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American Falls and Snake River - May 29, 2007

Posted on: May 29, 2007

By Dave Langston

The reports on the reservoir have been good. Anglers are landing rainbows up to eight pounds and small mouth in the two – five pound range. This early period is a good bet before the draw down starts in mid summer, draining the reservoir to a riverbed.

Doc Gardner, a local Pocatello angler that fishes more than he works, say’s that this year on the reservoir has been excellent. “We have boated fish in the eight pound class and many more between two and six pounds, this year has been good to my brother and I.” Pop gear, deep diving rapalas in a gold color and spinners are taking fish, but traditional bait like worms and grubs are also working.

Idaho Fish and Game (208)-232-4703 stocked nearly a half million trout since the first of the year providing anglers a good opportunity to bring home a limit. “American Falls has always done well in high water years, but keeping the water has been difficult,” says I.F.&G biologist Dick Scully. Trout grow quickly in here and this year should be a very good one as water levels have been decent over the past two years.

Concentrate near the dam and grain silo to up your odds, but areas near Aberdeen’s Sportsman’s Park have also been doing well to boaters. A good bet for bank anglers is Medi-care beach on the southwest end of the reservoir near the boat ramps. Worms, marshmallows and corn are good choices to land the occasional bow in the three – five pound class.

Bass fanatics will find fish upwards of five pounds this year. Reports of bronze backs by locals have fish coming to the docks in the 2 – 5 pound class with an occasional fish topping six. Seagull Bay, Sportsman’s Park, Willow Bay and the riprap near the dam should provide good fishing this summer.

Texas and Carolina rigs with a pumpkin seed and chartreuse grub or worm is a very good bet worked across structure in the 10 – 20 foot range at this time. Crank bait fishermen should use a crawfish pattern. This is the best bait on the water worked in the shallows hands down due to the main forage being crawfish.

This could be the last year of a general bass limit as the sportsmen of southeast Idaho have really put the pressure on Fish and Game to change the regulations on the reservoir and the river. It looks like this will happen in 2008 to protect spawning bass.

Below the reservoir anglers were stacked up for the opener as fish up to ten pounds were a good bet for early risers. This section of river is closed until the general season allowing large fish protection below the dam most of the year. Rainbows, cutthroats, browns, bass and sturgeon all inhibit this section and local anglers know this.

Reports of fish in the two – four pound range were plentiful but some of the larger catches have not been reported yet. Due to the large concentration of boats, baits like worms and grubs are most common drifted through the holes. Trolling is out of the question with such a large amount of fishing pressure in this small section of water.

For more updates and local weather forecasts contact Sportsman’s Warehouse at (208)-238-7500.

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About Dave Langston

Outdoor writer Dave Langston resides in Chubbuck. He grew up in the Midwest and south fishing and hunting across the country.

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