JOHN DAY RIVER: bass, trout
The USGS gage at Service Creek is currently reading 1200 CFS. Drift boats are usually fine until the river drops below 1,000 CFS, at which point it becomes a very bumpy ride in a drift boat. Rafts, kayaks, SUPs, and smaller craft work well until the river drops to around 600-700 CFS. This is a great time of year for smallmouth bass fishing, with 100 fish days a common occurrence. Most bass tend to average 10-12" with some larger fish in the 18-20" range. .
Streams in the John Day Basin opened for fishing May 22nd, and this is also a great time to fish for native redband and westslope cutthroat trout.