John Day Dam

I went to Portland Tuesday. I had to be at the Memorial Service for my friend that passed away a few days ago on Wednesday. On my way down I stopped at the John Day Dam to stretch the legs and take a break. Took some pictures and hoped that maybe somebody would be interested.

When I parked and got out of the car I thought someone was shooting a rifle for a minute or two until I figured out it was the flag whipping in the wind. The wind was really blowing hard that day and when one of those furls in the flag would straighten out it would sound like a .22 going off every once in a while. That flag is huge. One of the biggest ones I have ever seen.


They are apparently dumping water out of all the reservoirs in the Columbia River preparing for the Spring runoff. All the spillways were dumping water as well as the turbines in the powerhouse.





I used to fish for Walleye and Sturgeon from my boat around those small islands that you can see in the picture just to the left of the powerline towers.


Couple of pictures of Indian guys fishing for Salmon. They are the only ones that I know of that are allowed to use more than one rod.


If you look close in this picture you can see the platforms that the Indians use to stand on and dip net Salmon out of the river. They have these things built all up and down the Columbia River above Bonneville Dam.


This is part of the fish ladder system that they use at the dam. Looks like one of those water slides at Disney World.


The wires pictured below stretch from shore and go out and are attatched to the entire face of the dam from both sides of the river.




This is an entrance to an area about half a mile downstream of the dam. Indians are the only people allowed to go in there and fish.


Jim 8-)

Jim That Is Some Really Interesting Stuff That You Took Pictures Of, It Is Really Cool Seeing What Other Places Have To See When You Travel Thanks For Sharing That Jim. Do You Still Fish There Alot.????

I don't know but them two rods to the left of that ole boy sure are bent over.

No I don't anymore Mike. Too far from home with gas at the price that it is now.

John the way they do that is this. First off the bottom of the river right below that dam is nothing but huge boulders and rock like you see on the bank. When you make a cast, it's never coming back. There are probably tons of lead on the river bottom below all those dams. Anyhow, they cast out and when the lead hits bottom and hangs up, they crank the reels down hard and thats where the bend in the rods come from. Most of them use either a dropper line much weaker than their main line, or strong string. When a fish hits and tries to make a run with the bait or lure, it also has that super strong current to help it and the dropper line breaks and now all you have on your line is the fish. The lead stays at the bottom of the river. The Sturgeon fishermen use railroad spikes for weights most of the time. You will notice in the pictures that the rods are all small and 99% of them have spinning reels on them. That's how I know they are Salmon fishing. You would never have even the slightest chance of landing a Sturgeon in current like that with the equipment they are using.

Jim