Fishing Forum

This is from an email that I received today. I know that it is short notice, but please if you care about having a say in the water use out of Am Falls Res go to the meeting. Every additional person helps.

Quote:
"There will be a meeting (first one ever, as far as we know), with the Bureau of Reclamation, Water District 1 Representatives, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Mayors of (at least) American Falls and maybe Pocatello and other municipalities, and Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, sportsmen, business owners, and other interested parties. To talk about the water plans for this year, and give us the best info possible as to what we can expect.

FYI, for many years, a meeting like this has been held in Jackson Hole for the guides, whitewater rafters, business people, etc.

It's no small accomplishment that this meeting will be held here in this area.

Please, if you can, come out and support.

The Meeting will be held at American Falls High School Auditorium, Thursday, June 20, 2013 at 7:00 p.m.
Call me with any questions.

Roger @ Portneuf River Outfitters
257 N. Main
Pocatello, ID 83204
[url "tel:208-232-4776"]208-232-4776[/url]
[url "mailto:r83245@basicisp.net"]r83245@basicisp.net[/url]

End Quote

From what I understand, it is very important that as many people as possible show up and support this meeting. This is the meeting that decides how much and when the water is used from each of the Snake River Reservoirs.

It has always been held in Jackson Hole, because the support was there to keep water in Jackson Lake for the fisheries and recreation. [font "Courier New"][#FF0000][size 4]Consequently Jackson Lake has had priority over AF.

We need to let them know that it is important to us that water be kept in American Falls Res for the recreation and fishing. [/size][/#FF0000][/font]
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It is also important that anyone that goes be courteous and act professional. It isn't for complaining, it is to express support for our area.

It is a great accomplishment that they have brought the meeting here to us.
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bump
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anyone go i was at work and was unable to attend
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Unfortunately, I was out of town.
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Attacking or point the finger at the water being held by the Bureau of Reclamation in Jackson Lake will be of little help. I live on the east side of the state and Jackson is 100 times the fishery as American Falls and more beautiful thus that is where the money is being spent by tourist ect. I doubt any meeting is going to make a difference. Beside the commies at the Park Service will get whatever they want. I fish Jackson Lake all the time. If I lived in AF I'd most likely fish that all the time as well. But the fact of the matter is the feds will do whatever they see is fit for the ecosystem and the economy in that area. Personally I'd like to see Jackson Lake taken back to its natural levels. Back in the 80's when they were rebuilding the damn it was better fishing and you could see exactly all the things that it covered up such as Native American sites and other very interesting things. Just my 2 cents......
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Yes, Jackson Lake is prettier, and it is a good fishery. But AF has a huge potential as a fishery if it is given half a chance.

Since it has had better water for the last five or six years, it has gained some impressive fish growth. Just look at the record bow and the world record cuttbow that came out of it. It also produces amazing smallmouth. It can be a great fishery that will draw people in, but it has to have water to do it.

I don't think it has to be an either or situation. All I would like to see is a better minimum pool set for all the reservoirs. Right now the way it is, Am Falls is the first and usually the only one to get drained all the way down.
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I agree 100% on the fact AF. Reservoir does have a huge trout & smallmouth fishery potential if the water level was just kept up at a decent level & in addition when the reservoir is held up the perch do well there too thus making for a good ice fishery. In my opinion if AF Reservoir was one of them reservoirs that was kept full I think it would easily be one of the best fisheries in the NW.

It sickens me how how the Bureau Of Reclamation are so careless when it comes to this reservoir & how some years it gets drained so low (especially in 2007 when it was down to 1% full which really killed off a lot of the monster trout). I know last year not only it got down to 8% full which I was quite upset about like a lot of people were but also the bureau of reclamation was real careless when it comes to conserving water cause around this time of the year they were shooting out about 15,500 cfs of water through the AF dam & were letting so much out they were bypassing some through the spillway too which this went on for like 2 weeks & while this was going on the reservoir was dropping like 3% every 2 days which was totally unnecessary!

Having a meeting like this is a step in the right direction I just hope it'll make enough difference that something gets done like getting a minimum pool requirement set for AF cause there's no excuse why they can't manage to even on drought years keep the reservoir from going below about 15% full or below 250,000 acre feet
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