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Perfect Steelheading conditions.

November 18-26th, 2006 John Day Steelhead Field Report:

Winter storms continued to hit Oregon this last week. While most rivers in Oregon are flowing high and dirty, the John Day was stable and fishable all last week. Located in north central Oregon , among sagebrush and wheat fields, the weather clears the river basin thanks to the uplifting of clouds over the Cascades 60 miles to the west, creating the perfect Steelhead conditions this time of year.Guiding three anglers from Burns, Oregon last week was a pleasure. Thank you to Dave, Dave, and Mitch as this is their fourth year in a row booking with us. With a beautiful ten mile float down a wild and scenic John Day , fine conversations, and four Steelhead hookups made for an exceptional day.   One only lasted a head shake with a second or two of thrashing on the surface. Another came unbuttoned after a spirited fight including some spectacular leaps. The other two hookups we were able to beach, larger than average, going about 9 or 10 lbs. One was a hatchery buck and the other a picture perfect wild hen.
	Tim from www.oregonfishing.com booked his second group of good guys this last week with us. For three days Ted and I guided them in three different water options we offer. The first option was on a ten mile float; we managed to have fair success on each boat by landing a couple of hard fighting Steelhead. The water temp was a season low, 42 degrees and the bite was on two different color combinations of leach patterns. Searching for more willing Steelhead the next day, we went looking on another float that covers eight miles of water. The water temp in the morning was a bit warmer at 43 degrees. The Steelhead played “hard to get” and did not turn on until the evening light, resulting with three fish in the last three runs of the day, averaging 6-7 lbs of spirited splendor.
On our final day we had just enough dry weather to attempt the ranch road into our finest piece of private water. This road is rough, steep, and the littlest of moisture makes it impassable. Arriving early with clear skies we managed one Steelhead to hand, right away, before clouds rolled in and started to precipitate. Cutting our day much too short we headed up the old road in a hurry. Too late it seemed, as near the top of this three mile road it became to steep and to slick to attempt the summit. Thankfully the summit was only a ten minute walk out and cell phone coverage is good. Mia picked us up within twenty minutes of the call and we were on our way!
	The next morning while Ted guided John from Spokane, Washington we were able to drive the Suburban out with the dry weather helping our cause the night before. As soon as we hit the top of the road it started to sprinkle. By the way John landed a fine Steelhead of 32 inches with Ted and we got the Suburban out.  As of today, November 25, 2006 winter weather is showing herself in the high dessert. Today we woke to three inches of snow in Condon, with a low of 28 degrees. Thankfully the river is located 2000 feet lower in elevation than Condon. This morning there was no snow at the river but we did have a rise in flow, 200cfs that put a touch of color to the water, limiting visibility to one foot. With colder nights and less precipitation we should see prime conditions by the later part of next week.  We will give it a rest for a few days and resume when it clears.

All the Best.

www.oregonsteelhead.com