Flaming Gorge 3/5- 3/6

[EyLayo]

Been hoping to make it to Flaming Gorge for a few trips this ice season. But, for many different reasons it never happened until last week. Found a favorable forecast and a willing fishing buddy and off we went. Arrived Thursday morning to near perfect conditions. Blue sky, warm temps, no wind. We were able to unload our sleds and gear direct from the SUV onto the ice. Very nice added bonus! Ice was thick enough to feel comfortable on but not too thick that drilling holes was a pain. Nice thin crusty layer on top made walking safe and easy. No slush, just a trace of water on top if you stayed in an area for a little bit. First day started off with a bang with a good mack on my first drop. Put up a great fight and got my adrenaline going strong. Ended up at 38ish inches and 26 lbs. I then spent the rest of the day 'trolling' around looking for fish. No luck. Kent did some searching and found a good spot to setup on. He was able to pull several pups and a good mack from that area. I did more searching and found where I wanted to try for burbot at night. Then went to join Kent for the last couple hours of daylight. Marked a couple chasers in that spot, but no hookups. Thankfully I was able to catch a few burbot to keep me from having a 1 fish day. Next day started with a few more clouds and a slight breeze, but conditions were still great. Started where we ended the day before and picked up a couple pups early. After talking with an experienced angler and a generous tip( thank you kindly sir) we made the move to a new location. I was able to pick up another handful of pups as well as another good mack. This one went 36". Marks dried up after a bit so we headed back towards the ramp. I was using tube jigs and chubs in various colors on 1/2 ounce jig head for macks, glow jigs and sucker for burbot. I tried for kokes for awhile with pink spoons and glow jigs  without luck. Many thanks to Kent for helping land the big guys and helping make this a very memorable trip. This trip set a high benchmark. Going to be fun trying to top it