John Day River June 28 - July 1

That sounds pretty incredible, what do they all eat? It seems with that many fish there would be shortage of food.

As far as I can tell, rubber worms and grubs, as well as small crankbaits!!!   

There is a ton of bug life in the river.  The basalt rock was literally littered with spent exoskeletons of various nymphs.  And I got to believe they are cannibalistic too.   Also crayfish, steelhead and salmon smolt, etc.

-Allen

What did they eat? 

Well I turned over a few stones in the river to find out and I found nothing... no crayfish, no stone flies, no hellgrammites, nothing.  However, on some of the rock walls there were plenty of dragonfly and stonefly exuvia  (the little shells they leave after they have moulted).  Indeed, there are plenty of flying insects around, especially dragonflies.   The bass would constantly launch themselves out of the water trying to nab a dragonfly.  They'd also launch themselves up into the grass along the shore to try and grab dragonflies and then flop back into the water.

I'm guessing some of the bigger bass probably eat the smaller bass.  That actually might explain why the smaller bass didn't seem to bite in low light conditions, they might just be hiding from the bigger bass on the prowl at dawn and dusk.  As soon as the sun set or before the sun rose, the fishing was kind of off.  However, we'd often have a late-morning and/or mid-day topwater bite.

Brian

That sounds pretty incredible, what do they all eat? It seems with that many fish there would be shortage of food.

It would not surprise me if there were a couple thousand fish or more per mile on the John Day.
From what I've seen, the preferred food of smallmouth bass are crayfish. I've caught fish that coughed up nearly whole crawdads but I can't recall seeing any crayfish on the John Day, Deschutes or the Columbia, dead or alive. Usually, you'll see an exoskeleton of a dead one on the bottom once and a while, but I can't recall seeing any of those either. I don't know why you never see them, maybe they are hiding from the bass. Bass also eat small fish, probably small bass, bluegill, whitefish, shad and anything else that swims by. I've seen bass eat bugs that have fallen off trees that hang over the water, but I think the bigger they get, the less they jump. With the large bass population on the John Day, you could assume the competition to find food is pretty fierce, that may be why they bite so readily.
I'm a believer in being on the water at dawn to get the early bite, but with smallmouth bass, they don't seem to come alive until the sun hits the water, especially if the water is colder. You may be familiar with the old fisherman's tale that fish don't bite as well during a full moon, I'm pretty much a 90% believer in that as far as smallmouth bass fishing goes.

I did see a few crawdads in the water and had some coughed up as well.  And lots of bigger bugs coughed up that were crushed, which made identification tough.

It definitely was slow in the morning and evening when the sun was off the water.  I'd wake up, walk down to the water and make a few casts.  Maybe hook a couple.  Then I'd go back up, pack up camp, eat breakfast and prepare to launch, casting the line a few times every now and then, picking a few here and there.  As soon as it got brighter, the bite would turn on.  Same hole, same bait, only the lighting changed.

-Allen

Wow! Sounds like fun.  Great shot of Brian.

Craig,

I couldn't help but think you and the other huntas might enjoy a cast and blast on this river in the fall.  We saw tons of chukar.  Also saw ducks, geese, deer, bighorn sheep, and more.  And in addition to the smallies, there would be steelies in the river.

-Allen

I may have to round up a few people to give that a go this fall.  I love upland game birds.  Yum!  I will have to plan something when I am stuck in Huntsville for the next few weeks.  I am debating whether or not to bring a rod.  I will have no car so I don't know if it is worth it, but I bet there are big bass lurking nearby.  I need an inflatable yak.

For pics and (soon to come) video from the trip, check out the Canyon Kayak Bassin' blog at http://canyonkayakbassin.tumblr.com/. Follow on Facebook and Tumblr at #canyonkayakbassin .

Old Town released a video of the trip. I got a little air time.  Sporting an NCKA shirt too!

-Allen