My buddy and i are going to fish the Gorge Thursday and Friday of this week and we are renting a boat since the HOA of my townhome made me sell mine. So we either ave to rent from Lucerne or Buckboard and I wanted to poll the Gorge pro's out there. Where should we rent from - Lucerne or Buckboard? and where should we fish without a fish finder after launching from your recommended marina?
We will be doing a 4 day trip which includes Pineview, the Gorge, the Green River and Starvation so look for a fun report in a week or so. Thanks for your advice in advance!
We also loaded up on RMT and carp spit but if there are any other koke recommendations please let me know.
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I don't know what Buckboard has, but the rental fishing boats at Lucerne AREN'T pretty. I don't think you'd want to fish without a fish finder anywhere around Lucerne either. I wouldn't, and I supposedly know the place!
Given what you've said, I'd skip the Gorge and do an extra day at Pineview or on the Green. The Gorge can be tough in a 14' rental boat with a 20-horse, no fish finder or downrigger, no trolling motor, and some wind and lightning.
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Take what Jim said and times it by 2. I wouldn't be caught dead in that small of a boat. Even in calm water the HUGE boats up there can flip a small boat in a flash. A fishfinder is an absolute must especially if you are fishing for macks. You could use Dipsy divers to get down deeper but without a downrigger it is tough. Good luck and i hope you have a fun trip.
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change your plans and head for strawberry marina. they have the same tye boats but you will have a mutch better time. beleive it. the gorge is unforgiving. my 16 smoker deep v is pushing it. id never step in anything smaller on fg. on the berry stay close to shorelines and yr fine.
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I agree with all that is said. I have been on the gorge in my 14' Deep V smokercraft and if you are in the wrong spot at the wrong time your screwed! The wind comes out of no where and can get very rough fast. M.H.
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Not what I expected but still very much appreciated. I fish the berry all the time with my little aluminum so we were looking for something new. They do rent 16'ers at Buckboard so that's where we were leaning towards. We are going to be targeting the kokes - we have lead line and two types of dipsy divers. We were planning on fishing from when they open at 7 until 12ish and target kokonee from 30-50 ft down. I do have a fish finder that I can take but Im not sure how we would use it on a rental boat but it is portable as I set it up for ice fishing.
So if you all really think that it would be too dangerous to fish for the kokanee from a rental, is there anyone out there that will be fishing flaming gorge thursday or friday and wouldn't mind having two others on board for the same price it would cost us to rent? I feel confident in the gear that I have that once we are on the fish we can catch them but I am not confident in being in a small boat in a large lake if you all feel that it is so dangerous. At least the water is warm if something does happen right!!
Thanks again for all your comments!
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Water temps were from 69 to 71 most of the time we were there.[cool]
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I would lean more towards buckboard which sounds like that is what your gonna do. You can use a suction cup to hold the transducer to the rental boat for your finder. I would do EVERYTHING I could to get a finder for that trip.
I echo the others with the boat size. I have a 16' deep v Tracker and it does great until the wind gets going. PEtty and I had the ride of our life over there in a storm. In fact, Jason is still probably a little wet from that one in JUNE. We got to a cove and sat it out for an hour until we got a small window of opeertunity to get back across swim beach and into lucerne to get off the lake.
DONT UNDERESTIMATE THAT RESIVOUR. It is mean and un forgiving.
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Thanks for all your advice and I think we will still head towards Buckboard. I am going to bring my fish finder and see what we can do with it. We just want a few koke's for the grill.
My offer is still available - if anyone needs some company who will pay for gas for the boat call me at 8013601003.
If you see anyone floating in the lake during a big storm, please pull me out and call my wife. If we survive, look for reports and pictures this weekend -Toger Muskie, Tiger Trout, Kokonee, Small Lake Trout, Walleye and perch - That's our goal for this trip (Pineview, Birch Creek, Buckboard, Green River, Starvation).
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As long as you stay fairly close to the marina, and you GO IN when you see or hear the wind BEGIN to blow, you'll likely be ok. Buckboard marina is on the west side of the lake, so you can always follow the western shoreline into the marina when the wind comes up, which usually blows from the west. Don't be several miles from the marina, and then wait until there's whitecaps before you decide to head in. Lucerne is much harder to get back to in the wind than Buckboard. Fish early, and stay close to home.
Without the sonar, I'd forget it. Bring a sonar, and good luck.
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We could always use all the other boats fish finders if you know what I mean. I'm not talking about trolling right behind other boats but we could head towards the general area all the other boats are fishing (don't worry about my fishing etiquette - I always give boats plenty of space). Any recommendations for specific areas for the buckboard area? The marina doesn't open until 7 so we will probably fish until 11 or 12. Thanks.
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Buckboard marina [url "http://www.fishinginthewest.com/buckboard.html"]Web site[/url] says they rent fishfinders but no idea what kind . Good luck to ya on the water .
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I would mount your transducer on a 1 by 2 piece of wood about 2 feet long and use a c clamp to hold it to the transom on the boat thats what i did on one of my old aluminums it worked great. M.H.
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