Time to book...

...your John Day Steelhead day trips!

darcy bacha photo

 The John Day River has the best run of true wild steelhead in the lower 48 and these aggressive critters have been crushing our flies every year since I started guiding on it in the year 2000. There is no hatchery and no dam on the John Day River and thankfully there never has been. This fishery is the most reliable producer I have found to take a steelhead by the swung fly anywhere! Surface action can be epic. This year has been forecasted to be another great fall to be on the John Day. We hope you will join us.

mia sheppard photo

Tips to help you have the best opportunity at success on a guided trip with us:

Book early. All of our camp trips are already fully booked. Right now we have some day trips available. We have the best success late October through the whole month of November. Skaters work best early and leeches work best later in the season. Lots of people wait until they start hearing good fishing reports and then they give us a call or email. Generally it is too late to secure a date with us by then. It is best to fish the prime time before the weather turns too cold. Sometimes we are able to have excellent fishing well in to December. Most years you can not count on it.

Practice your game. Get your casting down! The John Day is a small river in comparison to some of the other great big rivers of the west. My observation from guiding is that this river is stereotyped as a good beginners river because of its size. Easy to cover with short cast, right? Not so. The steelhead on the big rivers hold in tight to the bank on many runs. A short cast has  good odds  my opinion. With the John Day running well under 1000cfs the fish will hold in the middle of the river. The John Day also has a low gradient and can be quite wide in many places. It takes a solid cast to reach many of the prime holding spots! The saving grace of this place is there are a lot of steelhead. This is why beginners have success here. Good casters have splendid success!

marty sheppard photo

My goal is to give you the best opportunity to learn, have success, and enjoy a prime date on this magnificent river with one of our highly skilled guides!

This is the time to get ready, get in touch, and book a date to hit the prime conditions.

If conditions look to be unfavorable we will revise and come up with a plan to reschedule at a better date with no penalty to you

Send me an email:

littlecreekjd@earthlink.net

darcy bacha photo

Thanks for all your support!