Flows were looking good in mid May, which isn’t always the case on a river as fickle as the Owyhee. Snowpack was good over the winter, and flows were slowly declining to what would be ideal for a trip, 2700 CFS. We packed our bags, hooked up the raft and headed to southeast Oregon for our second trip on the Wild Owyhee.
Spring is always a nice time to hit the John Day River. Wildflowers are blooming, it greens up for a short period of time, and the blackbirds and geese fill the air. We launched at Service Creek and made our way to Clarno over the course of four days in May.
After a relatively dry winter, spring in Oregon has been pretty moist. This trip was no exception. Flows were pretty high, especially if you are interested in fishing. But the flowers were blooming and we had long stretches of the river to ourselves.
It’s always a bittersweet time of year. I always look forward to being on the river, especially the Deschutes River in the fall. But, it means the fishing season is coming to a close. Shorter days and closures are in the future. In the meantime, fall brings the chance for a steelhead, and the trout are feasting as the fall insects hatch.
I was lucky enough to get on the river three times this fall. Two shorter trips in September and then a longer one in October. In the end there were few steelhead in the river and none on the line. Oh well, the trout, the wildlife and the views were all top notch.
