Along with another family of two boys, we took the kids camping via boat only access on the John Day River last year and just had to do it again. For 2012 it was the 4th of July and joining us were 3 other families - 9 kids, 8 of which were boys equating to a fun and rowdy bunch. Despite my fishing boat being outnumbered by two wake board / ski / tubing boats in our group, I was able to get a little boat and bank fishing in.
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| Gavin and the first bass of 2012 - long arming, Roland Martin style... |
After getting camp setup, Gavin and I got things started off chasing bass with plastic worms and lizards. In between jumping into the river to cool off, we hooked into a few nice small mouth near several rock piles and boulders. Gavin is practicing his casting and is getting
okay at it. However, on day one of our trip, he threw his rod overboard while trying to cast, sacrificing it into the depths of the John Day. (he's lucky we never go anywhere with just one of anything but he was done casting for a while)
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| Chasing channel catfish only to find several (small) yellow cats! |
Last year (
see post), I fished the John Day exclusively for bass. This year I expanded the game plan to include channel cats from the bank. With 1oz. of lead (which was probably too much for the slow current) on the bottom of a leader and a night crawler up line 16", we could hang out at camp with the group, waiting for a fish to bite.
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| Waiting for a catfish to tug on the line |
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| Buddies Rhett and Gavin killing time on the river |
As always when we go camping, we brought enough food to last a month, so we had no intention of killing and grilling any of the fish we caught. All the bass and cats caught where tossed back in the river in hopes they grow for us next year.
