Seeking Owyhee Crappies knowledge

[leman]

I am considering a trip to Owyhee and because I am 5 hours away am interested in knowing the size of the prevalent year class and whether there may be a mix including a fair percentage over say 11."
While waiting for Brownlee crappies to grow up a little, I would like to explore new crappie water. Any suggestions for other lakes within a half day drive of Tricities WA ?

[BassinJay]

this is something my dad, uncle and grandpa have been wondering about for some time now! we make the brownlee travel every year from vancouver (for something like 15 years now), and have yet to try any new places.... Owyhee is something i have always wondered about, and have heard some really good things about! hopefully someone can enlighten on some more useful information on that place.

[Crappie Chaser]

Hey Mark,good to see you on ifish. I know some of these guys fished Owyhee last year and caught some nice crappie. Someone will help you out. How was your winter walleye fishing?

[retaliate]

Yep, the Wife & myself spent the last 2 days of our vacation last year at Owyhee, & caught more keeper Crappie than even in a 2 day stertch, most were 10" to 11", a few smaller, & very few larger, we started at Brownlee at our usual spot, but didn't find enough keepers in 5 days, so we moved camp, this year we are starting at Owyhee in a little over a week, & will give a report when we get back. As far as information, we asked at the store when we arrived, & they happily pointed us in the right direction, Dry Cr Cove was was one of the spots they mentioned, & was hot for us last year, this year?, were gonna find out.

[leman]

Originally Posted by Crappie Chaser

Hey Mark,good to see you on ifish. I know some of these guys fished Owyhee last year and caught some nice crappie. Someone will help you out. How was your winter walleye fishing?

[leman]

Originally Posted by retaliate

Yep, the Wife & myself spent the last 2 days of our vacation last year at Owyhee, & caught more keeper Crappie than even in a 2 day stertch, most were 10" to 11", a few smaller, & very few larger, we started at Brownlee at our usual spot, but didn't find enough keepers in 5 days, so we moved camp, this year we are starting at Owyhee in a little over a week, & will give a report when we get back. As far as information, we asked at the store when we arrived, & they happily pointed us in the right direction, Dry Cr Cove was was one of the spots they mentioned, & was hot for us last year, this year?, were gonna find out.

Ken,
Thanks for enough encouraging info information to get me planning. I am
thinking about May 14 to try a little of Owyhee. Hopefully you trip goes well and I look forward to hearing about it. Is there a store or other local contact ?
Marc <* ><

[retaliate]

Originally Posted by leman

Ken,
Thanks for enough encouraging info information to get me planning. I am
thinking about May 14 to try a little of Owyhee. Hopefully you trip goes well and I look forward to hearing about it. Is there a store or other local contact ?
Marc <* ><

There is a store & very nice Camping facillities there, but I don't know the tn#, try googling Owyhee state park. If you didn't know the river below the Dam has some of the best C&R Brown Trout fishing in the state, we were not set up for them last year, but managed to catch a few nice ones on spinning gear, we are bringing waders, & fly poles/gear this year, there is also a hot spring with a wading pool on the river below the dam, both were a pleasant surprise, I didn't remember neither when I was there last 25+ years ago, I do remember the Crappie were smaller than, & I was told last year they were larger than normal, we are starting at Brownlee first, & should end up at Owyhee sometime mid week, will give a full report when we get back.

[Duck Commander]

I have family over there and they fish that area a lot. She said that they caught a few bass and a lot of Crappie. I think they fished last week. I will find out for sure and what they are using and let you know.

[leman]

Originally Posted by Duck Commander

I have family over there and they fish that area a lot. She said that they caught a few bass and a lot of Crappie. I think they fished last week. I will find out for sure and what they are using and let you know.

Thanks. I would like to talk to them if it would be OK. About general things like where to camp and facilities as well as where they might suggest for float tubing for crappies. Would it be possible for me to call ?

Marc Leman

[retaliate]

Originally Posted by leman

Thanks. I would like to talk to them if it would be OK. About general things like where to camp and facilities as well as where they might suggest for float tubing for crappies. Would it be possible for me to call ?

Marc Leman

We are bringing our float tubes as well, right out in front of the park would probably work, last year they did good there from shore, so no reason why a float tube wouldn't work better, the res. is hugh tho so a boat is best, we are gonna boat to dr cr cove, & put our float tubes in there, & possibly camp there a night or 2, you can drive to dry cr cove from Vale on a 35 mile dirt road, I heard it is a good road, but a 4x4 is recommended, or at least a higher profile rig, there are a couple other dirt road accesses, if you really want seclusion, a good map/gps is needed for those, good camping with green grass, trees, showers, store, hot meals at the park, & a fish cleaning station too, I think it's about $14 a night, more for full hook-up, & they have yurt type camping as well, or you could camp on the river just below the dam at various places for free. Good Luck! Have Fun, quit wishing go fishing.

