Five Days Of River Fishing And Kayak Camping In Oregon (Video)

Everyone needs the occasional trip for some extended rest and recreation. There may be no better way to do so than a multi-day float through the desert. Even better, while casting for bass in eddies and spending nights under the stars. And hopefully all with zero Gs of service. Seth Ezekiel West does it well, taking us along for a 79-mile five-day fishing and kayak camping trip in Oregon on the John Day River.

A River Fishing And Kayak Camping Trip In Oregon

The John Day River flows nearly 300 miles from the Blue Mountains of Oregon to its confluence with the Columbia River. The 79-mile section from Clarno to Cottonwood is a popular multi-day stretch.

The John Day features stunning views, impressive basalt rock, and class II-III whitewater interspersed with sections of slow-moving water. For West and the fellow paddlers on the trip, the section of the John Day is alluring for yet another reason, loads of fish.

“This section is very renowned for its smallmouth bass fishing,” West explains. “Not so much for huge fish, but for the volume of fish. “There are just smallmouth everywhere.”

West and company spent five days and four nights on the John Day, where West probed eddies and pools with rod and reel. Spending full days hauling in smallmouth after smallmouth, and nights around remote campsites swapping fish tales.