Snake River Brownlee report

[Thecrease]

Fished Brownlee out of Richland from Wed thru Fri. It was pretty low but launchable out of the Hewitt campground where we stayed.

Fishing was very good for decent size smallies. The morning bite was off the hook on shakey headed robo worms in oxblood light and watermelon candy yum dingers.

I threw a lot of topwater xcalibur Jimmy's and Flukes. I caught a lot of fish on them but there were a lot of small fish on the bank and they were a nuisance on the top water.

Surprisingly I caught a lot of 1 pound largemouth and one that was close to 2 pounds on rattle traps. I will guess I caught some where around 40 of them the 3 days I fished. I was surprised because when I fished it in the spring for a week I only caught 2 largemouth the whole time.

Catfishing in the flats was good. I used cut shad and pike minnow marinated in salt/sugar and anise oil. I would fish them in the heat of the day when the bigger smallies quit biting. The flats were an average of 6 foot deep.

Here is the Girlfriend with a Brownlee smallie. She has only been fishing bass for about 3 months and she is catching on pretty good.
This one bled out so we kept it. She is still learning when to set the hook so they dont gut it.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/sr1a.jpg

Another fish for Kim
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/sr1b.jpg

Here I am with a chunky fish
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/sr1c.jpg

If you look close you can see the pooch ( Coolwhip ) I did not name him :pp
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/sr1d.jpg

Saw a lot of bucks in the draws while fishing. This one is for you Huntn Fish
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/sr1f.jpg

Here is the biggest cat I caught of the trip.
http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/sr1g.jpg

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/medium/sr1e.jpg

It was a fun time. I saw lots of wildlife from foxes, chuckars, turkeys, deer, quail, doves, raccoons, and coyotes.

The bigger bass seemed to be in 10 to 12 foot of water. They were all spitting up baby crappie and catfish.

Clayton

[EZOP]

Great report, we just happen to be up at Woodhead during that time and had very similiar results, we also managed a few 12" crappie. We stayed their for about 5 days until that storm that went through took out the well, so we moved down below the Dam to McCormic Campground for another 3 days. Caught a bunch more bass and a few cats. For the people that were really targeting the cats below the dam, they all had big numbers of fish.

Other info, for anyone going to Woodhead Campground they have water and power now, but you still can't use the showers/bathrooms or dump station until the 20th or so becuase they are inspecting the sewage ponds. I think they drop the rates to half.

[t(s)inner]

Looks like a good time! Thanks for sharing your photos. Coolwhip...:laugh:

[myxxolydyan]

Thanks for the report. Sounds Like you had a great trip!

I'll be headed that way for an overnight trip next Friday the 14th. We'll get on the water around 2:00 Friday and come home to La Grande Saturday about the same time. Should have enough time to try for everything!

I've picked up some bigger "soft baits" for the bass and plan to try deeper water for the bigger fish. I'm going with the bigger bait bigger fish theory this trip. We'll see how that works out. Nice to hear you mention some colors I have. I also have a bunch of cut bait (bluegill) soaking in crawfish and shrimp oil right now. I also pureed some salad shrimp and added it to the mix for flavor! I want something stinky down there! Should be good and ripe by Friday.

Thanks for the advice on the catfish. We'll probably hit the bass fishing hard in the afternoon on Friday, and in the morning on Saturday, but will look for catfish all night Friday, and mid day Saturday. I plan to try for catfish below Hewitt Park. I know the flats are good, but it's time to try some new places. I know there are catfish down river. We don't plan to go down to the Snake. I hope the weather holds!

A buddy loaned me his crawdad traps so I'll drop them over somewhere to see if there are any there.

thanks!

[1bigfish]

Looks like some good eating size cats.:food:

Did you get your light fixed? I'll give you a call later today or tomorrow.

[Jon55]

Good Job Clayton! :yay: I'm off to try Craine Prairie.

[Hunt'nFish]

Great report Clayton. Good to see you out w/ the family.
Hunt'nFish