River

Steelheading and Stargazing

We headed out late on a snowy Friday in February with plans for steelhead and stars, and neither was looking too promising. Brand new telescope packed away in the back seat, we hoped to get a chance to see what it would do, but obviously you need clear skies to see the stars. Steelhead, well, who knows. It is getting late in the season, but we were headed a ways up river, and I figure you can’t win if you don’t play!

We arrived after dark at Priest Hole and settled in for the night. We had the place nearly to ourselves, with one other camp a bit downriver that left the next morning. The river had a jump in flows in the day or two before our arrival, but was on the fall. Maybe a good sign? I haven’t ever targeted steelhead on the John Day and have always been on it in the warmer months chasing the plentiful bass. I think I still have a bit to figure out, but what a beautiful place to spend the weekend!

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Montana, 2020, Part 1, Smith River

The Smith River in Montana. Some have heard of it, a lot of people haven’t. If you have, you know the deal. A limited entry permit is required to float the 59 miles form Camp Baker to Eden Bridge. You have about a 1 in 30 shot as an individual to draw a permit last I checked. A permit allows for 5 days and 4 nights of floating through a postcard picture of tree covered hills and white cliffs, with lots of wildflowers and a few trout thrown in.

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Grande Ronde River, 2020

2020. Rivers were closed, trips were canceled, but by the time the calendar rolled around to the dates planned for the Grande Ronde, things had opened up. I mean, if you can't find distance to float down a river, where can you find it? So, off we went to northeast Oregon in June. I've had some floats in June where flows were great for fishing but it seems like the last few years....not so much.…

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