06-22-2004, 05:40 AM
My name's Doug and I go to school in Pocatello, but I'm from Utah. I'm a huge fan of smallmouth bass fishing and I chase the bronzebacks in Utah whenever I can. On Free Fishing Day a couple of weeks ago, some buddies from school went up to Massacre Rock and just raved about how good the smallie fishing was. I have been harrassing them to take me up there and show me the spot ever since.
So, today after our exam we finally went up there. The fishing was outstanding. It wasn't fast fishing by any means and you had to work for the fish, but the bass were huge. By far the biggest smallies I've ever caught. We got there at around 4 and fished until dark. I caught seven, by buddy caught 4 and by other buddy caught 4 also. The grand majority of them were caught on Yamamoto grubs rigged Texas style and worked in and out of the rocks near shore in the slower running areas of the river. I landed one that was 4+ pounds, and 2 that were 3+. The others were between 1-2 pounds and then there were some runts in the group too. The runts I caught on a small spinner. The big ones were caught on six inch long Yamamoto grubs in black sparkle and blue. My buddy caught his first smallie ever and he was thrilled. Everyone caught one that was over 3 pounds.
I have fished a lot of places for smallies and these ones were just a lot bigger than what I'm used to seeing. I've spent a ton of time fishing Jordanelle and Lake Powell, and I've never caught any that were this big. If you do go, please return the big ones to the water and keep the smaller ones. If you PM me, I can give you some more details, but I don't want this place to get fished out because of selfish anglers. It seems to be a well kept secret. I'm not from Southeast Idaho, so maybe this is just common knowledge what I'm posting, but I haven't caught this big of smallies consistently in any other place and so I think it's important to keep the big ones in there.
Anyhow, it was a good few hours of fishing, and I enjoyed it a lot, despite the 10.50 one day license fee. It was worth it though.
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So, today after our exam we finally went up there. The fishing was outstanding. It wasn't fast fishing by any means and you had to work for the fish, but the bass were huge. By far the biggest smallies I've ever caught. We got there at around 4 and fished until dark. I caught seven, by buddy caught 4 and by other buddy caught 4 also. The grand majority of them were caught on Yamamoto grubs rigged Texas style and worked in and out of the rocks near shore in the slower running areas of the river. I landed one that was 4+ pounds, and 2 that were 3+. The others were between 1-2 pounds and then there were some runts in the group too. The runts I caught on a small spinner. The big ones were caught on six inch long Yamamoto grubs in black sparkle and blue. My buddy caught his first smallie ever and he was thrilled. Everyone caught one that was over 3 pounds.
I have fished a lot of places for smallies and these ones were just a lot bigger than what I'm used to seeing. I've spent a ton of time fishing Jordanelle and Lake Powell, and I've never caught any that were this big. If you do go, please return the big ones to the water and keep the smaller ones. If you PM me, I can give you some more details, but I don't want this place to get fished out because of selfish anglers. It seems to be a well kept secret. I'm not from Southeast Idaho, so maybe this is just common knowledge what I'm posting, but I haven't caught this big of smallies consistently in any other place and so I think it's important to keep the big ones in there.
Anyhow, it was a good few hours of fishing, and I enjoyed it a lot, despite the 10.50 one day license fee. It was worth it though.
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