Flaming Gorge Dec 29-30

[joatmon]

I hit Flaming Gorge on a solo overnight trip. I fished the Firehole area. Several 4 wheelers were out on the ice.   Deepest water I found was 40 feet, which is at least 10 feet deeper than last December.  Ice thickness was 8-9”. Marked several fish out in the main channel, but only had one feeble bite. I did catch one lake trout pup on a Jawjacker.

As the sun was setting, I got set up in my ice tent for the night. I fished four rods, two on each end, and alternated which set I jigged and which I left dead stick. I caught a couple of very small burbot Friday evening, then a 24” one at about 1:30 am. I did sleep for an hour or two several times. About 7 am, I saw a large red line appear on the flasher a couple of feet about my highest presentation, about 4 feet off the bottom. I slowly reeled up and jigged gently (jigging was the only thing that produced for me) and suddenly got I strong bite. I set the hook and the fight was on. The fish I hooked immediately starting pulling drag and I let it make several runs. I thought it might be a decent laker, but was not disappointed when a large burbot maw appeared in the hole. I was able to get my fingers under the gill plate and get it out of the hole. It ended up being a 30” burbot (see pic), the first fish I’ve pulled through the ice breaking the 30” mark. Wow, well worth the wait and the otherwise slow bite!

Saturday I fished a slightly different location at Firehole, marked a few fish, and had one tenuous bite. I finally gave up and headed home. 

Of the 5 fish total I caught, all but one were hooked on a Gary Yamamoto luminous white curly tail grub on a 1/4 glow white jig head, tipped with a chunk of sucker meat. That setup has been our best producer on burbot over the years and has accounted for numerous lake trout as well. 

Overall, a very rewarding trip and a great way to end the year!