anybody fish brownlee early for crapi and ect. I've fished it in the heat of the summer and love it but never tried it early in the year. 8 hr drive so I cant just run over and try it.
havent been over there yet this year. i heard that a few guys are starting to do pretty good on the bass...BIG bass. i wish that place fished like when i was a kid. take the boat out with the fam and catch 5 gal. buckets FULL of nice crappie...miss those days.
If I was driving 8 hrs I would wait until late April or May. The early fishing can be unpredictable due to water fluctuations. We don't have the snowpack of last winter so this year we should reach a stable pool earlier than last.In May the crappie & smallmouth will both be on the banks and biting. Should be a great year for crappie. We had a very successful spawn in 06 and they should start the year pushing 10" and by fall be close to 12". You can call or e-mail me for a report if you decide to come early. My info is at www.brownleecharters.com
I used to visit Brownlee a couple times every spring up until a couple years ago (buddy moved away and took his boat with him, jerk). April and May are great months to fish for crappie. If you find a good cove and the fish are there you are in for some non-stop action, and occasionaly you might hook into a nice smallmouth. Catfishing ain't to shabby either.
I have only fished down by woodhead park. is it any better farther up the canyon?. Ive also heard that sometimes hells canyon is real good, And I am planning an april 20 trip.
Fishing is good throughout the resvervoir but I like the top half best. I fish out of the Powder River Arm on the Oregon side. The Powder Arm is 6 1/2 miles long. From where it hits the Snake the dam is 7 miles north. You are in good water fishing out of Woodhead. Hell's Canyon pool is probably not as good as Brownlee but it is good enough. Plenty of fish and less people. April 20 should be good,crappie,smallmouth and some channel cats.
It looks like the early bite is giong to be good this spring. Yesterday we had 162 crappie for a party of 3. No major spring runoff like last year so conditions are pretty good.
