New member - need advice

[Ken Jones]

Moose1am,

Thanks for the detailed reply.

These lakes aren't really high altitude (as I would consider high for Idaho, at least); both are impoundments of major rivers with a few creeks and small rivers entering them. While there is no agriculture directly near the reservoirs, Brownlee is downstream of over 100 miles of agricultural lands that drain into the Snake River. I am assuming this nutrient runoff has direct bearing on the algae population that turns the lake green once the water warms. I was there about a month ago and I could see the bottom at 25 feet. Saturday it was obvious the algae has started up - roughly 4 feet visibility and green sludge building up in the smaller coves.

You are correct, our rainfall out here has been less than normal, I think this is the 5th year of drought. However, Brownlee is completely full at this point. Owyhee is down 34 feet, and my favorite ramp is out of the water.

My boat is an aluminum 16' semi-V jon with an outboard jet. Due to the jet's poor control at low speeds, trolling is not a great option, but will note your comments for when I go with someone else.

The marked line and jigs sounds like a winner to me. I will try that next time. I have been thinking about making a measuring tool that I could mark my line in 10-foot increments, or else measure to a specific point and make a single mark. If I get it done, I'll post a pic.

I thought I saw in a catalog a device that could clamp to the rod right above the reel and measure line as it went out, but now I can't find it anywhere. I am most comfortable with spinning reels and haven't seen one of those with a line counter on it.

Thanks again for the info.

Paul

Brownlee res. is the snake river backed up bye a dam.

[Oregon slabman]

would you please contact me we live in Richland Oregon and we fish Brownlee quite often Brownlee is taking a big hit because of the fluctuation of water we are working off of six-year fish which are around 9 inches this year biologist claim between the six-year we had bad spawn so after these fish I do not know what the outcome is going to be in Brownlee they can give you more updates in the future for more ongoing information about Brownlee reservoir contact Oregon bass and panfish club they have full details and biology reports from the game department you can e-mail me at [email protected] Bob Oregon bass and panfish club address p.o.box 1021 portland, or 97207 for information contact Bill Egan is phone number is 503-282-2852

Bob, you're getting some bad info. Those 9" fish you mention were spawned in 06 and are showing pretty fast growth. Last Nov they were 9 1/2", this spring they will be pushing 10" in no time. That is the strongest age class currently but right now 4 distinct age classes are being caught. How strong the 07 & 08 spawns were is yet to be determined. 07 should have been very good, that spring we had stable water levels and 08 was similiar to 06 with rising water which was a tremendous spawn. According to the Idaho bios the average life cycle of a Brownlee crappie is 4 years. Unfortunately, Idaho spends more time and money studying those fish than Oregon.