First trip to Flaming Gorge ending 7.18.2011

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kokaddict

Active member
Joined
Sep 30, 2010
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41
Location
Northern Utah
Hi all....I haven't posed for a while but wanted to write a quick note from just getting back from spending an amazing week on Flaming Gorge with family and friends...what a terrific time! It was our first time ever fishing the Gorge and the first time to visit the amazing scenery, the damn and the lake itself and WOW what an experience!!

The weather could have been better but wasn't too bad for the most part, the company was terrific and, oh yeah, the FISHING was unreal! It was almost comical to see how easy it was landing those 4lb+ Kokanee every day we went out. Watching the chaos that comes from having doubles and triples on the boat over and over was an amazing experience for the kids and for us parents as well.

I don't know a lot about fishing for Kokanee on larger bodies of water, so I was watching and learning the entire time we were out there, but for those who haven't fished with Rocky Mountain Tackle before, all I can say is that they have obviously figured it out!

When other boats would see our kids landing back-to-back-to-back fish they would start following us. They would go through the exact same area where we had just landed fish and they would come up dry. I'm not sure if it was the combination of dodgers and squids, or the colors that RMT has in its arsenal, but whatever it is, it's obviously the best way out there to catch Kokanee salmon, LOTs of them.

We averaged fishing about 3-4 hours each morning before the kids would get tired and wanted to go swimming, or eat, or go tubing, and we averaged Kokanee numbers in the mid to high 20s every day we went out. In all, for our fishing for the entire time we were there, we averaged 7 FISH AN HOUR fishing with RMT dogers and squids.

One of the days the weather raised havoc on a lot of people fishing and most of those that had been fishing that we talked with back at camp were either skunked or only landed a few fish; and although we only fished for a little over two hours that day, we managed to boat 14.

The majority of what we landed were 3.8-4.3lb fish with the two largest fish being a pair of solid 5+ pounders. It was interesting showing up at the cleaning station to have other fisherman there taking pictures of our fish and commenting that they did not know the Kokanee got that big!
 

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well considering that you were fishing with one of the best on the gorge. It's not all that surprizing that you caught ,the fish you did. Well done!!
 
Yeah, to say it was easy fishing would be an understatement compared to what I am used to; Jared is a phenom at catching Kokanee for sure. We felt honored and very privileged to be able to have gone out with him for our first trip on the Gorge; it set a pretty high bar for sure!
 
It was great seeing everyone up there this past weekend. I wished the KFF gathering didn't cancel out. I surely caught my fareshare of kokes. Anyways, great pics Marlow. I'm ready to go again.
 
For sure...wish it would have permitted some better boat time; but oh well.

We are heading back up for 3 days on the weekend after next; the invite is open if you can swing either that Friday or that Monday off from the grind. I'm flexible either way; we'd love to sync up!
 
How do you hook up with the guys from RMT to go fishing. Do they do guided trips or were they buddies of yours? The way my luck has been lately I definatly need some real help.
 
RE: Hooking up

Well, to answer your question, no, they do not guide nor offer any sort of formal guiding service.

They get thousands of requests each fishing year for those seeking to join up with them and share some of their expertise and wisdom. Their time is extremely valuable and, like most of us, they are very particular about things when it comes to their boat and their fishing.

Now, that being said, Jared and Jesica are some of the greatest people you will ever meet, despite their incredible fishing and tackle knowledge. They are very caring, generous and genuinely terrific people; the fact that they own what many consider to be the best Kokanee and trout tackle company out there, is secondary to that.

I posted the exact details of what we were using, where we were fishing, how we were fishing it. So you should be able to follow those guides and put a lot more fish in the boat. As of this 6:45 this morning I have received four private emails since yesterday, from individuals on the Gorge right now, who read the posts and adjusted their fishing approach accordingly. All of them have reported that they are now catching fish, or catching more fish, than before.

I can honestly say having watched Jared hook up time and again on fish, there was no other hush-hush 'secret' to his success. Those RMT dodgers and the UV squid combinations that I posted were the exact three variations we used the entire time we were fishing the Gorge and they all caught fish, and BIG fish, over and over.

