Share your catch
US

Brownlee Reservoir Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

Snake River crappie water: Brownlee Reservoir stretches more than fifty miles along the Idaho–Oregon line.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Flow
9,870 cfs
Air / High
43 / 51 F
Wind
NNW 18 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 13269000, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Brownlee Reservoir lines up a genuinely fishable day across the board. The main inflow is running 9,870 cfs, steady over the week. Today brings a mixed sky, wind NNW around 18 mph, steady pressure near 1017 hPa and a high of 51. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:26 AM-12:26 PM and 10:50 PM-12:50 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Largemouth bassGood

The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Catfish (blue, channel)Good

Spawning season from late May into summer: Iowa DNR suggests drifting bait under a float along riprap and snags where males guard nests in cavities.

Smallmouth bassGood

Post-spawn and summer feeding: cover rock, wood and current breaks with crankbaits, jigs and tubes, and use live crayfish, minnows or hellgrammites where bait is the plan.

Yellow perchGood

Michigan DNR gives 66-70°F as the water perch prefer, so this band is the heart of the open-water season: drift or slowly work weed edges and flats with small baits near the bottom until a school turns up.

CrappieFair

Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

Tomorrow: Similar at 51 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made →

Before you go

Idaho requires a fishing licence from age 14, from $35.50 for residents. What a Idaho licence costs and where to buy it →

Chasing largemouth bass here? Check the size and bag limits with IDFG before you keep anything. The season dates for Idaho, read off the agency, are on the Idaho seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from SNAKE RIVER AT WEISER ID (inflow).

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 13269000.

9,0039,4359,8679,870 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp43 F
High / Low51 / 36 F
WindNNW 18-24 mph
Pressure1016.6 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain55% cloud, 60%
Sunrise / Sunset08:14 / 18:49
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (gauge)56 F USGS
Water temp (seasonal)~74 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Brownlee Reservoir this week

The best day on Brownlee Reservoir this week looks like Saturday Oct 24, at 5 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Saturday, Oct 24 — excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 — Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
10:26 AM-12:26 PM and 10:50 PM-12:50 AM
Minor period
4:51 AM-5:51 AM
Sun
08:14 to 18:49
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Rain, 18 mph
Rain chance
60%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Brownlee Reservoir: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Largemouth bass illustration

Largemouth bass

Best: the spring pre-spawn and the fall feed

A warm-water sunfish of lakes, reservoirs, ponds and slow river backwaters that holds tight to cover: weeds, logs, rock ledges and docks. In Texas, TPWD surveys rank it "by far" the freshwater fish anglers most want to catch. The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Crappie illustration

Crappie

Best: the spring spawn; summer around docks, brush and the thermocline

Two slab-sided panfish, the white crappie and the black crappie, that gather around submerged timber, brush piles, docks and bridge pilings in lakes, reservoirs and slow river backwaters. Texas Parks and Wildlife counts crappie as the state's most popular panfish. Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

Catfish (blue, channel) illustration

Catfish (blue, channel)

Year-round, best at dusk and after dark

Three big catfish share most of the country's rivers and reservoirs: the channel catfish, the most widespread; the blue catfish, the largest; and the flathead, which hunts live fish. All feed mostly on or near the bottom. Spawning season from late May into summer: Iowa DNR suggests drifting bait under a float along riprap and snags where males guard nests in cavities.

Smallmouth bass illustration

Smallmouth bass

Best: spring and fall, when bigger fish come shallow

A bronze-brown black bass of clear, cool streams and rocky lakes, with dark vertical bars instead of a side stripe. Michigan DNR says its southeastern coast, from Port Huron to Lake Erie, is known nationally for both the size and the number of its smallmouth. Post-spawn and summer feeding: cover rock, wood and current breaks with crankbaits, jigs and tubes, and use live crayfish, minnows or hellgrammites where bait is the plan.

Yellow perch illustration

Yellow perch

Caught all year, including under the ice through winter

Yellow perch are schooling panfish of the Great Lakes and northern lakes, and Michigan DNR calls them the game fish most often caught in that state. Michigan DNR gives 66-70°F as the water perch prefer, so this band is the heart of the open-water season: drift or slowly work weed edges and flats with small baits near the bottom until a school turns up.

When to come: the Brownlee Reservoir calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Largemouth bass
Crappie
Catfish (blue, channel)
Smallmouth bass
Yellow perch
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 74 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~74 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Brownlee Reservoir today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 65 F, wind to 10 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 68 F, wind to 9 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 64 F, wind to 12 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used if we need to ask you about your report. No mailing list, no spam.

Before you go

License

Idaho requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

An Idaho or Oregon fishing license covers much of the reservoir; ODFW notes that the Powder River arm requires an Oregon license. Limits differ by state: check current IDFG and ODFW rules.

Access

Farewell Bend and Spring Ramp (Oregon); Steck Park and Woodhead Park (Idaho); Snake River Road pullouts between Spring Camp and Swede’s Landing.

About this water

A Snake River reservoir on the Idaho–Oregon border, Washington County, Idaho: 13,000 acres over more than fifty miles, according to IDFG.

Fishing Brownlee Reservoir: the full guide

A long border reservoir

Brownlee Reservoir backs up the Snake River along the Idaho–Oregon border. IDFG describes it as a 13,000-acre water body stretching over fifty miles, and ODFW calls it nearly 60 miles long. ODFW lists crappie, smallmouth bass, channel catfish, bluegill and perch, and IDFG’s 2023 surveys recorded black and white crappie, largemouth and smallmouth bass and yellow perch.

Spring crappie and bass

ODFW calls Brownlee a well-known destination crappie fishery and rates spring as the best time for crappie and bass, summer for catfish, and early morning or evening as the best hours. Its best spots are the bays at the mouths of the major tributaries (Morgan, Brownlee, Conner and Sturgill creeks and the Burnt River), the Powder River arm and the Snake River itself.

Ramps and water levels

IDFG lists Farewell Bend and Spring Ramp in Oregon and Steck Park and Woodhead Park in Idaho as popular access points. Idaho Power’s Woodhead Park, 23 miles northwest of Cambridge on Idaho Highway 71, has a four-lane ramp and docks; on the Oregon side, the gravel Snake River Road between Spring Camp Recreation Area and Swede’s Landing has many pullouts. Reservoir levels swing widely through the year, and some ramps become unusable at low water.

Common questions

Which license do I need?

ODFW says an Oregon or Idaho license covers much of Brownlee; the exception is the Powder River arm on the west side, where an Oregon license is required.

When is crappie fishing best?

ODFW rates spring as the best season for crappie and bass, with the tributary bays and the Powder River arm among the best places.

Can I count on the ramps all year?

No. IDFG warns that some ramps become unusable at low reservoir levels, and ODFW notes levels fluctuate dramatically through the year.

Is fishing good at Brownlee Reservoir right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Cascade Reservoir46 miWallowa Lake46 miPayette River62 miOwyhee River68 miLake Lowell76 miBoise River77 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 13269000 — SNAKE RIVER AT WEISER ID (inflow)
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 18:45 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 44.6200, -117.0300 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 5, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.