Bass Fishing

We stayed at the Wilson Ranches B&B near Fossil a few years ago. On a day with some early morning sunshine, I decided to be adventurous and go smallmouth bass fishing on the John Day River.

It seems a little odd having a great bass fishery on a world-famous wild steelhead river (the longest undammed river in the lower 48), but the water gets so warm in the summer that bass thrive.

After picking up a key for a minimal fee at the Rattray River Ranch, I opened a gate by a corral and began the seven-mile descent into the Thirty-mile Creek Canyon. At the bottom, I had to ford three creek crossings in my SUV, one about 20 feet across. Thankfully, Denny the owner was close by and assured me the creek was only six inches deep, or so.

After passing through one more gate, I was on the bank of the John Day River at a BLM raft launching site. I broke out a light spinning pole with Panther-Martin spinners with single, barbless hooks. In the first 45 minutes I landed and released 10 smallmouth bass. Some jumped completely out of the water several times.

Even though the biggest was only about a foot long, they all put up a good fight. For the next couple of hours I took photos of the area as the sun broke in and out of the clouds, fished and did some hiking.

Mule Deer

On the way back to the B&B, I spotted some mule deer in a field. The bucks seemed to be having fun chasing their smaller bretheren between snacking on tasty fare. They are always fun to watch.

Sad to report that the Rattray River Ranch is no longer. The land was acquired by the Western Rivers Conservancy.