Brownlee & Oxbow Water Temps

[FelonFinder]

Idaho Power just updated their site to show the temps for both Oxbow waters and the headwaters of Brownlee.

http://www.idahopower.com/riversrec/waterlevels/oxbow.asp

Cool!

Concerning the catfish die-off: Does anyone have pictures of the sick catfish? Has the die off subsided? I read one site that said it had, but it would be good to hear from someone that knows if the cats are pulling out of this situation yet or not.

PR

[EZOP]

We just got back from Woodhead, stayed 2 nights (18th-20th). We seen several hundred dead cats, they were dried out and looked pretty old and were about 10' above the present water level on the bank. We did not catch any while bass fishing, which we usually do. We did see several swimming by that had the white moldy looking stuff on parts to there body and looked liked they would be dead soon.

[FelonFinder]

Man, I was hoping that the fish close to the dam would be safe, but apparently that's not the case. EZOP do you know if Oxbow or Hell's Canyon fish are sick too?

[EZOP]

http://www.ifish.net/gallery/data/500/cats.jpg

[FelonFinder]

Man, I can't even imagine thousands of them laying around like that. Too bad it wasn't carp. Or *********. Or maybe suckers. Thanks for the pic though.

PR

[tysdad]

:sick:Sad indeed :help: How was the crappie bite :shrug:

[shalom]

Pale Rider ,
Thank you for the info on water temp . Every time i camp up there i fill out cards and complained about not having the water temp . posted on there web sites . I have e-mailerd them untill they stopped e-mailing me back . Thanks for letting me know .

[EZOP]

Tysdad,
We tried for about an hour and only caught one nice crappie, then we switched to Bass fishing. There was not a lot of people out there fishing, but it looked a little slow from what I could tell and by listening to others around camp.

[Crappie Chaser]

I think the catfish die-off has just about run it's course.The heaviest period of the algea bloom seems to be behind us now.Our weather is getting a little cooler and the water is looking better. I never did see 1000's of dead fish in the areas I fish. My last day out I saw only a few floaters. Not all the cats were affected.
Crappie fishing has been tough for most. Bluegill and perch are coming on good.Look for a great fall season on jumbo perch. On my August crappie trips I am averaging 44 crappie per day. My last day out was last Thursday. I have no trips scheduled for the rest of the month. Westport here I come! :yay:

[B-RUN STEELIE]

Speaking of Bluegill.. check this. 13 INCHES 1.4 LBS

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a264/Fishster/Gillzilla.jpg

[BuKuBass]

Now THAT'S a 'gill!

[FelonFinder]

Sweeeeeeet!!!!!!!

[Sandz]

NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICE

[Crappie Chaser]

Now that's a trophy 'gill. I have seen a few 12" but never a 13". Details? Brownlee? Today's catch, 47 crappie, 2 perch.

[B-RUN STEELIE]

No, It was caught at Paddock Res near Payette Idaho. I'll post the story as it really is a good one.

I hear a of of big fish rumors day to day. The last one caused me to follow up and go check it out. A guy tells me that there are some monster Bluegills at Paddock res over by Payette. We had caught some in years past up there that were pretty large so I called a friend from Glenns Ferry who lives and dies for pan fish specifically bluegills.
We drive up at there arriving at 06:30, crack of dawn and all that. We are confronted with a pasture with two little mud puddels. One at the upper end and one down by the dam. We decide that we didn't come all this way to not even try so we get the float tubes out, gear up, and try and launch. One step into the chocolate brown water and I sink up to my crotch in the mud. Its pretty funny until I realize I can't get out. Serious, I am stuck with a float tube around me. Long story short I had to crawl through the muck to move two feet to get outa my tube and lost both flippers about three feet down. At any rate we went down on the rocks by the dam and were able to get into the little mud hole. It was about two feet deep in the deepest spot. Disgusted we were leaving.. What a bunch of crap. On our way out we see a old guy about 80 or so pull down to the tiny little ditch of water that was part of the creek channel. He has a bucket and a fishing pole. We had to drive right past him so we stopped and he was rigging up a worm about 1 foot under a yellow and red bobber that was approx the size of a grapefruit. We asked him if there were any fish in this mud hole and he says " sure thing, caught a mess last night ".. He hucks this bobber rig out into about 1 1/2 feet of water and turns around and is talking to us and I see his bobber go down.. pretty much shocked I tell him " hey you got a bite".. He looks back and says " wheres my bobber" and the fish starts pulling.. He walks it back up the bank and pulled out about a 4 lb large mouth bass..
We are outa the truck toot sweet and are bumming worms and a bobbers from the old boy. First cast out about 20 feet across this little muddie ditch, my bobber goes down, and I set the hook on a fish thats pulling really hard, I figure its a bass... I pull it up on the bank and its the biggest blue gill I have ever seen. I know it does not sound like much but this thing was 13 inches long, 8 inches deep and about 2 1/2 inches across the back. It was a freak of blue gill nature. We keep fishing and I caught a couple more that were around 10 inches long. We fished until about 10 and old boy says well, thats it, they won't bite again until dark. I figure we could go home now. No way, I am with a guy who has dreamed of a blue gill that size his whole life so we are off to Payette to get bobbers and worms. We spend the rest of the day, getting baked in the sun watching bobbers float in a mud puddle.. no more bites. On the way home my buddie is [petunias!] big time. " I would mount a fish like that, I have been looking for one like that or even smaller for about 20 years.. you luckey SOB".. I told him he could have it " I know how bad you want one so you can have that one because I won't drop 400 bucks to have a bluegill mounted ". I can see his wheels turning, He is in the midst of an internal struggle, he really wants it but did not catch it. He says "O.K, I'll take it home and think about it, I'll take some pics of it with my digital camera and send them to you ".

So I guess the point here is no matter how much money you spend or how far you travel in search of whatever, at times it all boils down to standing in front of a mud puddle with some old guy from Fruitland with a bobber and a worm. And one guys fish may be some other guys wet dream.

[FelonFinder]

Ain't that the truth.

[Sandz]

Tis true tis true, I sure got my start in a 5ft deep mud hole... I still go back there for my massive blue gill!

[Crappie Chaser]

There's a really good guy in Baker city who will mount that fish for $10 per inch. World Fish Taxidermy 541-523-4700. Ask for Jack. He does the fish for my display I take to the sports shows.

[shalom]

Great Story
Thanks !!!!

[BuKuBass]

Jack of World Fish Taxidermy is good. Many of the fish mounts that you can see at the various Sportsmans' Warehouses (Warehice? :grin:) are by him.