Bass after Bass at Brownlee

 Brownlee Reservoir, spring 2023

Ever have one of those amazing fishing trips where you leave saying, "Wow, guess I timed that one right"? This was one of those trips.

This blog entry is really more of a photo dump, but I hope as you read the relatively few words you come away with one thing; timing can be everything. Know the habits of the fish you are targeting and certain windows in the season will produce exceptional fishing.

Katie and I try to hit Brownlee Reservoir at least once every spring. It is home to robust catfish, crappie and smallmouth bass populations. This year we decided to fish it a bit earlier than usual and invited Rick, Katie's dad. The spring weather had just started to warm up. We were really hoping to tangle with channel catfish; a surprisingly fun quarry, yet fishing for them is challenging to time. I had a sneaking suspicion that pre-spawn smallmouth would be around, but I had no idea the quantity or size we'd encounter. 

We arrived at our friend John's place and set camp for 3 days of boat fishing. We had the place to ourselves with it being early in the season.

One nice thing about fishing most Snake River reservoirs is a balanced minnow or leech will catch just about everything that swims. We zipped across the reservoir that first night and covered a nice rocky shoreline. It was obvious right away that the smallies were there to play; and the average size was very respectable.

We even caught a couple nice crappie.

The next 2 days were filled with bass after bass and the occasional crappie; not a single fish under 12 inches. The largest were no state records, but 2-4 pounders put a healthy bend in the fly rod and smile on your face.

It was obvious the pre-spawn smallies had moved in shallow to start warming up and putting on the chow in anticipation of the spawn. I've fished these waters in late June and not caught a single bass over 12 inches; timing really is that important. 

We even saw a few bighorn sheep.

Hundreds of fish were caught in only 3 days of fishing. Our arms were sore, thumbs were torn up and faces hurt from smiling so much. On the way home someone said, "Wow, I guess we timed that one right."