Cast Away

As sunlight dances off canyon walls, you cast and watch your line drift across the quiet river until — suddenly — the line stops. Line screams from your fly reel. A bright chrome steelhead breaks the surface 30 yards downstream and tears off more line.

Raising your rod high, you give chase and can’t help but laugh with excitement.

Autumn in Oregon can be a fly angler’s dream. Large rainbow trout feed aggressively in the high lakes of the Cascades, gorging for winter. Coho, Chinook and chum salmon move into coastal streams, often interested in a well-presented fly. But for many anglers, the fall fly game is steelhead.

Steelhead, a species of ocean-going rainbow trout, is among the Pacific Northwest’s most prized game fish. Ranging from four to 20 pounds, steelhead return to Northwest rivers each year to spawn. The fish’s inscrutable nature, powerful fighting ability and streamlined beauty give it a certain mystique among the angling cognoscenti. An angler may log many days on the river before feeling its vicious strike, but most agree it’s worth the wait.

The lower John Day River, which flows through the canyon land west of Condon and Fossil, boasts the richest run of wild steelhead in the lower 48, giving both beginners and seasoned anglers a good chance of landing one on a fly. Fish begin returning to the John Day in September, but the run reaches its peak in late fall. In 2001, an estimated 50,000 fish returned to the river to spawn.

During the fall, the John Day is modest in depth and flow, making it easy to wade. With the help of a guide, a beginner can quickly master the short casts needed to hook and land a fish.

“Most believe that steelhead strike a fly or lure as a territorial response,” says John Ecklund of Little Creek Outfitters, which has guided on the John Day since 1972. “If an angler can get the fly in front of the fish at the right speed, odds are good they’ll hit it.”
Anglers may float the John Day for longer trips, but day outings require them to access the river via private ranch, then hike from pool to pool. Because of the abundant private land along the river, you may not encounter another fisherman all day.

Upland game bird hunters will find ample opportunities to pursue pheasant and chukar in solitude amid acres of private ranch land in the John Day Canyon. Hunters may access land on a daily fee basis or arrange guide service.

The rugged canyons of the John Day — “the Grand Canyon of Oregon” — provide a majestic backdrop for a sporting adventure. You may spot bighorn sheep, pronghorn antelope or mule deer on the cliffs. Visitors floating the river have the opportunity to view petroglyphs (pecked or incised rock art) and other artifacts from the Native Americans who once inhabited the canyon, some for more than 10,000 years before the white man’s arrival.

The John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, which is divided into three units east and west of the town of Fossil, boasts a well-preserved record of plants and animals, spanning more than 40 million of the 65 million years of the Cenozoic Era, the “age of mammals and flowering plants.” The Sheep Rock unit features exhibits on geology and local ranching history as well as a laboratory in which specimens are prepared for scientific study and for use in future exhibits. The Painted Hills unit features vividly hued rock formations, the result of the weathering of volcanic ash. The Clarno unit offers you an opportunity to get out and walk any of several interpretive trails.

Amateur archeologists who wish to take a bit of the past home should visit Fossil, 20 miles south of Condon on Route 19. There, behind Wheeler High School, lies a rich fossil bed open for public hounding. Dig for fossils of plants and animals (leaf fossils are most common) from 30 million years ago, free of charge.

The town of Condon provides an ideal “steel headquarters” for a John Day journey. The town is anchored by the newly renovated Hotel Condon, constructed in 1920 as a resting place for ranchers when roads were impassable. Walls are graced with elegant black and white photographs of Gilliam (pronounced GILLum) County, snapped by local photographers. The hotel recently received the Oregon Downtown Development Award for restoration.