Has anyone fished Brownlee lately?

cutt · 07-11-2001, 02:20 PM

The mercury in Brownlee is not from car batteries. It comes from natural sources. This problem is found in other Oregon lakes such as Cottage Grove, Owyhee, and Antelope Reservoirs and East Lake. Here's an excerpt from an OHD document found at http://www.ohd.hr.state.or.us/esc/docs/esc0003.htm

"The mercury in the fish is thought to be from natural volcanic and geothermal sources in the upper drainage areas, possibly influenced by historical mining practices in the watershed. Once mercury enters the food chain it bioaccumulates and is not likely to diminish or disappear from organisms in the river. The Health Division, Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Department of Environmental Quality continue to monitor contaminant levels and will update the advisory if significant changes occur."

Damon · 07-11-2001, 11:01 PM

I plan on fishing a few days over there near Burnt River and was wondering if they are still knocking 'em dead?

Mr. Fisherman · 07-11-2001, 11:23 PM

Damon,

I hope you have a great trip.

I don't have any current info for you but I wanted to let you know about the dangers of eating the fish from Brownlee.

We used to go there every year to slay slab Crapie.

I was devistated to learn that the Idaho Department of Fish and Game has posted a warning that the fish in Brownlee have been found to contain high levels of Mercury. The Mercury is the result of dumped batteries. That's right, some M*&%@#F*#(er dumped car batteries in the lake! [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img]

As a result the state has posted amounts of fish that "should" be safe to consume and pregnant women should avoid the fish all to gether.

Check the regs before you go.

The fishing has always been fantastic. We used to fish for catfish all night and crappie all day. My first cast into this lake produced a 3# Small Mouth Bass. I miss the fillet parties as we kept enough Crappie and Catfish to last the year. I love tastee feesh... [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Too bad somebody had to ruin it [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img].

Good luck and have fun. C&R should be fun and can be nonstop.

local_hooker · 07-12-2001, 04:10 AM

usually the crappie spawn and then Idaho power starts the summer draw down and kills most of the eggs. However they got a break from this in 1998. So the numbers are excellent this year, but the size is not. My dad fishes it alot, and says they have been filling coolers regularly but most are on the small side.

212hjet · 07-12-2001, 06:45 AM

Just came back from Hell's Canyon below the dam and the trout fishing was excellent 5 years after the big flood decimated them they are finally back in good size and #'s. My sons and I also fished the river for bass and sturgeon. Lots of bass, but no size although three weeks ago I was down there fishing salmon and caught many nice sized smallmouths. We tried Hell's Canyon Reservoir (two below Brownlee) and it had algae I had never seen there and the bass we caught were small and not hot fishing as normal in July so we savored our time in the River below and headed home. The Mercury is correctly identified as coming from mining throught the basin and some natural seepage. We only eat fish from the three reservoirs ocassionally. Have heard the same about Brownlee....lots of crappie, few bigger ones. Hell's Canyon Res. did have some nice Bluegills, though. Have fun.

Mr. Fisherman · 07-12-2001, 07:57 PM

OOPS! [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] ,

Guess I should have checked my sources.

Well anyway at least you are aware of the problem.

Thanks guys for setting the record straight.

Mr. F.

Damon · 07-13-2001, 01:14 PM

Thanks everyone for the info. Im getting pumped about this fishing trip!

Thunderstruck · 07-13-2001, 11:18 PM

Damon,

I was at farewell bend the week of the 4th. The catfishing was really good. Worms and minows were taking the most fish but I talked with a couple of guys that said they were using Beef cubes(stew meat) and crickets. Go figure. Average catches were 25 to 50 cats running 4-6 pounds. If you run up river from farwell bend fish between the first and second island in around 8 to 16 feet of water. If you don't get a fish in 20min cast to another place and if still nothing move the boat. It took us a couple of moves to finally get into them. I seen a couple of old timers come two days in a row with over 80 cats! Wouldn't say what they were using. If you can't find minnows(huntington store) use herring scent.

Crappie that I seen were all around 30-40 feet deep and fishing for them got in the way of my beer consumption.

Good luck let me know how you did.

Thunderstruck