07-04-2003, 10:21 AM
[cool]Hey, Mr. L., I haven't fished the entire length of the river, but I would guess that the best place for cats is wherever you can find enough willing ones to keep you busy.
As you know, there are a series of dams and diversions along the Snake. Wherever you find tailwaters, rapids, falls, headgates or anything else that kicks up the flow and the oxygenation, you will find active cats. They ain't called "channel" cats because they wear "Channel Cat #5". (sorry) One of my favorite ways to fish cats, wherever they congregate in fast outflows, is to cast jigs up into the current and let them bounce downstream. In the Snake, that gets you both smallmouth and channels...especially if you tip the jigs with a bit of 'crawler or fish flesh.
I used to have an aunt that lived in Homedale, Idaho...and I have had business dealings across the river in Nyssa and Ontario, Oregon. That has allowed me to wander up and down the river on both sides in that area. I have never caught more than the average two to three pounders there, but I have seen some "gorillas" and have seen pictures on the walls of local tackle shops of cats up to thirty pounds that have come out of there.
The water is slower and deeper in that area, and most of the locals just "chuck and chance it", with whole nightcrawlers or a big piece of sucker meat. I doubt they catch any more fish than you could farther upstream, and I know thay don't have more fun on their heavy gear than you do with your smallmouth tackle. That is, unless they hook into one of the big white sturgeon that sometimes suck in baits intended for catfish.
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As you know, there are a series of dams and diversions along the Snake. Wherever you find tailwaters, rapids, falls, headgates or anything else that kicks up the flow and the oxygenation, you will find active cats. They ain't called "channel" cats because they wear "Channel Cat #5". (sorry) One of my favorite ways to fish cats, wherever they congregate in fast outflows, is to cast jigs up into the current and let them bounce downstream. In the Snake, that gets you both smallmouth and channels...especially if you tip the jigs with a bit of 'crawler or fish flesh.
I used to have an aunt that lived in Homedale, Idaho...and I have had business dealings across the river in Nyssa and Ontario, Oregon. That has allowed me to wander up and down the river on both sides in that area. I have never caught more than the average two to three pounders there, but I have seen some "gorillas" and have seen pictures on the walls of local tackle shops of cats up to thirty pounds that have come out of there.
The water is slower and deeper in that area, and most of the locals just "chuck and chance it", with whole nightcrawlers or a big piece of sucker meat. I doubt they catch any more fish than you could farther upstream, and I know thay don't have more fun on their heavy gear than you do with your smallmouth tackle. That is, unless they hook into one of the big white sturgeon that sometimes suck in baits intended for catfish.
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