Catfish on the Snake River

[Big Moose]

269432_1947732626381_1634522992_1914116_6461857_n.jpg268739_2195805257696_1324148609_32559364_998655_n.jpgJust got back from a week on the Snake River near Ontario, Ore.. Had a great time with family and friends and caught cats to 8.5 lbs.. Fun trip!

Moose

[Iditarodgrizzly]

Perfect frying size

[jerryt]

Those are great eating fish there. By the way we have been catching a lot near your place at Camanche but they are the 1.5 lb to 3 lb varity with a couple bigger mixed in

[OR186]

Nice cats. Farewell Bend?

[Big Moose]

OR186....yes, it is Farewell Bend. Great place to camp...fun times with family. Hope to make it back this year.

Moose

[OR186]

That's some good catfishing down at that end of Brownlee. Most of the big flatheads are caught out of Farewell Bend and Huntington. I operate a charter boat service out of the Powder River Arm 40 miles downriver from Huntington. There's also a real nice Idaho Power campground down by Brownlee Dam on the Idaho side. Woodhead Park, it's about 20 miles from Cambridge.

[Big Moose]

OR186... I try to meet my folks there and spend a week or so with them and other family members around June. Fun times, getting after the cats. We get a few flatheads, but nothing big. I don't think we are using the right bait for the big guys. I got a 12 lb flathead last year, the only one any of us caught (last year).

We don't get too far down below the Huntington arm, maybe a mile or so. My wife and I took a drive (in my truck) down the lake for maybe twenty miles one day but still have not been to the dam.

Thanks for the info on the campground. We may meet my brother there as he comes down from Post Falls.

Sorry I took so long getting back to you. I had completely forgotten about this post! Must have been a gray moment...

Moose

[Live2hunt]

Are the crappies biting in Brownlee yet?


L2H

[OR186]

Not in any numbers that I have heard. The Corp of Engineers dropped the reservoir quite a bit last week. Not many are fishing yet.

[Big Moose]

OR186...what do you fish for on your charter boat? Catfish?

Moose

[OR186]

I start with mostly crappie in the spring then switch to catfish or catfish/crappie combos in the summer. Fall crappie fishing is usually good also. We catch mostly channels with some blues mixed in. Once in a great while we catch a flathead. Most of our cats are 3-5 lb but we do get quite a few 5- 9 and a few 9-12.

[Live2hunt]

OR186,
You may want to consider guiding for sturgeons on the Snake.

[OR186]

I stay pretty busy May-Sept on Brownlee. Close to home and I know the reservoir pretty well. After Sept I'm ready for a hunting trip to unwind. You're right, there is some good sturgeon fishing both upriver into Idaho and downriver in Hell's Canyon. All catch and release. The fish we catch get released into hot oil!