There was always something to do in old St. Johns. Fishing along the banks of the Willamette River, Gatton Lake, the Columbia Slough and River. In the early summer months one could walk to the Bybee Dam where you could catch crappies and bass, some of which weighed in the neighborhood of two pounds. Catfish were thick along the Willamette, the best spot seemed to be where Shaver had their log rafts tied up near Terminal #4. The lakes west of the flour mills abounded in ducks and geese and other game.
The Willamette River was so clean in those days. . . –George Tennant in St. Johns Heritage

We used to fish for catfish in the slough. They were the best! We would carry home strings of catfish we caught out of the slough. There were a lot of house boats along that body of water. Howard Mcpherson, Kenton History

Joe Caldwell crawfished in the slough. He sold them to Jake’s Crawfish. Jakes put them in tanks and kept them alive. When I was a kid I fished down there. Old Joe used to live below the tunnel in a houseboat. They moved him out after WWI. They towed him down the slough, under the trestle, down around the river and brought him up in the slough. Earl Stevens, born 1903, Kenton History

I went fishing on Saturdays with my friend, Sam. We had old cane poles and we used our mothers’ hairpins and curl[ed] them up to make pole eyes. We were real Huckleberry Finns. We would fish underneath the trestle that went over the slough. It was a wooden trestle then. We caught a lot of crappies. We couldn’t fish there on Sundays because the ‘townspeople’ were under there. They wouldn’t let you. Earl Stevens, born 1903, Kenton History

I couldn’t describe to you the amount of ducks that were around East Delta Park. There were lakes down there year-round. East Delta Park, in the 1930s, was overloaded with them.
My dad would shoot ducks when we had the truck garden. He would shoot them and let them fall, then go home. About a half hour later he would go back and pick them up like he was picking tomatoes. We always had duck. Bernie Canepa, born 1927, Kenton History

We also rode our bikes to various fishing spots. The Columbia Slough whih was horribly polluted, was a favorite spot. We fished for crappies, carp, bullheads and catfish. We also went to ‘3-corner’ or Smith Lake. We didn’t fish in Mocks Bottom but we did explore and build rafts there. Raymond Guimary, born 1928, Kenton History

A wooded ground between the sloughs ended at Catfish Point [there were three inlets to the slough near Ramsey Lake]. The current of the Columbia Slough and the back water of the mud slough formed a wide space of water. On the down stream an island with willows and cottonwoods again separated the flowing current and the still water which ended at the St. Johns Landfill was called the Blind Slough. Mud turtles sunned on the fallen treees and dead heads in this still slough near Smith Lake that had once connected to Bybee Lake. . . .
My grandmother, Lizzie Cook and my mother, Nadean Holmes and I caught catfish on throw lines and angle worms in the Ogden Slough in 1910. Mr. and Mrs. Dan drove their lively horses from Dan’s Restaurant on Ivanhoe and Burlington Street to the best fishing places on the Columbia Slough. Bamboo fish poles were tied to the side of the buggy. Mr. and Mrs. Dean came home with sixty catfish on a string. The two bachelor brothers on Oswego and Seneca Street were fishermen on nice days. Ernie Milhon and “mudcat” Johnny Jewston lived on the slough, weather permitting. A fisherman cut down a bee tree on the slough to get its store of honey. . . .
Evergreen, cedar, yew and fir were in the uncleared woods along with wild cherry, maple, alder and ash. Scotland wild roses and blackberry bushes covered the sunny spots. Violets, starts, johnny jump-ups, daisies and trilliums were everywhere. Wood loving birds retreated there – robins, chick-a-dees, sparrows, blue birds, canaries, blue jays, woodpeckers, thrushes, sapsuckers, gross beaks, wrens, finches, Oregon cat birds, hummingbirds and swifts. Swallows fastned their mud nests on the barn eaves. Bobwhite quail, whip-poor-wills, pigeons, turtle doves, pheasant, crows and hawks stayed near the fields.
Skunks and cottontail rabbits hid in the thickets, but liked to be seen. Pine squirrels munched in the trees. “Grey-diggers” perched on the track rails and burrowed in the fields. Bald head eagles flew above from the coast range to the mountains of the Cascades. . .
Rising water in the June freshet flooded the slough and lakes. Pools became spawning beds for crappies, perch, bass, sun fish, chubs, catfish, mudcats, carp, suckers, crawfish and rare flying fish. Sandy Scales said the Columbia was the Sandy River, one and the same time at an early time.
At daybreak, fish jumped as far as the eye could see. The hungry fish were catching ladybugs, snails, earth worms, cut worms, caterpillars, dragon flies, moths, grass hoppers, butterflies, flies, bees, mud dobbers, mice, frogs and minnows. Sandhill cranes stood in Bybee lake waiting to catch a fish.
Kingfishers flew close above the water. A flying fish skimmed in flight. A flying squirrel crossed over. The Oregon Fishing Guide advertised the best bass fishing slough to be the Bybee Slough.
Al Krutsky trapped beaver, otter, mink and muskrats in Smith Lake to sell the pelts to fur buyers. . . Owing to its loss of water, Smith Lake has lost its water fowl. Willow and alder brush has sprung up in Smith Lake. . . . Bro. Holmes O.S.M., St. Johns Resident, St. Johns Heritage