Party at Flaming Gorge

Fishing Time: February 2-4, 2024 (Fri. – Sun.)

Weather: High winds, cloudy, cold T-20s

Moon Phase: 42% Moon

Best Baits: Lake Trout: 4-inch white tube jig, Burbot: glow curly tail jig on ¼ oz jig head

Who Went: Mark, Tim, Tad, Rick, Newt, Barclay, Dunc

Rick Everson put a trip together for his birthday with a bunch of his buddies.  We stayed at The Red Canyon Lodge which is about 45 minutes south of Manila, UT.  Cool part was it has a private pond that holds rainbows and tiger trout, so we looked forward to fishing it.

The lodge was nice and we had two adjoining rooms to fit the whole crew.  The wood burning fireplace was a nice touch and we started some fires as soon as we got there.  Unfortunately, someone left the keys on top of the fireplace and that didn’t go well.  They melted immediately.  However, we did redeem and cook the lasagna by leaving it on top of the fireplace while we played poker.

Poker went late into the night, so we didn’t make it onto the ice until noon.  We also had to find safe ice which isn’t easy this year.  Luckily our spot near Buckboard kept us safe with 3-4 inches.  The bad part was the wind.  It was gale force and never went away.  

It made fishing tough and we didn’t see many fish swim by on our fish finders.  Rick, Newton, and myself went on a little hike armed with a fish finder, ice chisel, and one rod.  We found a few fish and Rick landed one.  This ended up being the only mack caught for the day. 

After a couple hours we couldn’t take the gale force winds any longer.  We packed up and headed to our burbot spot.  We were sheltered a little more from the wind up against the rocky cliffs, but it never really gave up all night.  The burb fishing was fair.  We probably landed 15, but none with any size.  We set out some tip ups and had fun fishing in our shelters.

The next day we decided to try the private pond at the lodge.  Rick has caught some decent tiger trout here in the past with his fly rod. We headed onto the ice and started popping holes.  The entire lake seemed to be about 8 ft deep. 

We searched the entire lake and never saw a fish on our fish finders. We couldn’t find a fish to save our life.  We finally gave up, packed our gear, and headed home.  On the way home we stopped at the overlook of Sheep Creek Bay.  One of my favorite overlooks in Utah.