A Trip Worth Waiting For!

Moon Phase:

Fishing Time: 7:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Weather: sunny, clear, breezy, 30's

It was the trip I look forward to every year. Flaming Gorge through the ice! We usually only make it up there once every ice season due to the long drive, but I look forward to it every year. In the past we have always managed to pull in a few of the elusive Mackinaw we go there to target, but this year was going to be different. We just didn't know it yet! We geared up by going to Sportsmans Warehouse and loading up on our favorite Mac jigs and then we were off for a weekend at the Gorge! We stayed in a dingy motel in Green River Wyoming called the Flaming Gorge Motel. An early wake up call had us on the ice by 7:30 a.m. We had studied our maps the night before and tried to put ourselves right over a 50 foot hump in 65 feet of water. Using my fish finder to locate depths and with a little searching we found it. Now it was up to us to catch some fish. JJ was the first to drop a 7 inch Tora Tube Jig down to the bottom and with much surprise to me he was hit instantly! JJ landed the first Mac of the day with this 4 pound beauty!
Little did I know that this would be the start of the greatest Lake Trout fishing I have ever experienced in my life! JJ catching this fish was like waiving the dinner bell for all the others. We all started getting hits non stop for the rest of the morning! Dave would have one on and then me and then JJ and then even Ed got into the action, we all caught fish, it was awesome! Here is a picture of Dave with his personal best for the day weighing in at 4.5 pounds. We were fishing
with a variety of different tubes and jigs, but the one that worked best for me and ended up being what almost everyone else put on was a Storm 5 inch minnow in white. We then tipped it with a piece of minnow or chub. Half way through the day I pulled out what was to be the biggest fish of the trip coming in at 5 pounds and 25 inches long.

The middle of the day slowed down a bit but not much and then at about 2:00 it was back on again. I ended up catching 14 while Dave came in with 9 and JJ with 4. Ed even managed to pull in a couple as well as his buddy Jim that came along for the ride. These numbers only represent what actually came out of the ice hole but I probably had on as many as I caught and missed double that in hits. It was a Mac frenzy that day and we found the right spot. No big boys were pulled in but when your catching fish like that it doesn't really matter. The big boy can wait til next trip! We stayed all day until sunset and it was a gorgeous walk back to the trucks with smiles on our faces the whole way! Can't wait to get back up there!

(The Train Home)

Jordanelle Again!

I had a little time to spare on Thursday so JJ and I decided we might as well make a quick evening trip up to Jordanelle again. We got a late start and made it to the lake with about an hour and a half of day light left. We decided to walk out to the same spot we went last time, up against the big rock outcrop on the north side of the rock cliff arm Right around the buoys. The fish finder started blowing up as soon as I put it down my ice hole. We were fishing in 15 feet of water and there were fish at all depths. I made my first drop down with a small white tube jig tipped with a meal worm and BAM! First fish of the trip a Utah Sucker. Two seconds later JJ had one on and pulled in the first Rainbow of the trip. The hits continued and I pulled in my second fish. What do you know another sucker. Then JJ pulls in his second fish and what do you know it was a Rainbow. This continued until I had caught four suckers and JJ had three trout. We were fishing with the same baits and were only 10 ft. away from each other. What a weird trip! The worst part is that for our ice fishing tournament my friends and I do, suckers, carp, and chubs don't count! So Chris took home a big fat zero to put down on the fishing chart this trip. Oh well! Once it got dark we took off and we forgot the camera so no pics this trip.