It took a lot of time.


Top
  
Quote
Re: Bass-o-matic
Post 11 Aug 2017, 13:16 • #13 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 04/06/15
Posts: 1249
Location: Central Oregon
Stonefly wrote:
Nice bass even though they aren't monsters..


It is interesting, the monsters are caught in the spring when the fishing is slow. I guess you could catch them in August if 5" live bass were legal bait. Here's a breakdown from a guide on the river:

Image


Top
  
Quote
Re: Bass-o-matic
Post 11 Aug 2017, 13:24 • #14 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/11/14
Posts: 1784
Location: urban Colorado
excellent !
bet I could get my canoe down that river at 120cfs too ;-)

guess the smaller fellows are just way faster than the bigger fish, once the water goes down..


Top
  
Quote
Re: Bass-o-matic
Post 17 Aug 2017, 20:53 • #15 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 12/14/11
Posts: 1018
Location: Chicago Western Suburbs
I remember see the John Day River in "100 Places to Fly Fish Before You Die". Interesting river, another added to bucket list.


Top
  
Quote
Re: Bass-o-matic
Post 20 Aug 2017, 13:16 • #16 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 03/30/09
Posts: 1525
Location: Hamilton,Ontario,Canada
I could still catch those smaller bass all day long with no problem. :)


Top
  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  

New Topic Add Reply



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Alasgun, Bamboozle, chaoticscott, El Gato and 14 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Jump to:  
Google
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group