In the time we were there we easily returned 30-35 fish at or above the 4 pound mark. I don't know if it was the 'run' for this time of year or the color combos or the depth, or all of the above; but our average fish was much bigger than I had expected they'd be and obviously, the 5lb fish that were caught were very healthy chunks.

Since there were numerous other boats that literally followed right behind us as our kids were hitting doubles and triples, that didn't catch fish, I can only guess that our success was due to the RMT tackle we were using. There isn't much else that could play into it, is there?

Best of luck with your next trip! Please share some of your pictures when you can!

Cheers.
-Addicted
 
(Quote)--I posted the exact details of what we were using, where we were fishing, how we were fishing it. So you should be able to follow those guides and put a lot more fish in the boat.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't read anywhere in your report about WHAT, HOW, WHEN, OR WHERE. Seems to be blowing RMT's horn pretty loud without offering any usable info. Don't get me wrong I don't think you or anyone else is under any obligation to devulge any info. The reason I look at this site is because there are a few generious individuals that do give useful information. Most of us are lucky to get over there 3 times a season so I don't think the locals or the hard cores that are there alot are in any danger of the lake being overfished because you mentioned lures used, depths fished, and approximate locations, (no one expects GPS cordinates). Many thanks to the ones that offer good detailed reports. As for the ones that just tell us how much fun you had without giving any real useful information, well we enjoy reading your reports, too. I am lucky to get over to FG 3 times a season and I try to offer a useful report. Unfortunately I've only been once so far this year but have two more trips scheduled, one 4 day trip the weekend of Aug. 13 and one 4 day trip over labor day weekend. That gives me 2 days of travel and 2 days of fishing each weekend. I plan on camping at Forest Service CG at Buckboard. Would love to meet any of the members on this board if your schedule brings you to FG one of those 2 weekends.
 
Ha...no, sadly senility and old age are catching up with me (here's all the details)

My bad, no, you are not losing it. I did post that information, but just not here, so sorry about the confusion.

Here's some information that will hopefully be of assistance for you and others:

These combinations were available at the BuckBoard marina store as well as the Chevron in Manila as of yesterday (7.18.2011) evening.

Anyway, we were using the RMT 5.5" dodgers and had the best luck with the RMT UV-super squids.

Far and away the two most productive combinations were:

  1. * The "Fusion" 5.5 dodger followed by the Pearl white Super-Squid and and the Purple Super-Squid.

  • * The other very productive dodger/lure combination was the RMT Mojo-Melon squid behind the Lime Fire Ice dodger.

We had the best luck at 53 feet down although the 48 and 62 feet were also productive.

Pictures of each combination we used are attached to this thread.

Additional Info:

  • - Squids were run about 8" behind the dodgers.
  • - Area of the lake: North of the pipe line ~1.3 miles, East side.
  • - Trolling speed: 1.4-1.7 mph
  • - Scents used: Pro-Cure Salmon scent (also from RMT)


Hope this helps. Good luck on your next trip!

.
 

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Thanks kokaddict, now that is some useful infomation. Things will probably have changed before I get back over there but then again your combination of lure, depth, speed, and area fished may still be a winner by then. One thing is for sure I will be trying those combinations when I get there. I think we will probably stay farther north depending on water clarity. Last time I was there over July 4th the best depth for us was 45 ft but I'm sure they are going deeper now. 53 feet was a good depth for us last year around the last week of July. I'll be ordering some of those pearl white super squids from RMT. I have the other colors in my arsenal right now. Thanks again for such a detailed report, really do appreciate it and I'm sure others will find it useful as well.
 
O I C U R 1 2!

And no, I only do that on Thursdays...the rest of the time you have to do that yourself....

Some viewers just aren't happy if you don't serve it up on a silver plate I guess :)

Actually I did that for myself now that you mention it, several times during the fun of the doubles and triples!!

Here's one series the wife snapped as I landed it then passed off the net for the quick pic before we chucked him back in...

hope to catch up with you soon...it's been too long!
 

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