06-14-2004, 04:03 AM
Just got back from 3 full days fishing at the Gorge. Met up with Mac-Attac, BearLakeMack and Predator. Weather could have been better, but the fishing was pretty doggone good in my book. There were lots of kokanee to be caught, and the smallmouth are shallow and are turned on, but I'm now addicted to jigging for macks. Surface temps were 58-60 degrees.
[size 1]I caught my biggest mack ever on Thursday morning - 39" long with a 23" girth. I couldn't find my scale. The standard length-girth formula comes out to right at 26 lbs., but I would have guessed more like 28. Who knows? Anyway it was definitely over 25 and made my trip. I got a 33"x19" (15 lbs.?) on Friday and a 31"x17" (13 lbs?) and a 29"x16" (10?) Saturday evening. I hear Bear Lake Mack and Predator took a 30 lber trolling.
The wind was howling pretty good Thursday and Friday and again Saturday evening, which made boat control tough for vertical jigging. In the 3 days, I got bit 8 or 9 times and landed 4 fish. I was happy with that. I'm pretty much a novice at this and I learned a ton.
The first two fish, I was basically dead sticking the tube within inches of the bottom. It was a "thunk", kind of like a crappie inhaling a jig, only on a different scale. Very subtle. I didn't see either of those fish on the sonar before they bit. The third fish actually chased it up as I was reeling in to go look at another hump and whacked it. He must have chased it up 30' or more. The last fish, caught from the same general area came up off the bottom and grabbed it as I was dropping. I watched the jig fall, the fish come up off the bottom and when the lines intersected I engaged the reel and sure enough - thunk - and I had him. Pretty cool! Sorta like the greatest video game you could think up! I had another fish do the same thing a few minutes later but I tried to set the hook by just thumbing the reel instead of engaging it. (Note to self - Don't try that again.)
I did not see any macks up shallow or really deep. Most were between 70 and 85 feet. I marked a few last night as shallow as 65 feet and a very few other times at 90-95 feet. [/size]
[size 1]Anyway, I wanted to publicly say thanks to all of you have given me the advice that helped make my Mission 2004 a success. You know who you are![/size]
[signature]
[size 1]I caught my biggest mack ever on Thursday morning - 39" long with a 23" girth. I couldn't find my scale. The standard length-girth formula comes out to right at 26 lbs., but I would have guessed more like 28. Who knows? Anyway it was definitely over 25 and made my trip. I got a 33"x19" (15 lbs.?) on Friday and a 31"x17" (13 lbs?) and a 29"x16" (10?) Saturday evening. I hear Bear Lake Mack and Predator took a 30 lber trolling.
The wind was howling pretty good Thursday and Friday and again Saturday evening, which made boat control tough for vertical jigging. In the 3 days, I got bit 8 or 9 times and landed 4 fish. I was happy with that. I'm pretty much a novice at this and I learned a ton.
The first two fish, I was basically dead sticking the tube within inches of the bottom. It was a "thunk", kind of like a crappie inhaling a jig, only on a different scale. Very subtle. I didn't see either of those fish on the sonar before they bit. The third fish actually chased it up as I was reeling in to go look at another hump and whacked it. He must have chased it up 30' or more. The last fish, caught from the same general area came up off the bottom and grabbed it as I was dropping. I watched the jig fall, the fish come up off the bottom and when the lines intersected I engaged the reel and sure enough - thunk - and I had him. Pretty cool! Sorta like the greatest video game you could think up! I had another fish do the same thing a few minutes later but I tried to set the hook by just thumbing the reel instead of engaging it. (Note to self - Don't try that again.)
I did not see any macks up shallow or really deep. Most were between 70 and 85 feet. I marked a few last night as shallow as 65 feet and a very few other times at 90-95 feet. [/size]
[size 1]Anyway, I wanted to publicly say thanks to all of you have given me the advice that helped make my Mission 2004 a success. You know who you are![/size]
[signature]