[OBT]

I am from the area and the campground is known as Cherry Creek. It is pretty Good crappie fishing right below the parking lot of the boat ramp and around the little store that is there now. Some of the deep coves are actually pretty good as well but it is kind of a hike down. If you have a boat it is even better.

[olgrizz]

About how big are the crappie running this year? Thanks grizz

[leman]

Originally Posted by olgrizz

About how big are the crappie running this year? Thanks grizz

The Lake Owyhee ranger said 7" to 10"

[leman]

Gary,
I tried to reply before but it didn't stick. Thanks for introducing me to ifish. Walleyes were good in the Columbia basin last fall until freeze up. In Nov. I caught my biggest, 17.5 lb. My story is that if I catch her again before she spawns she might beat the state record due to egg growth.

[retaliate]

Just got back from 4 days of Crappie fishing at Owyhee, arrived Tue to a very windy lake, so we waited til Wed to launch the Boat, not much happening around the park, just a few Crappie & Bass here & there, The Bass/Crappie Tournament guy's got some nice Crappie Tue to #1.2, & LM Bass to #5.8, SM Bass to #4, the Bass fishing was generally slow, but better waay up the reservoir where the water was warmer, The store is no longer there, but the ranger said they plan on bringing it back next year, Wed & Thurs we went to Dry cr arm, & caught all the 9" Crappie we wanted, very few larger, Fri we went further south, fished a few coves along the way, did really well on a bigger cove just up from the air strip on the west side, still mostly 9", but some to 10", & a few to 11", ended up at three fingers cove, the Crappie were thick there espically twards the shallows, but still mostly 9", Bass, Catfish, & Yellow perch were also caught there as the water was 60 deg, 56 at the park, went back to three fingers Sat hopeing to find bigger Crappie, but very few over 10" was the rule for the week, still we caught more Crappie in a week(2 days at brownlee for 8" to 9" Crappie) than ever before The last few days was sunny, & warming up nicely, so the Bass should turn on anytime, it was 70+ deg Sun when we left.

[Snapset]

Thanks for a great report. Is dry creek cove the big thumb that points to the west? How far is it from the farthest you can drive in?
The reason I ask, is I am thinking of towing my drifter over there and it has a 10 hp motor which only pushes it at 7 knots. So, a 20 mile run is a 7 hour round trip, doesn't leave much time for fishing.

[OBT]

The farthest the paved road goes is to Cherry Creek. Its the last boat ramp on the road and where the store used to be. It's not too far from the state park. There are other country back roads that are not paved as well but taking those is usually a slow drive.

Originally Posted by Snapset

Thanks for a great report. Is dry creek cove the big thumb that points to the west? How far is it from the farthest you can drive in?
The reason I ask, is I am thinking of towing my drifter over there and it has a 10 hp motor which only pushes it at 7 knots. So, a 20 mile run is a 7 hour round trip, doesn't leave much time for fishing.

[codeman]

hey just got back from 4 days of fishing the dry creek arm. I agree with the reports that most of the crappie are about 9 inches this year, not sure where all the big guys went because we caught thousands of 11 to 12 inch crappie there during the same week last year. weather was horrible wed. but got better each day thereafter. the road in to dry creek is actually pretty good except the last 4 miles or so that is rough, but any four wheel drive with some clearance will make it. we towed in a small utility trailer with my suburban and had no problems, so, if your boat is small and you can launch it by hand at the bank, i would recommend dry creek. by next weekend i expect the crappie will be in the shallows thick. they were not over the weekend. we had no boat but i snuck away for a few hours in my float tube and found thousands of crappie along the high rock walls across the arm from the road. especially in the coves (which are much steeper walled and thus deeper water then they are on the road side). i was catching them 2 at a time as soon as my line hit the water. from the road side, we could only catch them down deep under the docks. but like i said, they will probably be spawning in the shallows big time by next weekend, if not already. we missed it by a few days this year!

[retaliate]

Originally Posted by Snapset

Thanks for a great report. Is dry creek cove the big thumb that points to the west? How far is it from the farthest you can drive in?
The reason I ask, is I am thinking of towing my drifter over there and it has a 10 hp motor which only pushes it at 7 knots. So, a 20 mile run is a 7 hour round trip, doesn't leave much time for fishing.

