Brownlee Cats 5-7-10

[idahoron]

Well this is the first weekend in a long time that the weather didn’t totally stink. I went to Brownlee Friday morning and after about a 5-hour drive I was almost too tired to fish. I said ALMOST! I hit the water at 7:00 am and didn’t get my first fish until 9:00 am. After that I had two hours of heaven on earth catfishing. The first one was a 26” flat head that weighed 7 pounds. The next fish was a 28” 11 pound channel. I was about to hyperventilate and fall out of my tube. After that I got several more between 5 and 8 pounds. I quit had headed to Crane creek for the evening more to come on that on another thread.
Saturday I started back out at Brownlee. The wind came up as soon as I got in the tube at 7:00 am. And it only got worse as time went by. About 9:00 or 9:30 I was enduring 12” to 18” white caps at one point and I never got a bite. On Friday I saw tons of fish on sonar but almost nothing on Saturday. I pulled out and called it a weekend and went and visited my Aunt for Mothers day. In all not a bad weekend, but I wish I would have stayed at Brownlee on Friday instead of prospecting for crappie. Ron
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[AverysAdventure]

Nice report Ron. You sure got the cats figured out. Looks like you were fishing at Steck?
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[idahoron]

I would not say I have them figured out yet. I am blessed with good luck from time to time. I got hosed on cats and crappie at Crane Creek but I think I know why. Yep good old steckpark. I can't believe how far down the water is from last year. I hear that it can get a lot lower. Ron
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[PERRY04]

hey ron,
i see you have had some great success through fishing off your pimped out floater but i was wondering what kind of technique you use fishing for cats off that thing? do you do the traditional drowning of chicken liver off the bottom or do the bobber thing? just curious.
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[idahoron]

I use cutbait. I work at a trout hatchery and I can get all the morts I want.
I use a fish finder for cats. Sometimes I don't see them and they look like rocks on the bottom. Sometimes they look like fish. It takes time to figure out how to tell the difference. To tell you the truth I am so new to catfishing that most of the time I feel like I am learning something new every time I go. One thing that I have found is in cold water you need a slow presentation. As the water warms up you can be more aggressive.
If the bottom is covered in snags I will use a slip bobber to get it right to the bottom but above the snags. I will be using a slip bobber this summer when I drift fish down the snake river.
After being very unsuccessful for many years the thing I have found that has changed my luck the most is, fish where they are! I know that sounds terribly simple but it is the truth. For years I fished the snake river from Twin Falls to Hagerman. I saw ONE catfish caught. I started to fish where there IS catfish and I started to get better at catching them.
Ron
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[PERRY04]

i have found that fishing where there are fish really improves your odds for success. [laugh] sounds like a fun way to fish though!
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