Flaming Gorge Report

[JHT]

My family and I spent the last 3 days on vacation at Mustang Ridge. I made the mistake of thinking this was going to be a fishing trip, but with the younger kids, it turned into a real family vacation. I did get out on Friday morning looking for macks. We started out in front of Mustang campground, but was unable to find any real concentrations of fish. So we moved to the point off the large island near the dam. There were fish stacked up there at various depths. By then it was mid morning, so we tried for rainbows. There was a good school of rainbows on the north side of the island. We were getting hits every time we passed there in about 30 ft of water. The fish were small, so we called it a morning.

Friday evening I headed out to Jarvies to try for macks again. I found a good school of them off the point in the main channel. They were hanging around 90'. I trolled for them for about two hours (the last two hours of the day) with no hookups. It appeared that they would look at my lure because they would come up a few feet with each pass, to the depth of my lure. I could see my downrigger ball on my fishfinder, so I know I was getting the lure near the fish. They just were not interested in what I was presenting. I am new to this mack fishing thing, but it sure is fun trying. The anticipation is much different than fishing for rainbows and other smaller fish.

This was definitely the first of many trips in search of the big one.
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[DonInDenver]

Cool! Another Mackhead! Try jigging for them. That's like the crack cocaine of fishing!
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[CROSSINEYES]

DON PERFECT COMPAIRISON... LOL
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[utwalleye]

Yea, what Don says, it's awesome when you set the hook and the tip of the fishing pole dosen't move just the handle bends. thats what it's all about the hook set and hang on. later chuck
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[Tarponjim]

Some hot-shot, fish-slayer we all know named "Piscispursuit" was up here the past few days making eveybody else look like chopped liver![sly][sly] (Puttin' on a trolling clinic Friday morning Chris!) The guy can't get his line out fast enough before there's one hooked-up.
Maybe he'll post a little tip or two for you trollers, or try a PM. I know he won't give much away, though, nor would I. Gotta put in your time . . .[]
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[JHT]

I know this can be a life long pursuit, but what else are you going to do with your time?
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[jacksonlaker]

JHT, That's all I do is troll. If you want any info, I would be happy to share. I'm still learning the Gorge, but I may be helpful in techniques. Trolling is the neverending search to find where they are and what they want!! I constantly change lures and colors, change speed, troll in S curves. I buy lures 3 or 4 of the same one, because if you have what they want and lose it, your'e done. If you have 3 of what they want, put 'em all out there! You can PM me for more, I dont want to bore the Jig guys !!!
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[DonInDenver]

But even we jig guys want to learn. We're never bored by trolling talk. []

Only by trolling itself. []


Just kidding!!! [angelic]
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[piscispursuit]

Don't let Jim fool you, he's forgotten more about Gorge mac fishing than I've ever known. That being said, I did manage to boat better than 30 mac over two mornings while trolling last Friday and Saturday. I hit Lynnwood Friday and wrangled in 10 and with my dad on Saturday caught better than 20 off Gold Point. Most were dinks around 5-8 lbs, with the biggest being 15.3 lbs, according to my newly acquired digital scale. Not the biggest fish but still alot of fun reeling them in fast and furious. I had three kids under 11 yrs with me, and they had a blast pulling the fish in, even my 5 yr old got to catch her own mac. There's no real secret to mac trolling the Gorge - keep your stuff on bottom, either by using technology or a lot of hand cranking on the downrigger, have a good fish finder, and as Jim says, put in your time. Feel free to PM if you want more info.
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