American Falls 2/3/06

[BrianID]

[font "Times New Roman"][black][size 3]I usually try to avoid “hot spotting” places because I don’t think most places can take the pressure. American Falls Reservoir is large enough that it can handle the pressure. It is already fished by a lot of anglers anyway so I thought this report wouldn't hurt. In the past I have felt bad about being so tight lipped and will try to post reports about my trips a little more often. []

Today may have been the best big fish day that I have ever had ice fishing.[cool] I was fishing out from the boat ramp that is just NW of the Dam aka Medicare Beach. The ice was 3”-5” in my holes.[shocked] I heard that there is about a foot of ice at Sportsman’s Park. It would have been nice to have a longer board but my 10’ board worked if I placed it in the right spot. I thought the ice was going to break where it supported my board when I was getting off.[blush] The edges are soft and the reservoir is rising so bring a board if you go. If the weatherman’s forecast is correct then I think the ice conditions will improve this next week.

I fished in 5-25 feet of water and found the 10-20 foot range to be best. I caught fish suspended as well as close to the bottom. I only caught rainbows and it was normally 15-30 minutes between bites. I was there from 11:30am - 4:30pm and only iced 5 fish. I had 5-6 more fall off at the hole and missed over a dozen bites. The smallest fish that I caught was about 16”(didn’t put a tape on him). I also caught the largest rainbow that I have put on the ice in 7 or 8 years as well as a couple others around 21”-22”. He is probably the biggest rainbow that I have caught on 2lb line. Considering how hard these fish pulled I'm going to avoid using 2lb line at American Falls the rest of the winter. I probably would have landed at least a couple more fish if I wasn't using 2lb and 4lb line.[crazy] I also lost one that I think had more than a couple pounds on my biggest of the day as well as a couple other really nice fish.[] I didn’t see anyone else fishing but several guys stopped to check how I was doing. One group said they fished by Sportsman’s Park for 3-4 hours and were skunked.

American Falls was better fishing in 2005 than it has been since the beginning of the drought about 5 years ago and I think it is only going to improve. At American Falls I don’t expect to average 5-10 trout an hour like you can at some of the other reservoirs in Eastern Idaho but the average size makes it worth it. Don't forget about the fish advisory that the Department of Health and Welfare put out a couple weeks ago. If you are going to keep a lot of fish for dinner the younger ones have less Mercury.

Here’s a picture of my best fish of the day. He measured 23 3/4" long and had a 13 1/4" girth. He swallowed the hook and I wanted to see what he was eating so I decided to keep him even though he would have probably been ok if I released him. He had what looked like a partially digested 4” chub in his stomach as well as a couple other minnow skeletons and nymphs.
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[font "Times New Roman"][black][size 3]I'm going to try to fish American Falls several times over the next couple weeks. If anyone else would like to fish there with me let me know.
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[wiperhunter2]

Nice report Brian and that is a awesome looking bow, sounds a little tough getting on the ice though. How much do you think that big bow weighed?
When it comes to Hot spotting, you can always hold back on your reports and not give the big numbers, if you caught a lot of fish. If someone ask you a question that involves giving out too much info, you can always PM the info to that one member. Just a couple of ideas that some of the guys do to keep pressure off smaller lakes. WH2
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[BrianID]

Thanks for the ideas about hot spotting. I have a hard time trying to decide what to post and what not to post. I've already been doing some of the things that you suggested.

Last fall I felt bad about reading others reports and not posting reports of my own. As a result I've posted a report about every time that I have gone fishing since.

If you look at any of the reports that I have posted you will see I generally won't post the number or size of fish. The main reason I omit the numbers is to minimize the degree of hot spotting that I do. I also don't want to sound like I'm trying to brag. There are still a few places that I will not post a vague report. These are places that I feel could be significantly hurt by even a few extra fishermen. If someone wants to post a detailed report about a creek chuck full of big cutthroats that is fine with me. It is just something that I wouldn't choose to do.

In my database I record the numbers and a bunch of other stuff that I normally don't post. If you see one of my vague reports and would like more info feel free to ask. If I don't want to answer it on an open board then I will send you a PM.

I didn't have a good scale with me but the rainbow in the picture was close to 5lbs. I generally find that the average 24" rainbow will be about 5lbs. If they are unusually fat or much longer than 24" it is nearly impossible to guess their weight accurately.

Here are a few examples of fish that I have weighed (I only wish that I caught all of them).

A 28" long rainbow went 8lbs and a 29" that weighed 9lbs 2oz. IMO both of these fish had average sized girth, they just weren't extremely fat. A brown that I would say had about an average sized girth weighed 7 lbs but was 28" long.

There are some exceptionally fat fish that many fishermen won't believe the length/weight ratio. The last couple years this type of fish has been common in Henry's Lake. A couple of the fattest fish that I've weighed from Henry's were a 22" hybrid with a 16" girth that weighed just a hair under 7 lbs. A 28" hybrid with a 19.5" girth went 14.5 lbs. Keep in mind that both of these fish were fatter than most of the other fish that I have measured. I've found that most of the 22" hybrids from Henry's the last couple years are closer to 5lbs. I doubted that my scale was accurate after weighing a couple of these Henry's Lake fish but the scale still weighed a gallon of water right at 8 1/3lbs.

I was just going to give you a quick response and it looks like I've spent the last half hour typing this.[crazy]
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[wiperhunter2]

I know just want you mean about the length verses weight. I had a feeling when you said on your last report that it was your best day ever and then I read the rest of your post, that might be what you were doing. I can't speak for most of Utah anglers but I rarely travel very far into Idaho to fish unless I'm on vacation and even then, Salmon falls is as far as I've been, except for sturgeon fishing. So I don't think most Utah anglers go very far into Idaho to fish at least by their reports but who knows about the lurkers. I've always wanted to try Henry's lake and I've been invited to fish the Salmon river for ocean run salmon but have never made it to either. Here is a picture of a 32 inch lake trout after it had spawned, I figured it weighed around 6 lbs but it could have been more. WH2
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[BrianID]

I would be very surprised if guys from Utah drove to American Falls just because of my report. [blush] I wouldn't be surprised if some guys from Idaho fished American Falls as a result of my report.
The fishing wasn't very fast and I think most anglers ice fishing American Falls are getting skunked. It is worth it when you hook into a fish because there is a very good chance it will be over 20". If you couldn't tell I'm excited about this fishery recovering from the drought years. It has been a few years since American Falls has been good for anything besides carp. If conditions are favorable the next couple years American Falls will once again offer some good fishing for oversized smallmouths.[]
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[flygoddess]

Nice fish Gentlemen. Just remember to put those real big ones back occassionally. It sure is helping Strawberry, and as I said before, my last trip to Henry's last year, in a four hour outting I caught 9 chub 12"-16". Got to keep the balance, Catch, measure, weigh, picture, and Release.
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[BrianID]

flygoddess,

I'd agree that it is better to release the bigger fish. I would consider it a sin to keep any trout from Springfield but I'm not going to bash anyone as long as they aren't breaking the law. Just to my defence I haven't kept a wild trout for years with the exception of small fish from creeks, South Fork Rainbows and Yellowstone lake trout.
I don't think there is anything wrong with keeping an occasional fish like that from a reservoir like American Falls. It woud have been a waste to release a fish like that if it died after I released it.
I know that you were just trying to remind everyone to release the bigger fish. I just had to defend my self. []



OvidCreek,

Good to hear that you and your son got into some American Falls rainbows. I hope your son hooks into one over 2 feet long so you can watch the expresion on his face as his reel sings. []
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