American Falls 1/5/07

[BrianID]

[black][black]I had time to fish American Falls for 2 hours and 45 minutes this afternoon. I fished by the Westside boat ramp again. Measured 6" of clear solid ice in one of my holes. Ice appeared to be close to the same thick in most areas. I need to try a different area next time. I should have called it a day or moved to a different area after the first 15 minutes because I didn’t get a bite after that. The one fish I caught was about 17” and 2 1/3 lbs. One of the smaller rainbows I have caught at American Falls. I counted 6 minnows in his stomach that were about 3”-4” long. I could identify at least three of them as perch. Hopefully this means that there is a good year class of perch in American Falls. If I keep putting in my time at American Falls I will eventually end up hooking a big one. I’ve heard a few rumors of some nice fish being pulled out of American Falls this winter. Here are a couple pictures from today[/black].[/black]

Here is a picture of most of the minnows I pulled out of the fish's stomach.

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[lunkerhunter2]

Nice fat bow. I would say that they are all perch by the pic.
We have a reservoir in UT that has the same thing going on except the trout are eating smallies instead of perch. I know what i am trolling with next spring! SMB shad rap!
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[bdn06]

Did you eat those minnows? They look like a tasty icy sushi treat []

Nice bow, by the way. I always liked how the bows grow fat while their head remains the same...kind of like an old, overweight bird dog.
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[BrianID]

I know a couple of them were not perch. The picture I posted isn't the best but will still give you a rough idea. The opening to their mouth was too small and a couple other things made me think that they were shinners, chubs or some other fish. It is kind of difficult to tell when they are half digested.

bdn06,

I still have several pounds half digested carp, chubs and sucker minnow sushi.[shocked] If you would like me to mail you a pound or two let me know. They are great on crackers. []
Last winter I did catch a few fish at American Falls on minnows that I pulled out of the stomachs of other fish I caught. I could have saved these ones but decided to put them in the garbage instead.
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[Liprippa]

Who said rainbows won't eat forage fish? Thats interesting. AF is one of my favorite places for ice fishing.

Anybody fishing Hawkins through the ice deck? They made improvements on the dam it should be good in the next few years.
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[OvidCreek]

Brian thanks for the report! I am planning one more trip at least; like you know there is big fish to be caught in AF. When I looked into the stomach of the one I caught earlier this winter it was full of minows as well, but none looked like perch.

OvidCreek
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[BrianID]

liprippa,

I fished Hawkins a couple weeks ago and posted a report.
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