Saturday, January 17, 2026

Three-Peat at Flaming Gorge

Location: Flaming Gorge (Day 1 – Sheep Creek Bay, Day 2 – Anvil Draw)

Fishing Time: Saturday – 3 pm to 5 pm, Sunday – 8 am to 3 pm

Weather: first evening was sunny, 45° F, but windy.  Second day was sunny, 48° F, with no wind all day. 

Moon Phase: New Moon

BP: Saturday- 30.28 Hg and steady, Sunday morning - 30.33 Hg, Sunday afternoon – 30.11 Hg

Water Temp: 40° F

Best Baits: River2Sea, 200 Series, Glide Bait (powder color)

Who Went: Chad Fuller, Dunc

With recent success I decided to take one more trip to the Gorge.  My friend Chad, helps me on so many projects at my own house and on our flip houses and has always said I could repay him by taking him to Flaming Gorge to catch a big lake trout.  So, I called him up and we planned a trip.

We arrived on Saturday afternoon and the weather was beautiful, so we decided to launch at Sheep Creek Bay for a couple hours.  The wind came up wicked 30 minutes after launch, but it wasn’t cold, so we stayed on the water.

It was sure nice finally having my electronics on this trip.  We found a decent group of fish off a point but never could get them to commit. Towards the end of the day, we found another good group of fish that seemed more active and on the first pass we hooked up. 


See Video Link:

I laughed watching Chad reel in a big fish.  He kept asking if this was normal and if it should take this long.  I laughed and told him yes, just keep reeling.  He got the fish to the boat a couple times just out of netting distance only for it to go straight back to the bottom.  After sore arms and a good fight, we finally put a net on a beautiful 20-pound lake trout!  Chad was thrilled and it made his night!

The next day we launched further north at Anvil Draw.  I still can’t get over these January temperatures.  We were on the lake at sunup, and I didn’t even put a coat on… so weird!

We fished some areas around the Anvil launch ramp but didn’t see many fish.  We made a big move a bit further north and finally found an area with a bunch of fish.  Unfortunately, the fish seemed to have lock jaw and didn’t seem to be interested in our baits.  It was a bluebird sunny day pushing 50-degrees with zero wind.  It was nice on our bodies but didn’t have the feel of a good fishing day.  Either way we got skunked.  I told my wife it was good I got skunked cause now I think I’m good for a bit and don’t need a 4th weekend in a row at the Gorge!  It was a good 3-week run with amazing weather and some really good fish.

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