John Day 2
No discussion of the JD would be complete without mention of Smallmouth bass. Illegally introduced somewhere in the Columbia system 30 years ago, these fish are best established in the JD and provide a summer, warm water fishery where there would be NONE to contrast to the winter cold water steelhead fishery. What is amazing is that with dropping water temperatures in November, the zillions of Smallmouth VIRTUALLY DISAPPEAR and never attack a steelhead fly, which would be hammered every cast two months earlier. So far, they seem completely compatible with the salmon and steelhead runs, luckily, because there is nothing anyone could do about it if they weren't.
