American Falls 12/22/06

[BrianID]

I fished American Falls Reservoir this afternoon from about 2-5pm. There was 3.5"-4" of clear solid ice by the West Side boat ramp.

I ended up getting skunked. I didn't even have a bite.[shocked] I hope this isn't an indicator about how the fishing will be there the rest of this winter. I would have thought the conditions in the reservoir were better than they were in 2005 and much better than they were from 2001-2004. It seems like there should be more fish in the reservoir and fishing should be better. I guess that wasn't the case. I will give American Falls at least one more try this winter before I decide it isn't worth fishing.

I wasn’t able to take any pictures of fish so I took a picture of one of my poles not getting a bite. [cool]


Below is a picture of a fish I caught at American Falls about 2 months ago. It isn't the best picture of me but the fish looks good. []It weighed 5 1/2 lbs. I didn't get a length on it before I released it. I only had it out of the water to get a quick picture and weight. If you look at the picture closely you can see the water dripping off of it.

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[lunkerhunter2]

Very nice fish Brian!
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[OvidCreek]

Thanks Brian for the report. I am planning on fishing AF in the next couple of days in the morning. If I don't ice a fish in three hours I will move further south. I will let you know how I come out.

OvidCreek
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[BrianID]

Next time I fish American Falls it will be by Sportsmans Park. I don't think the fish are concentrated by the dam as much as they were last year. I might fish the Westside area again this winter but it won't be my first choice.
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[OvidCreek]

Just got done fishing the Westside boatramp with my son. Rained like crazy today. We iced one real nice 17.5 inch 2.5 pound fish.

You will laugh at this one and I swear to all that is Holy that this is true. We only had five other bites hooked one and lost it about five feet from the whole, but the clincher was the fish at the end of the day. I was about to start loading things in the sled when I looked up and one of my prized poles was gone[mad] then before I could really get mad the pole next to it started to bend like crazy. I slid across the ice and grabbed it, and boy was there a large one pulling. As I reeled up I noticed my lost pole coming up; I retrieved it[] Then since there was two poles tangled I had to do a hand over hand method. I got the fish three feet from the hole and sure enough it wanted to run, so I had to simulate a drag; this went on for five minutes. I got one good look at the fish and to my best guess it was 26' and over 8 pounds. When I almost had him he made one big run right to the hole behind me. My son thought that pole was biting and so he started to reel in basically tug of war with this large fish. He got it up to his hole and was pulling the fish out when my leader snaped. My back was turned the whole time to my son, because I was fighting the fish. When I turned around my flasher from my line that I lost was by my son's hole he almost had it, but some idiot was pulling the fish away from him[] This by far was my favorite fish ever that got away. I got my pole back and got to fight a huge fish, and even my son got in on the action; I hope it lives a long life.

Ice was 4 inches, but I noticed melting today, should be safe on Friday. Good Luck at Sportsmans

OvidCreek
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[BrianID]

Thanks for the report and story. Sounds like you guys had a trip to remember.[cool]
Good to here that you had more bites than I did the other day. I don't fish American Falls for numbers of fish, I'm just looking for a bite from one big one.
I won't doubt the size of fish you had on. I'm still hoping for a 30" from American Falls this winter. Probably won't happen but I can always dream. I lost one there last winter that will haunt me as well. Last year after putting a fish just under 24" on the ice at Westside I hooked another fish on the same rod. I fought it just as long or longer(5+ minutes) than the 24" fish. The hook fell out. That fish felt much heavier than the 24" fish but I never got a look at it.
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