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03/10/2008 Entry: ""

March 10: had my annaul trip with Don Miller, Mt. Vernon, OR (541-932-4486), and Errol Claire, Canyon City, OR, (541-575-1983). some of you might recognize Errol's name, as he was the John Day River fish biologist from 1959 to 1994,when he retired from the department. He is also one of the folks responsible for stocking the John Day River with the smallmouth bass. It was 38 in Fossil at 5 AM, 36 at the river and the water was 40 degrees at 7 AM, river was running 2610 and going up, 7-8 clarity, and slightly overcast. We saw a blac eagle right off the bat and we thought this might be a good steelhead day, but Errol caught the first fish at 11 AM, a big 20 1/2" Master Angler smallmouthb bass. About 1:45 PM Errol caught another Master Angler smallie, at 20 1/4" long, and not long after Don caught his Master Angler 20" beauty. The fish a huge (big around), and we got some great pictures before we released these monsters back into the water. We ended up with six nice smallies, mostlyu caught on 1/8 oz jigheads and 3" grubs covered with Smelly Jelly. It seems only fitting for a guy that laid his job on the line in 1971 by stocking the river with smallmouth bass, should also be reaping the rewards today. Super guy, super fishermen, and a super river.