Fishing Forum

There was a total of 1169 participants which caught 4287 burbot in 2-nights. Most fish was won with 211 burbot and adult big fish was 35.1 inches and 7.5 lbs. Youth big fish was 32.1 inches and small fish was 9.5 inches. At total of 13 tags were returned, two of which were this year's red floy tags. All of the prize categories were increased by the Flaming Gorge Chamber of Commerce as a result of increased participation. Pay-outs were extended to 5-places in each category and 1st place most fish and big fish went from $1500 to $5000.

Also, no one went for a ride on the ice or fell through that I'm aware of! Given all of that, I think most people had a lot of fun and were pleased with the results.

Thanks, Ryan
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Ryno, you can add 17 more burbot to that list. My exhaust fell off on my way to weigh in, so my fish did not get checked in!
It was a blast, but way too many people! Do you know if we set a record of most people on Flaming Gorge at one time?
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Awesome report, I would say mission accomplished.


Real quick, how effective is this method of controlling an invasive species. I know there are other groups that get together and target them for the purpose of their removal. Have there been any studies done to asses the effectiveness of these methods?
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One year up there a Wyo biologist was talking about how many eggs they lay, and I said" Man, we'll never get em all out." So his answer was "But think how many you are getting out by catching a few spawning females. Slowing their invasion might give us time to let the system balance itself a bit, or let us figure out.if we have a problem or a disaster on our hands." Paraphrased, but accurate. Made sense to me.

I don't know where to go for actual study data, but it's moot to me, because I STILL haven't caught one jn 5 years of trying.
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Has there ever been any thought in having a bounty put on the burbot year around to have people out there more, targeting them through out the year. Maybe a pay per pound thing where people would go to the gorge more often if the could catch kokes or whatever during the day and go after burbot at night and make a little of their gas money back. Just a thought, I don't really no much about them and catch-ability year round.
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We fished the Pipeline area (thanks for the heads up, you know who) and shared the entire area with one other group. We busted out 30 or so burbot, the biggest being 29". We weren't actually "registered" because we could only do the one evening, but it was damn fun all the same.

We did find two camp chair cases that I picked up on the off chance that someone might want them back -- long shot, but whatever:


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Hey trout bum, was that you in the tan chev truck at pipeline Saturday night with a team of 4?
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Negative, we were north of the actual pipeline in that first bay. That was my chick-magnet Prius parked by the water. (mostly because we couldn't get it back up the hill during the day and had to wait until 9 o'clock or so for the road to freeze back up)
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Ha nice! Ya i was near the pipeline bridge itself and was just that one other group 100 yrds south of us that i could see. Was nice being away from everyone, but i think the fish were on the other side of the lake. Oh well, it was fun. So you took your car down that steep hill?
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Ya, it was easy as pie getting down...

We had constant action most of the night in that little bay, so I can't complain. I got out of the shanty around dawn and started drilling holes to find some deeper water to try for some Lakers only to feel my bung holio go tight as a drum when I realized I was standing 10 yards from a giant patch of open water. Pressure ridge, I suppose, and we were pretty dang lucky we didn't set up camp 30 yards further out the night before.

There's something about not having snow on the ice that makes even 12" of ice feel like I'm falling off a cliff. First time for me, and thank you very much, I think I'll stick to Strawberry.
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I think i know where your talkin bout with the open water.I was in the grey dodge maybe ya seen us? Well it was a different experience for sure. Might just try it again someday.
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Sorry I didn't respond earlier, I was out of town.

I'm not sure if it's been documented whether tournaments are effective at exploiting species, with intent anyway. It is well documented that angler exploitation has a negative inmpact on burbot populations within their native range though and a tournament could be viewed as just a method of focusing the exploitation on burbot in a short period of time.

Thanks, Ryan
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Good thought. The bounty idea has been discussed but it usually stops when it comes to funding the reward program. As you would guess, it could get really expensive in a short period of time, especially when you consider how many burbot could be caught and turned in for a reward. Some other states offer bounties for fish, for example Idaho Game and Fish pays $15 for lake trout heads caught on Lake Pend Oreille. In the last several years they've paid over $1.5 million in rewards, but I believe that program is funded by federal agencies with native Bull trout concerns.

Burbot are having a negative impact on sport fish, and not native fish, so funding sources would be limited at this time.

Hope that helps, Ryan
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I TURNED IN MY TAGGED FISH BUT WAS 10 MINUTES LATE AND I WAS TOLD IT WOULD OF BEEN A $250 DOLLAR FISH. KINDA A JOKE IF YOU ASK ME. I GUESS I SHOULD OF BEEN INFORMED THEY OPERATED ON BANKING HOURS.
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