John Day report

Well I thought I had it planned just right.  Sunday river levels at 1800 and dropping for the start of the trip.  Woke Monday morning on departure day, checked the levels and it spiked to 2400!  Oh well it happens.  Got to the launch (30 mile) and it went up to 2900. Yikes, what's going on!  The only good thing about it is it made clicking off the miles easy.  GPS showing avg. moving speed between 4- 6 mpg with very little paddling.

The water stayed muddy for the first three days making the fishing very slow.  Day four it started dropping and cleared. The fishing picked up and they where slamming poppers. 

Since we had a supply raft with us, my wife decided to be lazy and ride with me on our double.  I didn't like the idea at first but it worked out great for me.  She held me in the eddies while I fished and best of all she made a great splash shield.  She took all the water going through the riffles. 

All things considered was a great trip.  Weather was nice, canyon was beautiful and we even spotted two groups of mountain sheep.

Will post some pictures when I get time to download and go through them.

Will do it again, hopefully with lower river levels. 

Elliot

Was there too on Tues through Thurs. Service Creek to Clarno.  The spike in water definatly affected the fishing but it got better every day as the water dropped.  The weather however was fantastic every day.  Catfishing is always good though even in high water.

Was there too on Tues through Thurs. Service Creek to Clarno.  The spike in water definatly affected the fishing but it got better every day as the water dropped.  The weather however was fantastic every day.  Catfishing is always good though even in high water.

    Love those  fork tails!!!  Be sure the rods in the holder !!
  Royg

Yeah it's a great activity for the evenings hanging around camp.  Like dumbsh!ts we all forgot bait so we ended up using our hotdogs for catfish bait. Worked great

I'm doing the trip from Service Creek to Cottonwood starting on the 28th. Will post a full report as well. Really looking forward to this trip. Any recommendations? If we have to portage Clarno, did you guys just pak the yaks or use a cart? How far of a portage is it? Anything else I should look out for?

Jack

That is one long float.  How many days do you plan on making the trip?

Your looking at 117 miles.  It will be an awesome trip but I would pray for lots of water or it will takea while.

We are taking 7 days for the trip and have a couple of extra days built in if we need them. Not too concerned about clicking off miles. I've done the willy a number of times during late summer low flows and can easily click off 15-20 miles in half a day. Projected flows still look really good for the trip so it should be fun.

I was hoping it was a typo cause now I am jealous.  That is going to be a blast.  Is it all kayaks?  Sorry I can't help with Clarno rapids. I have never been able to do that stretch. My book says says dead center is a good line, but there is still some rock dodging.  Also says there is a trail that goes up high for good scouting.  The book also says that lining your boat is good here and that is way easier than portaging.

P.S. don't line your boat just go for it

Yeah, just two kayaks. Primarily camping/exploration trip with a bit of fishing tossed in for good measure. I used to fish up around Spray/Kimberly as a kid and have been down to the twickenham area a couple of times, but that has been years ago. I'll take lots of pics. So far though, between two Seattle Sports Kayak Catch Coolkers strapped to the rear deck for food storage and a couple of dry bags for sleeping bag, tent, etc. Things are looking to be good for the trip. We are pretty minimalist when it comes to camp gear so that helps a whole bunch. As far as shooting Clarno. I guess we will play it by ear. I have the soggy sneakers guide book and the BLM map, but nothing like first hand accounts. Seen a few videos on youtube, but doesn't help much. Might just offload my gear above the rapids and shoot them for fun and then hike back up and pack the rest of my gear down. Even if we crash and burn, no real harm at that point unless we hole a yak, lol! Should be a great trip. Look forward to a nice write up when we get back.