02-10-2006, 11:47 PM
Good news my fellow soft water lovers, the whole world isn't frozen. A friend and I took my boat to Flaming Gorge to try for the wily mackinaw. We found open water a plenty near the dam and proceeded to troll. We boated 4 on Thursday, the biggest around 20 lbs, the smallest 9. We also tried jigging but were unsuccessful using that technique, as the fish were widely scattered. Slowly trolling bottom, in the mud, with a fat red-side did the trick. It is notable that we caught all our fish in the late morning and early afternoon, which is usually not the case (in my experience). Lynnwood and surrounding areas had about an inch of ice on thursday until the wind came up in the evening, all the ice was gone today. It is open water from the Horseshoe to the Pipeline. We caught another 20-lber this morning off Antelope in the snow and breeze before we had to go. What a difference a day makes - air temp on Thursday was about 47 - only 16 today. Take a look at the pics and dream of the day when all the ice is gone (unless you like the ice, if so, enjoy it while it lasts[]).
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