[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 2]Looks like I'll be up to the Gorge this coming weekend. Can anyone tell me if I need to purchase a Wyoming fishing licence if I already have a Utah licence when on that water?[/size][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 2]Also, Any suggestions about where to jig for big Lakers and what to use for lure/bait this time of year?[/size][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 2]And lastly, any suggestions about where to stay for a moderate to cheep price?[/size][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 2]This will be my first ever trip up there and hoping to make it a good one.[/size][/font]
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If you are going to fish in the Wyoming portion of the reservoir you will need either a Wyoming license or you will need to buy the reciprocal stamp that allows a Utah license holder to fish in the Wyoming portion of Flaming Gorge. The stamp is the best option. It is good all year, and, although I'm not sure of the cost for 2004, last year I think it was $10.00.
You will also need to purchase either a daily or annual vehicle pass. I think the annual is around $20, I don't remember the daily permit cost. Both the stamps and vehicle passes are sold at the local gas stations and bait and tackle shops.
As far as places to jig for lakers, I've been hearing that there are good numbers from Lucerne all the way up to Buckboard on the submerged humps and ridges. The Fish-n-Map Co. puts out a very detailed Flaming Gorge map with all the best underwater structure very clearly marked. It costs $6 or $7 and is worth every penny. It's also for sale locally. Make sure you get one.
Hope this helps.
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Hey coot, I dont know much about jigging macks at the gorge.
But I did record off the outdoor channel a show where the guys were jigging spoons up there with old moe guide service.
They were down the lake in the jarvis area jigging spoons in 70 ft of water.
I taped it for BLM, but since he is a striper fanatic down there on mead this week, you are welcome to steal it first and give it to him later.
Cant wait to get up there this week.
Did you guys decide if you are coming up with me, or later that morning?
Looks like we will have a few up there.
Don in denver is coming over from colorado, skeeter2 is going to be up there, BLM and the mrs BLM, me, probably tomegun, and I heard a rumor that kent of nsl is headed that direction, but not sure when.
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I will be fishing Tuesday and Wednesday.
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i was on the gorge on friday,caught a few small macks between 4-8 lbs nothing any bigger.Fished swim beach useing the downrigger's ,running j-13 rapala's right on the bottom.The anuual buckboard fishing tourney is this weekend12th &13,but the southern boundary is the pipeline,if you go farther north then that you will be in the company of a lots of boat in the derby.I have heard the linwood bay had been produceing a few good size macks.
fishing the "humps" at either linwood or around anvil draw can produce some nice fish.
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sounds like a fun trip, to bad I have to work this weekend......
the busted hand doesn't help either, 3 more weeks, then I can fish!
have fun guys, I've never been fishing on the gorge either....
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As for a place to stay the KOA in Manila is one of the best. They do have small cabins and nice clean showers. If you do stay there please take your shotgun to quiet the Mayor's dog. Last week at the Hub (which has great food) everyone knew whose dog barks all night long. Caught kokes in Wyoming and Utah easily on 6" silver dodger and rainbow needlefish 30' deep. Good luck.
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good idea about the map,i have went thru three or four of them.But i want to say this about useing the map while it still useful showing the river channel,alot of the structure it shows has changed.With the lake being over 50 feet below full,alot of that structure is now shoreline.so be careful it can get shallow real quick and good luck.
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I was ,unfortunately, up there Saturday. For the first time in 5 years, I got skunked at the Gorge. With the number of fish and fish species, I thought it to be impossible, but it happened none the less. There was one 25lb. and two 35lb. macks weighed in Friday that were jigged out of Antelope Flats. I marked a few good fish at about 80 feet. Big boys sitting alone on the bottom around seemingly no structure. We threw everything but the tackle box at them and got one good bite that I missed the hookset on. New pole, new linecounter reel, new fireline = drag set just a little too loose and line buried itself as I applied thumb pressure to compensate for the drag = lost fish.
Shortly after, we decided to motor over to the humps in Linwood, this is when the fun started. My main motor, with a small crack from Starvation in the lower unit, had lost all of the gear oil and would not stay in gear. OK, let's just run around on the trolling motor. Starts fine, but won't run at full power under load, OK get the tools. OH SH$%!, for the first time in 5 years, I left the tools home. So off we go at 1/2 snails pace (speed didn't even register on the Garmin) trolled into Linwood, taking about an hour to gete there. Marked a few good fish there too at about 80 feet, on what appeared to be no structure. We tried to jig them with just a little less success than we had seen before.
Enough of this stuff, let's head for a shoreline and catch some Smallies. None to be found, anywhere we tried. OK, let's catch some rainbows. We tried worms under bubbles in the back of a couple of bays. We trolled anywhere from 5 to 45 feet down for them. I swear it was just my turn to have a BBAADD day! We finally just gave up about 6:00 and crawled our way back to the boat ramp where I got the main motor to stay in gear long enough to load the boat.
