The subject has two meanings. First, it was 34 degrees at 6 when we parked the truck. Second the fishing was awesome. Between four of us we caught 40 mac pups by noon. We were fishing buck board bay in 55 feet of water. The average fish was 21 and fat. The biggest was a chuncky 25" that was 5lb that I caught. My dad hooked a non pup and fought it for 10 minutes or so before it threw the hook. We are set up for the pups (love em smoked and we can get a whole year supply in a few trips) so when we do hook the bigguns they really work our little rods. We have busted rods reels and of coarse a lot of line and still have never iced one better than ten.
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Nice! I'm hoping for some pups during the down burbot time when I am up there in a few weeks.
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Good on ya!!! That's great news, me Wiperhunter2, Wiperslayer and possibly my father inlaw are planning on going up next weekend. Hopefully the fishing is as good as it was for you guys!
Any recommendation on lure, size, color? PM's welcome if you don't want to disclose to the public. Again congratulations on a good outing.
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Ha Ha Ha fishing was so hot you can't even take a few pictures or 20-40 pictures of some pups ha ha ha. [
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maybe they didnt have a camera.
or just havent posted them yet lets not make fun or give somone a bad time i think its great that they had good luck and that a good time
thats all that matters...
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Sounds familiar. We were catching pups a few years back when I hooked into a good one. 2-1/2 hours later I landed a 21 lber. on 4-pound line. It about spooled me several times, but amazinly stopped every time before I ran out of line. I could see the color of the spool showing through the few wraps of line left. I also proved a 21 lber. will fit through an 8" hole.
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I just figured out that you can post pics from a cell now. So here you go ffl.
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I don't mind sharing the little I know about catching mac pups. Anyone that spends that much in gas should be rewarded with some decent fishing. Sorry this is long. I've received a bunch of pm's, so a lot of this is in response to those.
I like to fish in 70' of water. Good electronics is a must. I put one rod mid depth and one a foot off bottom. I then chase the fish when they come through with whatever rod is closest. I will not fish any closer to someone than 100 yards. If you do you are just sharing fish. If you want to hang out great, but if you want to catch fish get away from your buddies. Only use two rods that you can jig and see the jigs at the same time. More rods just spook the fish.
I use 1/4 round ball glow heads with 2.5" fats tubes. Glow is my favorite but pearl chartreuse and crayfish colors are very good as well.
I know other things work but for me this always works best. I tip the jig with a small piece (1/2"x1/2") of fish meat. I have heard that fresh perch or white bass works amazing compared to freezer burnt sucker but that would be illegal so I wouldn't know. Make sure the knot is pushed all the way forward so the jig sits parallel. This makes all the difference.
I can't hook fish without braid. There is to much stretch in seventy feet of mono. I like the zero memory version such as Cajun braid or cortland braid. Fire line has so much memory I would rather use mono. I use 10' of floro 10lb leader.
My only rule about where to fish is get away from high pressure areas. This year is super good because there is a lot of ice to choose from. My goal is to fish areas that haven't seen a tube jig that ice season. I never fish the same holes two days in a row.
Good luck all!
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Thanks so much for the great info. I hope we will get good weather next Sat[:/].
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I am a complete rookie when it comes to the gorge but want to make a run over there this year for macks and ling. I see reports but have a tough time locating some of these locations on a map. Do most guys fish the Wyoming side or is there good fishing on the Utah side? Can you find places to catch lakers during the day and stay in a close location and spend the night catching burbot? Also i hear people say that there are huge kokes in the gorge but know they are hard to find and catch. Are there locations where the kokes like to hang out as well? Any help would be appreciated.
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I also hear everyone saying to use sucker meat and ive heard that you can buy this. Are fishermen catching their own suckers or are they buying it somewhere? If buying, does anybody know where?
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Seen a report earlier sayin sportsmans carried it?
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Sportrsman's has Chub meat and Red-Sided Shiners not sure about Sucker meat.
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They do carry it. They have frozen slabs in back in a freezer.
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Awesome, thanks for all the good details. 1 more thing, what was the snow and ice conditions like? Trying to determine whether to bring the 4 wheeler or the snowmobile.
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No snow on the ice as always at the gorge. To much wind for any snow to hold on. The shore has a few inches in places where the wind couldn't blow it away. So unless things change I would say take the 4 wheeler. That's what we used this weekend. Of course we don't have any other option[
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First of all, you need to get a decent map of the Gorge like one from the Fish-n-Map Co. I can't speak for most people but I usually fish on the Wyoming side of the Gorge when ice fishing. Yes, you can you find places to catch lakers during the day and stay in that location and spend the night catching burbot. I can't help you with the kokes, I've never caught one while ice fishing at the Gorge, maybe one day I'll get lucky and figure them out when ice fishing.
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