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Tuesday, December 31, 2002

December 29th: Skip Geer and his Dad, Bud Geer, went down Thirtymile and fished around river mile 85-90. They hooked up seven and landed six. All the fish that were landed were caught on Blue Fox number 4's (one on firetiger and the others on silver). They used lots of Smelly Jelly Craw/Anise. Skip caught and landed a huge 33" full bodied male (NICE FISH). Skip has Mayville Flat Hunting Preserve and Lodge, 1-541-384-4705, for those of you looking for a great outdoor bird hunting experience. He will be open till March 31st with pheasants and chukar.

December 28th: Guide Skip Geer, Bud Geer, and friend Clinton Dyer fished in the Clarno area and each boated a fish. They had most of their success on 1/2oz. Steelies in brass and florescent orange. They tried eggs, etc., but came backto the steelies for their fish.

December 27th: the State Game Officer out of John Day has reported lots of steelhead at the mouth of the North Fork of the John Day River at Kimberly. These would be the earlier fish that came in when the water was up before. The river has been quite low (280 CFS), but the low snow and rain will bring it up and muddy by Tuesday (12-31). If it gets cold it will clear up around Friday (hopefully) or next week. This BIG blast of water should bring the fish up and over Tumwater Falls and signal the beginning of lots of winter run steelhead throughout the system by the middle of January.

December 10th: Phil Wilson and son-in-law Mike Macy of Culver fished the private Butte Creek section, but we caught nothing. It's not a missprint; I said "nothing." It's been two years since I've had a skunk day, but this was it. Phil and Mike fished hard, we changed lures and colors every sixth cast, used lots of scent, etc., but still nothing. Food was good, weather was good, but still "nothing."

Saturday, December 7, 2002

SORRY OUT UPDATES WERE NOT MADE IN A MORE TIMELY FASHION, WE HAD COMPUTER PROBLEMS, ETC. PLEASE ACCEPT OUR APOLOGY FOR MY POOR MEMORY OF EVENTS THREE MONTHS PAST. I ENJOYED EVERY TRIP, AND HOPE EVERYONE WILL COME BACK NEXT SEASON.

December 3rd: Morris Wilson and son Phil from Condon and Fossil repsectively fished with me in the private Butte Creek area. We started our trip at Phil's house, Wilson Ranches Retreat Bed and Breakfast (541-763-2227). After a great breakfast and conversation we head down the Butte Creek road (takes an house to go 20 miles, takes 45 minutes to go the last 9 miles) We had a great time in cool weather (30's), at 240 CFS, clear water, 39 degrees, and rising. They hooked up three steelhead and boated two nice 27-28" fish. Morris's fish took over six minutes to get in, and was it a beauty. Morris also fair hooked a 10-12 pound carp. Both were hooked on Steelies covered with Smelly Jelly Craw/Anise.

November 26th: Morris and Phil Wilson fished with me in the private Thirtymile section of the John Day river. It was a cool day with the water running 37 degrees, clear and falling at 280 CFS. We hooked three steelhead and boated two. Both werer 27-28 inch nice bright fish. We caught both fish on 1/2 ounce steelies covered with Smelly Jelly Craw Anise. We saw a fellow guide, Bryce Tedford of Little Creek Outfitters (541-384-6566 or 541-963-7878), and his mother down there they hooked up and landed three fish. Bryce is a fly fishing specialist for steelhead and we recommend him to those who want to fly fish for steelhead.

November 23rd: Bryan Marchek and his father came up on a two-day "Cast and Blast" trip. They hunted with Skip the day before and had a great time and got lots of birds. You can reach Skip at Mayville Flat Hunting Preserve, 1-541-384-4705. We hooked three steelhead and boated two of them. Bryan also boated a smallmouth bass, and his first steelhead ever on the trip. It was a pleasant day and the water temperature was 46 degrees and flowing 340 CFS.

October 20th: Skip and I took Augie and Lorraine Calcagno and their son and wife fishing. they had been the day before with Skip and got lots of birds on Skip hunting preserve, Mayville Flat Hunting Preserve. They boated lots of fish and we had a great time. The water had cooled down into the mid 50's, but the fish were still biting at about 230 CFS. We used our Clackacraft drift boats for the trip.

October 15th - 18th: Four-day "Cast and Blast" trip. We had some cancellations and ended up with four hunters and friends: Nick Lewis of Sun Valley, Id., Dave Beebe and friend from Walla Walla, Wa., and Dr. Rick Ries of Seattle, Wa. They hunted long and hard and saw agood number of birds (most of which flushed out wild ahead of them), but they caught lots of fish anytime they fished. The smallmouth were on the bite. We saw one other raft during the whole trip.

October 5th - 8th: Four-day "Cast and Blast". We had a full crew with Paul and Louise Burbey from Bend, Chris and Chris Cheney form Onalaska, Wa., Kevin and Samantha Pitts from Wenatchee, Wa., and Richard and Justin Cox from Bremerton, Wa. Only six of the group were hunting, but they took 26 chukar, and a ton of smallmouth bass. Paul Burbey had a "double", and there were lots of other great stories. We had guide George Hadley (owns Fly Country Outfitters in Salem) with us and he was getting a smallie for every cast one afternoon. We had great weather all four days and never saw another person on the river.

September 28th: Wayne Jacobsen of The Dalles came over with a friend and boated lots of fish. Most were caught again on grubs, and Carolina rigs

September 27th: Dan Hawkey and Doug Rauen came up for the "Fish-on/Fish-off" tournament. We had new rules and only fish 12" or bigger counted. lots of fish were caught with Dan getting the most over 12", and getting an 18"+ fish in the process.

September 25th: Darold Cooter fished with Skip and again boated lots of fish.

September 24th: Darold Cooter fished with Steve today and caught lots of fish, but not as many as he gets with Skip (that darn Skip always showing me up).

September23rd: Jay McKendry and his grandson came up to fish before his grandson went into the service. His grandson caught a monster 21 3/4" X 14 1/2" Master Angler Smallmouth (we weighed it on Jay's scale and it showed 5 3/4 pounds). Jay caught the most, about 75 but ....
Skip took Darold Cooter and boated lots of nice fish.

September 22nd: Skip took Darold Cooter from Kent, Wa. and I had Jay Hawkey and friend Chris Jones. Everybody caught lots of fish, but no monsters.

September 21st: Hank Muggins and crew purchased a Rapheal House trips and besides having a great time they boated 100+ fish.

September 16th: We ran two trips today with Skip taking William Dunning of Enumclaw, Wa. and the ol' guy taking Barry Jensen and his father. Both gorups caught lots of fish using grubs and Carolina rigs.

September 15th: Todd and Tia Newcomer came back to fish with me. Tia caught a breat 20" smallmouth a couple of years ago, and Todd was hoping to match her fish. He hooked a monster and we got to see her a couple of times before she got off, everybody in the boat was disappointed, even Tia. Todd did boat a nice 18" smallie, but the big one got away.