On top of all of that; I don't have a top on the boat, and even with spf 30 and more than a half a gallon of liquid, I got burned to a crisp and somewhat dehydrated. I might just have to get the motor welded and come back up this weekend just to proove to myself that I can still catch a fish up there.
I got home and pulled everything apart to see what the @#$ was going on with the motors. The main motor just needs a small weld (1 to 1.5 inch) that my girlfriends family said they can weld, no troubles. Hopefully, there was no further damage than that. The trolling motor had just gotten a small piece of gunk caught in the gap of one of the the spark plugs. I added Sea Foam to this tank to clean everything out, and it must have been doing it's job. I'm glad I looked in there though. I also had a pinhole leak in the line from the pump to the carb, so I replaced that line while I was in there. Should be good to go next trip. Oh, I also took one of my vehicle tool kits and put in under the drivers seat of the boat. Don't know why I hadn't done that already. DOH!
Good luck up there, and I might just show up. If I do. I'll be in an ancient 16' red/white boat with a BFT sticker dead center, top of the windshield. I'll be on channel 12.
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If you can have all those things go wrong on one trip, then you should be set for the rest of the Summer! Seriously, I feel your pain. Been there, done that.
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I guess I should say that the one bite I did get was on a 1oz. chrome Castmaster with a white bucktail, tipped with sucker. We tried all kinds of spoons, tubes, and slabs, with and without sucker meat.
I also marked three big fish on the bottom at 65 feet as we worked our way back towards Lucerne Valley from the humps in Linwood bay.
The day pass for Flaming Gorge/Green River is $2. The annual is $20 and is good for one year from the month of purchase. Since the annual pass is a plastic mirror tag, it can be transfered from vehicle to vehicle, and person to person.
Remember that Flaming Gorge is a 2nd pole lake, so pick up a 2nd pole permit ($15) before you go.
If you need gear or licenses on your way, there is "Kenneth's Catfishin Bait and Tackle" in Vernal at about 4th North and Vernal Avenue. In Manilla, you can go the Chevron gas and goodies (I think it's still a Chevron) and they have good gear, and the grocery store is now where you go to get a day pass or licenses (including the reciprocal Wyoming tag) and they have a lot of great gear including the new "Tiger Tubes" and the guy is happy to share any information he has on where and what. Just go through the front door about 10 feet, turn right, and keep walking. You'll see what I mean.
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At the risk of sounding rather idiotic... I've never been to the gorge, and have been wanting to take my boat there. Ok this talk about fishing license for fishing the Wyo. side, Utah side... the question is , how do you know when you've strayed over to the Wyo side? Do they have a huge neon billboard that says, Welcome to Wyoming", hanging over the Gorge/stateline?[crazy]
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Actually, it's not a neon billbooard, but there is a line of bouys marking the stateline. It is immediately north of the Lucerne marina. Of course, it's also marked on all the maps of the area. So there really isn't any doubt if one makes even a minmal effort to be legal.
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Nothing idiotic about it. The line was not marked in any way the last time I went that way. Basically, if you travel about 1/2 mile North of Lucerne Valley Marina, you are at the state line. Right about the middle of Swim Beach. There is a pipeline that crosses the Gorge, that if I remember right, is one mile into Wyoming. I hope someone comes along to verify the distances I'm guessing at here.
What I figure is, if I'm going North of the marina, I buy a license.
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Thanks Don. I didn't know about the bouys. That makes it a lot more clear.
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Those bouys run right down the middle of State Line Cove and continue on across, but the spacing is wider out in the middle if I remember right.
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 2]Good pointers, tips, and stories. Thanks all.[/size][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 2]This year's fishing for me has been the worst in 3. I can count on one hand (make that one finger) how many fish I have caught this season. At that rate, if I get just one bite up on the Gorge I will be tickled. (I suspect that buying a new truck rather than a new boat has pissed of the fish gods!)[/size][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 2]Seriously though, thanks for the good info. Having never been there, it ought to be fun.[/size][/font]
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Yes curtis the pipeline is about a mile in wyoming waters,stateline cove is split in half with thier bouy's but in the middle of the lake its not marked as well.stateline cove is the first big cove out of lurcerne going north.
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You can add me the wife and kids to the Gorge list for this coming weekend weather permitting. We're headed out there on Thurs evening and will fish Fri and Sat. We will be camping at Mustang Ridge boat ramp and trying to cash in on Smallmouth and kokes. Both are red hot right now. The kokes are coming in about 45' of water over 90-110' depths in front of Jarvis. The SMB are in the 5-7' shallows in the same area or around the Mustang Ridge area.
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