I haven't fished the Gorge for smallies, but was thinking of heading up in a couple of weeks. Is that going to be decent timing? Anyway, just looking for some general suggestions, areas etc. We'll have a boat...
TIA
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It might be a bit early, so go deep.
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Was wondering the same thing and had guessed in 2 weeks might be early because of the cool whether. This is one of my most looked forward to trips, especially since it involves smallies. So any heads up is important to me. [
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] I'd really hate to travel that distance with gas prices and all, so I'll watch this thread with special interest. [
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It should fish pretty good for quality fish, might be just a hair early for numbers, but whatever you do DONT throw a Pointer 78DD....
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A buddy of mine caught 2 nice smallies- no pictures, sorry, last Sunday tossing a pumpkin seed 3" tube against the rocks on the noth side of the first bay north of Swim Beach bay. We caught rainbows on both white and pumpkin seed tubes in the same area.
So they are out there.
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I was at the Gorge from april 24th through the 28th and we hammered the smallies. We found some really shallow and also deep down to 25-30 feet. Used spider jigs, hulas, crawdads, on Texas and Carolina rigs, spinnerbaits and lipless cranks. We were fishing in clear to stained water on the rocky points and anywhere there was good structure where the bottom leveled off around 35 to 40 feet. If there is no wind, I'd fish slow with plastics. If it's windy, start tossin cranks. Good Luck!
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That's good info. Since I'm a tuber I would guess that it will be a little while before they are in my range, a bit shallower even though you found some shallow. Also I usually fish the Wyo. side at the confluence and I can never remember which warms fastest, Wyo./Ut. side. I think Wyo., am I right? What size? Seems like the little guys come in first?
P.S. I'm a plastic kind of guy.[
] Sure miss the Sparkinator.[frown]
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Holy crap I must have had the worlds biggest brain fart. I thought I read "Powell" instead of the Gorge. I really need a day off. Sorry about the misinformation. But in my defense, they are smallies, the same rules should apply!
P.S. I am a dumba$$
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I should have known, too good to be true for the Gorge, this early! Oh well,. It was good while it lasted. [frown] Sounds like you had a good trip at Powell. Sure wish it would warm up for a while up north.
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I really hate to be a heart breaker, I was just so excited about the smallies that I apparently didn't pay attention to the text, sorry bout it.
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Usually the smallmouth action picks up when the water temps are consistently in the mid-50s. This morning I was out, and had 47F to start and 52F by noon. If the weather stays this nice, warm days with no wind, it won't be long and your trip in two weeks might be spot on for timing.
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