Yes Dry cr arm is the biggest arm on Owyhee res, & on the west side, You can drive to dry cr arm from hwy 20 on a 35 mile dirt road just west of Vale, there were a couple rigs camped on wed/thurs, I think codeman was one of them, the other party had a small Boat, it's 9.5 miles from the last Boat ramp at Owyhee state park to the end of Dry cr cove, last year we had a 15' valco with 15hp motor, it took close to a hour to get there, probably closer to 1 1/2 hrs in your boat.

[leman]

Originally Posted by codeman

hey just got back from 4 days of fishing the dry creek arm. I agree with the reports that most of the crappie are about 9 inches this year, not sure where all the big guys went because we caught thousands of 11 to 12 inch crappie there during the same week last year. weather was horrible wed. but got better each day thereafter. the road in to dry creek is actually pretty good except the last 4 miles or so that is rough, but any four wheel drive with some clearance will make it. we towed in a small utility trailer with my suburban and had no problems, so, if your boat is small and you can launch it by hand at the bank, i would recommend dry creek. by next weekend i expect the crappie will be in the shallows thick. they were not over the weekend. we had no boat but i snuck away for a few hours in my float tube and found thousands of crappie along the high rock walls across the arm from the road. especially in the coves (which are much steeper walled and thus deeper water then they are on the road side). i was catching them 2 at a time as soon as my line hit the water. from the road side, we could only catch them down deep under the docks. but like i said, they will probably be spawning in the shallows big time by next weekend, if not already. we missed it by a few days this year!

I like your description of where you found crappies. At Brownlee I found that crappies were spawning on smooth rock with little built in shelves in it, which I decided made good nest pockets. Adjacent to this 20 yard band of rock formation was sloping broken flaked shale and the crappies were not on that at all. I decided that that made sense because a nest would not hold on that "angle of repose" situation. It's always and endless puzzle but I want to learn the rocks at Owyhee incase they give clues.

It seems also that many times at Brownlee that fishing in the shade is critical.

Any comments about rock types and shade at Owyhee or elsewhere ?

Also, what range of depths were the crappies ?

A biologist told me that since crappies may live to be 7 years +- that the year class cycle / size can be explained as 12" crappies may spawn and die or not make it to the next year due to age.

[codeman]

hey good info on brownlee. I used to fish it alot in the late 90's. I went to school in southern idaho and spent many a weekend out there catching monster crappie, and hardly had any competition. Now it seems like the fish are smaller, harder to find consistently, and there are people EVERYWHERE! I definately like owhyee better. I agree that before the fish are in the shallows spawning, the associate with shade, even when its not sunny and hot, they seemed to prefer shade. the totally vertical rock walls held very little fish last weekend, and the walls with about a 45 degree slope and kind of gravelly held thousands. Not sure if they were spawning, i believe they were still staging. all of the females I caught were still full of eggs and none seemed to be beat up from the spawn. I only got a few hours of fishing on the rocks, so it might not be a true representation. none of the fish we caught off of the docks appeared to have spawned yet either. On sat. night they were definatley on the move into the shallows as we caught them along the willows in about 4 feet of water, half way into the end of the cove. some guys we talked too said they caught hundreds of them in the cove spawning 3 weeks earlier during a couple of days of hot weater when the water warmed up about 7 degrees. when we got there on wed. the water in the cove was only 54 degrees. by the time we left it was 60. I think that week of cold weather they had right before we got there put the fish off the spawn. a solid week of warm weather will get them spawning in full force. Trying to make it back over there on friday for a three day trip. (this time in my buddies boat). i'll let ya know how i do if i make it.

[retaliate]

Originally Posted by leman

I like your description of where you found crappies. At Brownlee I found that crappies were spawning on smooth rock with little built in shelves in it, which I decided made good nest pockets. Adjacent to this 20 yard band of rock formation was sloping broken flaked shale and the crappies were not on that at all. I decided that that made sense because a nest would not hold on that "angle of repose" situation. It's always and endless puzzle but I want to learn the rocks at Owyhee incase they give clues.

It seems also that many times at Brownlee that fishing in the shade is critical.

Any comments about rock types and shade at Owyhee or elsewhere ?

Also, what range of depths were the crappies ?

A biologist told me that since crappies may live to be 7 years +- that the year class cycle / size can be explained as 12" crappies may spawn and die or not make it to the next year due to age.

For us 20' to 30' of water was consistant, with most Crappie caught about half depth, except three fingers cove where many were in the shallows under 10', using a bobber with 4' leader was the ticket there, the mornings were cold, actually freezing fri, & sat , the bite was slow until the sun warmed the water up, typically early morning & late evening is good, & slow during the heat of the day this time of year, but the colder than ave weather probably was the difference.