Limit Stick
Member
I quit my job a few weeks ago and I figured that before I start the new one I should road trip and fish some new water. I didn’t take long to decide on Flaming Gorge. Now I just needed a crew. One call to mjcook is all it took. As neither of us had ever been to the Gorge we would have to do some quick planning. To make things worse I gave him one days notice. “No problem” he says, “As soon as my fiancé’s bridal shower is over I’ll get on the road”. What a trooper…. We leave my house at midnight June 6th work our way through the considerable road construction and narrow lane closures from Cisco Grove to the state line. We lean the seats back in the truck for 2 hours at a truck stop in Winnamuca then we hit it again… a few more stops for diesel and new wind shield wipers and we arrive to the Buckboard Crossing camp ground to high winds and thunder storms.
Day1 We headed south towards Upper Marsh and Holmes Crossing based on some info that that we received. We drop lines at 6:30 and Matt hooks up a nice 3 lb Bow at 6:45 then I hook up a 4lb Mack. 3 12in kokes and another small mack and we decide to find some new water. Head head north towards Skunk Cliffs and find a fairly consistent bite with Matt catching the largest Koke at 3.9lbs at 20in. We work that area for several hours until a storm makes us run for cover. After the storm the bite is off so we search for new fish on our way bake to the marina. Finished the day with approximately 15 fish, not too bad and we now have a starting point for day 2.
That night at camp we met Rick, Justin and Cordell from Lodi. None of them were the Koke boards but they sure were great guys. They had been to the Gorge several times and shared there insight with Matt and I.
Day 2 We head straight for Skunk Cliffs and again get in to the fish. Not red hot but good quality fish. We land a half dozen fish between us in the first couple of hours then it died so we move up near Big Bend along the cliffs. Rick calls out on the radio that we too close to the cliffs and we’ll get a lot of macks in there so we move further out and find a shelf that comes to about 75ft of water from the surrounding 100-110 water. We immediately hook up a double, and proceeded to get 8 doubles in a row before the next storm pushed off again. At one point we were releasing the 2nd fish of a double and the other 2 rods go off. Afterwards we were jumping up and down like little school girls... this is what we had come to Flaming Gorge for… aggressive, hard fighting, monster kokes. The rods were in so we ran for cover and made a nice shore lunch of a willing kokanee. After the storm the bite was not as hot but we still managed several more fish. Final tally for the day was over 30 fish with 20+ being Kokes with most in the 3 to 3.5lb range.
Back at camp we made a hearty venison dinner and cocktails and shared the day’s excitement with our camp neighbors. Rick offers up 5 custom made rigs from his buddy Dirty Dog. Rick said they were sure to produce lots of fish…. And they did. Rick said Dirty Dog is on the boards but he didn’t know which one… If that true and you read this Thanks. Your gear was great.
Day 3 We set back on the previous days hot spot to find quick action for Matt (running the new gear). He lands at least 5 fish before I get bit including a 22in 3.5lb Bow. I switch over and immediately start getting hit. We finish at 1pm just as the next big storm hits with nearly 20 fish. Also was able to talk to JR on the radio a lot today… they were into them and having a great time.
Our best set ups were 5.5 sling blade or a large Kens glow dodger with pink and glow hoochie in the morning and orange and pink UV apex or hoochies in the afternoon as well as the Uncle Larry’s Pro snell in orange firetiger. All hooks tipped with a piece of Gulp worm or maggot in pink or Chartreuse.
We found the fish slightly deeper each day but our most consistent depth was around 22-26 feet over 60-80ft of water near deeper water.
Thanks Matt for company and a true adventure. I can’t wait to go again.
Here are some of the 163 pics we took during the trip. I’m also trying to edit about 1.5 hours of video footage. I post a little bit if I figure it out.
Jason
Day1 We headed south towards Upper Marsh and Holmes Crossing based on some info that that we received. We drop lines at 6:30 and Matt hooks up a nice 3 lb Bow at 6:45 then I hook up a 4lb Mack. 3 12in kokes and another small mack and we decide to find some new water. Head head north towards Skunk Cliffs and find a fairly consistent bite with Matt catching the largest Koke at 3.9lbs at 20in. We work that area for several hours until a storm makes us run for cover. After the storm the bite is off so we search for new fish on our way bake to the marina. Finished the day with approximately 15 fish, not too bad and we now have a starting point for day 2.
That night at camp we met Rick, Justin and Cordell from Lodi. None of them were the Koke boards but they sure were great guys. They had been to the Gorge several times and shared there insight with Matt and I.
Day 2 We head straight for Skunk Cliffs and again get in to the fish. Not red hot but good quality fish. We land a half dozen fish between us in the first couple of hours then it died so we move up near Big Bend along the cliffs. Rick calls out on the radio that we too close to the cliffs and we’ll get a lot of macks in there so we move further out and find a shelf that comes to about 75ft of water from the surrounding 100-110 water. We immediately hook up a double, and proceeded to get 8 doubles in a row before the next storm pushed off again. At one point we were releasing the 2nd fish of a double and the other 2 rods go off. Afterwards we were jumping up and down like little school girls... this is what we had come to Flaming Gorge for… aggressive, hard fighting, monster kokes. The rods were in so we ran for cover and made a nice shore lunch of a willing kokanee. After the storm the bite was not as hot but we still managed several more fish. Final tally for the day was over 30 fish with 20+ being Kokes with most in the 3 to 3.5lb range.
Back at camp we made a hearty venison dinner and cocktails and shared the day’s excitement with our camp neighbors. Rick offers up 5 custom made rigs from his buddy Dirty Dog. Rick said they were sure to produce lots of fish…. And they did. Rick said Dirty Dog is on the boards but he didn’t know which one… If that true and you read this Thanks. Your gear was great.
Day 3 We set back on the previous days hot spot to find quick action for Matt (running the new gear). He lands at least 5 fish before I get bit including a 22in 3.5lb Bow. I switch over and immediately start getting hit. We finish at 1pm just as the next big storm hits with nearly 20 fish. Also was able to talk to JR on the radio a lot today… they were into them and having a great time.
Our best set ups were 5.5 sling blade or a large Kens glow dodger with pink and glow hoochie in the morning and orange and pink UV apex or hoochies in the afternoon as well as the Uncle Larry’s Pro snell in orange firetiger. All hooks tipped with a piece of Gulp worm or maggot in pink or Chartreuse.
We found the fish slightly deeper each day but our most consistent depth was around 22-26 feet over 60-80ft of water near deeper water.
Thanks Matt for company and a true adventure. I can’t wait to go again.
Here are some of the 163 pics we took during the trip. I’m also trying to edit about 1.5 hours of video footage. I post a little bit if I figure it out.
Jason
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