Flaming Gorge Report - pup Lakers Target

[Cowboypirate]

Cookie and I met up with her family and headed over to Buckbaord for a little ice run for pup lakers. Headed in the back way toward the big bend area. Ice was in great shape at +12" and solid at the edges. Some big pressure ridges to watch for south of Big Bend. What a beautiful day to be on the ice. Even the Wyoming afternoon wind was mild.

Fishing was good. Catching was not so good. Tons of marks. Tons of chases on the sonar. But we really had a hard time getting committed bites. Had about 7 light hookups come off and pulled only two on the ice. We had some very experienced Gorge fishermen with us and they were having similar issues. Just seemed like they did not want to commit past the chase to bite.

We caught fish or had hook ups on 3/8 and 1/2 glow jig heads with powerbait swimbaits, Lost Creek white and sparkle white tubes (3.5"), Yamamoto white tubes 4", silver spoons (dont know the maker) and Jakes lures. and some other jigs that were not in orginal packaging so not sure who made them but typical FG colors and style. We were tipped with sucker meat.

It was a lot of fun with family. 

Here is the video

https://youtu.be/JGyngu-EH2M

Now can I get her out to PV in the dark, before the ice goes soft ??????

I will try to figure out the photo thing later and add them

[Kent]

Looks like a fun time.  Too bad the fish weren't more cooperative.

[Cowboypirate]

Kentofnsl, ya it was really odd. They would chase baits up off the bottom. Typical behavior. I thought maybe I was getting short bites and not feeling them, so starting trimming jigs off short. Did not seem to help. If there are any Gorge jiggers out there I am curious if you have had a similar experience and could offer your wisdom. I finally told my bride we were in a very popular area that had been hit hard all winter. Likley had some impact on the behavior. But what a nice day. It's not often I can stay past 2 on the Gorge.

[SkunkedAgain]

Kentofnsl, ya it was really odd. They would chase baits up off the bottom. Typical behavior. I thought maybe I was getting short bites and not feeling them, so starting trimming jigs off short. Did not seem to help. If there are any Gorge jiggers out there I am curious if you have had a similar experience and could offer your wisdom. I finally told my bride we were in a very popular area that had been hit hard all winter. Likley had some impact on the behavior. But what a nice day. It's not often I can stay past 2 on the Gorge.

Curious were you using mono and fishing deep?  Line stretch can cause the hooks to not get set deep enough. Maybe 
Might be part of issue. Later Jeff

[Cowboypirate]

Kentofnsl, ya it was really odd. They would chase baits up off the bottom. Typical behavior. I thought maybe I was getting short bites and not feeling them, so starting trimming jigs off short. Did not seem to help. If there are any Gorge jiggers out there I am curious if you have had a similar experience and could offer your wisdom. I finally told my bride we were in a very popular area that had been hit hard all winter. Likley had some impact on the behavior. But what a nice day. It's not often I can stay past 2 on the Gorge.

Curious were you using mono and fishing deep?  Line stretch can cause the hooks to not get set deep enough. Maybe 
Might be part of issue. Later Jeff

Jeff,we had poles with mono and braid. The jawjacker pole was mono and iced one as did Cookies pole. Just an odd day. My theory is they were just curious and looking, but not hammering after the look.. I played with one for 5 minutes. I could get him off the bottom and got him to chase up 15ft three times. He also followed it down twice. But would not commit. Seen that type of behavior all day. Maybe we should have went shallow and played with the rainbows

[Bduck]

Fun times with family is what it's about. Good on Cookie to get out not letting MS take control. You now have all summer to practice deploying ice tent and get as good as a 5 alarm fire fighter. 

[Muskyon46]

I would have to agree with Jeff in my experiences fishing the gorge and bear lake for mac's. If I'm planning on fishing deeper than 40-50fow I will have atleast some type of braid (40lb) tipped with 20lb mono. Theres a lot of line stretch and that mouth on them lakers is tough. Really need to drive that hook home on the hookset a time or two just to ensure that things hooked good. I have been experimenting with my jackers also running the same set-up as my jigging rods. I have yet to hook a laker deep on the jackers, jigging or dead stick.

[Cowboypirate]

I would have to agree with Jeff in my experiences fishing the gorge and bear lake for mac's. If I'm planning on fishing deeper than 40-50fow I will have atleast some type of braid (40lb) tipped with 20lb mono. Theres a lot of line stretch and that mouth on them lakers is tough. Really need to drive that hook home on the hookset a time or two just to ensure that things hooked good. I have been experimenting with my jackers also running the same set-up as my jigging rods. I have yet to hook a laker deep on the jackers, jigging or dead stick.

Thanks for the info. We did hook up one on the jacker, but only one. It's new tool, I am just learning this year. Got it with burbot night fishing in mind but never got that trip done