Mud Flat Fishing
Brownlee
Reservoir -- This huge body of
water on the Snake River is slowly gaining its old glory. Weather conditions
this spring and some local governmental pressure convinced Idaho Power Co. to
keep the water level relatively stable until the middle of May. Fishing for
lunker smallmouth bass was good. Many fish in the four to five pound area were
caught and most released. (Who wants to eat a female ready to spawn?) Crappie
fishing also improved over last year, but is far from what it used to be. The
bright story for the future is the channel catfish are now making their attack
on the carp. The carp spawn in very shallow, sometimes less than six inches of
water. Their splashing seems to attract the channel catfish that chow down on
the eggs and fry.
This year the
water was down for so long that a good many weeds and grass have grown up well
out in to the mud flat area at Richland. This is just great for the carp. The
water warms quickly and the eggs hatch in less than 72 hours. The catfish think
they died and went to heaven too. They just swim around with their mouth open
and regain the body fat they lost during their spawning process. The bottom line
is the fishermen have a ball too.
You have two
choices. One you can bow hunt for carp; some are up to 40 pounds but most
average between 15 and 20 pounds. Or you can rig up and fish for channel cats.
Let’s take one at a time.
For bow hunters
you need a “fish arrow”. This special arrow has swinging barbs that flare
out once it has entered the carp. This way the critter can not pull loose. Many
hunters hunt from specially equipped boats that have raised platforms. This way
the angle of refraction is not so great and you are shooting down at your
target. It takes some practice to get the Kentucky windage when you are lower to
the water. Other hunters get out of their boats and hunt the fish on foot. There
is no doubt that sex is a wonderful thing and if you have never seen sex driven
spawning carp you are in for a show. Four or five males will press along the
side of a female and actually turn her on her side. I guess to press out the
eggs and fertilize them. The shallower the water, the warmer it is, and the crap
know this is what it takes to get their reproduction going. It also makes for
great shooting.
Then there are
the channel catfish that follow the carp to eat the eggs and young fry as they
hatch. For the catfish fishermen it is a great deal different than my standard
catfish set up. Usually I suggest that fishermen use 3/0 long shank hooks baited
with a three-inch prawn. Recently two clients and myself tried this method in
the spawning catfish. We got bites like crazy, but could not hook the cats as
they would wined the line around some grass or weeds and spit the bait out,
before we could set the hook. After a dozen or so “takes” and no fish in the
boat it called for a different method. We needed some way to be able to set the
hook right away. Since the cats were feeding on very small feed it only made
sense to go with a small bait and small hook. Bingo! Trying some #2 SSW Owner
hooks and about a third of a prawn we were able to set the hook immediately.
Since the bait was small and the fish we were catching were about three to four
pounds, there was not any problem getting the Owner hooks to penetrate the tough
cats lips. The fight was on. As soon as you set the hook, the critters headed
for deep water, which was several hundred feet away. While your at Brownlee
there maybe some crappie fishing available. They will usually be along south
facing banks in 4 to 8 feet of water. Crappies are what made Brownlee famous.
The best
equipment to use for crappie is a long jig rod and lightweight spinning reel.
With this equipment you can cast a 1/16th-ounce jig 40 to 50 feet
with ease. One other essential is some Smelly Jelly in either 1000 or crawdad
salt. There is no need to have
heavier than 4-pound test line.
For catfish you need to go with standard bass tackle. You need six to six and a half-foot, medium to heavy action rods. Reels also need to be capable of handling fish up to 30 pounds, as there is several that large landed every year. Ten-pound test line will whip any catfish that swims in Brownlee. Just make sure you have the reel with a good adjustable drag. If you do fish the grass, stay with the small hooks and bait. As soon as the water starts dropping, head for the shallow water points that flatten out less than ten feet deep. Fish those points about mid way down, four or five feet deep. With all the garbage out of the way you will be able to go back to 3/0 hooks and whole prawns. Let these critters run 20 to 30 feet with your reel spool free. Then click the bail; let the cat tighten up the line and cross his eyes. See you on the water