Sick of freezing half to death this Spring fishing in my float tube, so I finally went out and bought myself an older fishing boat. Nothing impressive but has a 70 hp merc and a little trolling motor - should get the job done. So I am in Provo and have two days off in a row this weekend and wanted to ask, where should I go?
I have never fished the Gorge so I though I might try that since I have the time and the fishing sounds pretty good. If I do the Gorge, where should I launch and fish?
If I do the Gorge I thought about hitting Starvation or another lake on the way for a few hours? Worth the time?
I was also thinking about going south to do the Fish Lake, Mill Meadow, Forsyth loop which i did about 2 week ago from float tubes and knocked them dead at all three lakes.
The other option would be to stay closer to home like Strawberry, and have more time fishing. I prefer to make this an adventure though. Any advice on this extremely difficult decision will be greatly appreciated[
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If you think I should try the Gorge, please share with me a few tricks and any basic info you think will be helpful - it will be my first time up there and will be with the wife and want to show her a good time (while fishing I mean)!!
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Is it faster to go through Vernal to get to the Gorge than it is to go through Green River? And congrats on the boat. Or if you like catching bass head real far south and hit Sandhollow and Quailcreek for the LGMB fishing
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If you have never been to the Gorge then it might be worth your time to read over some of the reports in the archives of the Gorge. It can be a tough place for a first timer to fish but it can also being very rewarding, if you hit it just right. As far as going where you can catch fish with you wife, you might be better off going where you have been before. It is hard to try and tell someone where to fish but if it was me, I think I would go some where that I know and have done good at. Plus being in a new used boat at the Gorge might not be the best idea, if you have any problems with it there, it could spell big trouble. Good luck where ever you go and let us know how you do. WH2
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Well we hit the gorge on the utah side of stateline. The boat did great the first day until the trolling motor drained the batteries. We ended up catching 2 mac the biggest only going 4 pounds or so and about 10 or so rainbows. The rainbow fishing was really turning on when our batteries died so we missed the last hour of probably awesome fishing. With the rainbows we tried trolling for them and only got one but as soon as we started casting the lucky crafts we hit them hard. The second day the boat had issues and lets just say we did lots of paddling and my back is sore as all get up - thank goodness it was a nice day. All in all it was a decent trip and look forward to doing it again when I get the boat up and running and all the batteries fully charged. Thanks for the advice and especially to the guy who helped us when we got stranded the first night.
Next time, I'll try to figure this boat thing out a little bit closer to home.
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I'm glad you made it up there and back safely. Minus the boat problems, it sounds like you did good for your first trip to the Gorge. Were you trolling when you caught the macks and bows? WH2
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Not entirely sure by what you wrote, but if you are running an electric trolling motor off of your cranking battery for your main outboard that is dangerous, because one risks not being able to start the main outboard. If this is the case, pick up a separate deep-cycle battery for the trolling motor.
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We were trolling when we caught the first two macs and two bows trolling small spoons but that was during a 6-7 hour period. The fishing really picked up for the bows when we started casting pointer 78's towards shore. We would troll the shore line really slowly while casting and they were hitting hard. We would also troll the pointers slowly while sporadically jerking and moving the rod - they really liked that and I could often feel strikes while the pointer was nit moving right after a jerk. It was awesome but then the battery had to go and die on us.
About the battery thing, there are two normal batteries connected to the outboard and I bought a marine battery for the trolling motor. After the marine battery died we connected it to the outboard batteries that we would charge every half hour or so by turning on the outboard. The problem arose when the engine started having problems getting fuel (or bad or old gas, etc.) and we drained the battery trying to start the engine. We got the engine started with jumper cables but would keep sputtering or dying. It was the first trip of the year for the boat and it wasn't used much last year so I am hoping that it is just a bad gas problem. I'm charging the batteries today so we can give it a try at a local pond some afternoon this week.
Ill post a few pictures of the trip. Overall, it was a beautiful day with some decent fish and a really hot chick in my boat getting some sun - can't complain.
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[black][size 3]Battery/boat problems have to be part of the exercise.[/size][/black]
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[size 3]You may complain, but I can tell by the
s on your faces that you had a good time. [/size]
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[size 3]Those are great looking fish.[/size]
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[size 3]Question: What's a "pointer"?, it's a lure that I'm not familiar with.[/size]
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Looks like you had a good time and those are some nice fish. Try running some Sea Foam(SF) with your fuel mixture and see if that will fix your motor starting problem, I run it in all my two cycle engines. There is probably some varnish build up in your carbs and I'm sure SF will help if you can replace that old fuel and get your motor started with the new fuel mixture. Good luck, I hope you get it running right for your next trip. WH2
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Lucky Craft Pointer 78 are rapala minnow imitating lures that cost between 10-13 bucks[mad] but work wonders[cool]. I have found that casting and reeling them in work better than trolling. The rainbow pattern has worked best for me. I still like trolling the rapala x-raps but casting the lucky crafts.
Thanks for the sea foam suggestion. What is it? Is is a type or cleaner? I also ran out of starter fluid spray so I'll get some more of that too. Where is the best place to buy boating stuff in Provo? Is there a type of two stroke oil to mix in with the gas that you would recommend for older engines?
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I'd like to know where to get this infamous Sea Foam as well.
If you ran out of starter fluid you may have a problem. My old Chrysler 55hp needed a squirt when I first took it out but that was it. Someone with more knowledge can help. Glad to see you got into some fish, I've yet to make it up there but that might soon change...
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