Marty's Drift September 2000

"In Search of Fly Water"
on the John Day River

Where is the world's best small mouth bass fishery? Well, I, for one, don't know enough about spiny ray species to even venture a guess, but I would have to bet that the John Day River in central Oregon must rank pretty high. I got to spend four days on the John Day last June and I found many things there to impress me.

I have fished the John Day in the past during a different season. My previous trips have been in late fall when the days are short and the night time temperatures drop below freezing. The fish I am after at that time are late returning summer-run steelhead. June is quite different. There is still light in the sky at 9:45 p.m. and night time temperatures can stay in the 60's or 70's. There are no steelhead in the river, but small mouth bass are everywhere.

Jim "Coz" Costolnick is one of the ClackaCraft pro-staff guides who uses and endorses our boats. "Coz" is also the host of a new ESPN fly fishing program called In Search of Fly Water. The program will start to air after January first 2001. One of the segments they wanted to film was small mouth fly fishing on the John Day. I agreed to meet them to row a support boat for the film crew.

None of us had any experience fishing the John Day for small mouth so the production company got, local guide, James Haley (Wild River Ranch 541-468-2900 or 877-953-2277) to act as guide for "Coz." It was a real advantage to have his expertise, knowledge of the river and access to private ranches. Even with the best help, fishing can sometimes take strange turns. The best water levels for floating the John Day around 2000 cfs. We were looking at water levels of 1300 to 1500 cfs. Bass like water temperatures above 65° F. When I took the temperature it was 58° F. Our first day on the river was cold and overcast. Day two we woke up to rain. We waited for two hours until it let up. Both of these days provided tough fishing with mostly small fish.

Day three warmed up considerably, and so did the fishing. "Coz" started to catch more bass and larger bass. On the last day of the shoot James pulled out at the stops and took us in to one of his private ranch access points on a part of the river that sees much less traffic. Maybe it was this more remote area and maybe it was the warmer weather, but this turned out to be best day of fishing with the largest fish and most spectacular scenery. The last day's float was the icing on the cake.

While we were on the river we met another fishing party doing a float. I recognized their boat as an older ClackaCraft. I've owned five different ClackaCraft boats since 1982, and I knew this one was older. The owner is John Thomas, from Vancouver, Washington. He, a friend and their sons were off on a three day float and camp trip. I asked John how long he had owned the boat, and he told me he bought it new in 1980. He also said the boat has been working great for the past 20 years. Twenty years and going strong!

Originally we thought of camping on the river for the film shoot, but the logistics of gear for the crew became a little overwhelming. We opted to stay at the Service Creek Bed & Breakfast (541-468-3331). This turned out to be a great move. Service Creek Bed & Breakfast is a newly remodeled 1930's ranch house. It is run by Jana Zwicker and her capable staff. Jana not only provided our breakfast, but all of our meals which gave us more time to focus on river floating and fishing. And let me say that the menu was excellent and generous. No one on the filming crew lacked for food. I am hoping to schedule another visit to Service Creek Bed & Breakfast in November when the steelhead are in the river.

Give Marty a call at: (503) 655-9532

You can also call Idaho Falls at (800) 394-1345.