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BrianId,
Thanks for the report. I would second your comment on being careful on the ice.
Smallmouth & Perch sounds good to me. I am really fascinated by the Smallmouth Bass. I have caught a few out of Ririe Reservoir over time and another area pond. would live to have more opportunity to fish Smallmouth in our immediate area.
Got any news on Smallmouth locally?
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With the exception of private ponds the only places by Idaho Falls that have smallmouths that I know about are Ririe and the Snake River. The farthest upstream that I have seen a smallmouth caught is John's Hole (Highway 26 bridge) and that was after they were planted in there about 10 years ago. Recently the farthest upstream that I have heard about smallmouths is Gem Lake. I caught one out of there this spring and there are also a few downstream of there. There populations seems to be increasing in Gem Lake and the Snake downstream of there but I don't think I could consistantly catch them in that part of the river and haven't caught any through the ice yet. We did pull a few perch onto the ice but the smaller rainbows made up most of our catch.
If you don't mind sharing, what pond did you catch smallmouths out of? Unless it is a private pond I haven't heard of anywhere else that has smallmouths in the snake river drainage upstream of Idaho Falls besides Ririe.
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BrianID,
A few years ago, I fished on Rainbow Lake (Pay fishery), near Rexburg. I spent a few trips catching some very tough, broad shouldered, bulldog Smallmouth. At that time I paid I believe $25.00 to fish on the pond. It was well worth it for me to have a chance at battling Smallmouth. I haven't fished there since. Two reasons I guess, 1.) I could get hooked badly on this, so cost was a factor. 2.) I like fishing trout, panfish, bass. perch. whitefish, carp etc.
Need more time.
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Rainbow Lake is the private pond I was thinking about in my earlier posts. I've heard a few other private ponds in that area also have smallmouths but I'm not really sure which ones. I've fished rainbow lake a few times but never for smallmouths. The last last time was about 2 years ago and there were some good rainbows in there with the average fish around 18" and large fish than that weren't all that uncommon.
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]. Gem Lake has many different species in it which makes it fun to see what comes out of the hole. I've caught or seen others catch rainbows, cutthroats, browns, cuttbows, whitefish, smallmouths, perch, chubs, suckers and sculpin in gem lake. 11" rainbows made up a majority of our catch. With the exception of suckers we didn’t catch any big fish but it was still fun to get out while it was snowing and windy[