Flaming Gorge Ice Fishin!

Moon Phase:

Fishing Time: 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Weather: breezy, partly cloudy, 20's to 30's

Another year and another great trip! We all showed up Friday night to Green River Wyoming, where the beautiful Coachman inn awaited us. We had intentions of a long day of fishing to come on Saturday! We were on the ice before sun up and off the ice well after dark! When we got there we used the GPS to locate ourselves right on top of a 55 foot hump surrounded by 80 feet of water. Once we finally found it, we set up shop and sent our lines down the hole! Dave was the first one on the board with this nice little Mack! He didn't stop there either, he had a 4 to nothin lead on all of us before I even got a bite. It didn't take Hunt long though to get himself on the board and go on a run of his own! He led the group by catching 7 Lake Trout and 1 Rainbow! Dave ended up catching 6 Lake Trout, JJ caught 5, Ed had a career high with 3, and Barclay and Newton also caught a couple each! I ended the day with 4 Lake Trout, 1 Rainbow, and 1 Burbot. The picture of me below is of the Rainbow I caught at 80 feet deep! He was Mack lunch waiting to happen!

The ice was about 6 inches thick and cracking all over. It made for an exciting but somewhat scary day! We fished just south of Buckboard Marina. All fish were caught on tube jigs mostly white in color. JJ caught one Mack that was carrying an interesting tag along! This mack obviously decided to have Burbot for lunch and the Burbot had other ideas! It looks like the
Mack ate the Burbot and the Burbot tried to slither out threw the Macks gills but got stuck and died! It was really weird! Right before it got dark we decided to high tail it back to the truck and we drove to Lost Dog which is at the very north end of the lake. This is where the Burbot supposedly hang out. We heard it was better to fish for them in the dark, so we pulled up to Lost Dog just before the last ray of sun went down. We fished in 15 feet of water and used 3" glow in the dark tube jigs tipped with a chub, and sprayed with craw/anise smelly jelly! right as we put our lines down, I had a hit and we all got excited to pull in one of these ugly things! A hit was all I got, but then out of no where Hunt had one on! He fought it all the way to the hole and it got off! Dang it! We were not sure if we were getting hit by small Rainbows or if it was in fact the Burbot we were looking for. Soon after I finally set the hook on one and pulled in the ugliest thing I have ever seen come through an ice hole! The dreaded Burbot!
It had been a long day but a very successful and fun one too. The only thing I am still missing is the wall hanger Mack that I just can't seem to hook! Someday it will happen! I will continue to fish new humps and drop-offs until I find where the big boys hang!