Newbee on the Gorge 6-9-2017

[SamDaFishMan]

Second time on the Gorge this year. Both times the "air movement" was brutal, steady at 20+ with gusts to 40.

We got in the water at 9:40. water temp was at 62. Trolled with downriggers, various flashers and squid on 15-25 ft depths.

Landed a 16" rainbow in the first 20 minutes, then a 16"laker pup an hour later. The breeze picked up hard at 12:30 and didn't let up. We stuck it out though and caught a nice kokanee at 2, and another laker at 3. Gave up the ghost at 4:30. after the breeze at 12:30 almost no boats could be seen.

Been fishing all my life in smaller boats, mostly for trout. Bought a larger boat last fall to target Kokanee. Is it usually this slow this time of year? Am I doing something wrong?

Any tips would be appreciated.
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[wiperhunter2]

Welcome to the site SDFM. You would likely do better if you got on the water earlier in the morning, say first light, no later than 6am. That's not saying you can't catch them later but it's slower but it could have been the location. How fast were you trolling?

WH2
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[mtncat1]

most of the time on the gorge the fish will bite most of the day ,but location is and tactics are important . early is always hot but if you find the right lure combo you can do well all day the wind being 20mph can really effect the bit more so that you cant get to where you want to fish .
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[liketrolling]

welcome to the board

do a search of my back post you my find something that will help
are search Flaming Gorge you will learn a lot, the more work you put into learning the better you will be

Koke fishing is good right now
first you need to be on the water real early, you never know when the wind will blow you off the lake.
sometimes kokes stop biting at 9am and sometimes they bit all day.
your fish finder will show you where the kokes are and kokes like a water temp of 54 to 52 deg
right know that water temp is at 30 and 45 feet down that is where you should have had your down riggers
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[Carp_Killer]

I was also on the gorge this weekend. I hated the strong winds that came the entire weekend. We managed to do well while drifting on swim beach with worms on bobbers and worms on the bottom. We did quite well catching the rainbows, cutthroats, and lake trout. Some of the lake trout were 22" and up. We also did some casting by shore and caught a couple of small mouths. However, we fished and fished for kokanee but with no luck. We didn't have down riggers but we were using dipsy divers, leaded line, and deep six divers with flashers, dodgers, and pink squids. Not sure what we were doing wrong either unless our boat was scaring all the fish away? We also tried one night for burbot fishing but the wind was so strong it was hard to anchor up. Didn't catch any burbot as well.
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[fish_hntr]

I would have to say part of your lack of fish was your late morning start, we were up at 5 and fishing by 6:30, with 5 fish in the boat before 8 am. Moved to a spot out of the wind and finished our limit by 2pm , went back in and took a nap before catching a few Friday evening. Saturday we slept til 6 and got our limit throughout the day and were back to camp before dinner, best of the weekend was a 23in 6lb mac jigging my favorite lure. We were targeting kokes and pups trolling but decided to sit on top of one of the few groups of macs we saw and jig, within a minute of dropping it to the bottom it hit it, was a fun time.
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[Ryno]

Couple of questions... Where were you at on the lake? Do you have a fish finder and were you marking fish deeper than 15-25 ft?

The reason I ask is most of the reports I've received and the fish I've caught the last couple of weeks have been much deeper. That's not to say you can't catch them that shallow (obviously) but I think the bulk of the kokanee are moving deeper as the surface temps climb.

For example on Friday, we were fishing in Jarvies and marking most of the fish from 40-60 ft, and most of our catch came from 40-45 ft with some down to 50 ft.

Hope it helps, Ryno
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[SamDaFishMan]

Thanks for the input folks!
First off, yes, getting out earlier will be my priority next trip. Probably drag the camper so I can be there the night before.

I do have a Lowrance 7 TI Elite. Was seeing a lot at 40ft, but was reading this and other forums from just a week to 10 days earlier and was reading 15 to 25 feet, and was also reading that the fish at those depths were hard to pick up on the fish finder.
Learned another thing!

Lastly, we were out at 150ft plus behind the boat at 15-25 feet. the one at 25 feet keep showing fish right at that level following my ball. After looking at a video someone else posted, I bet I had fish trailing the rig, but not taking them. I did see a lot of bait balls and schools at 40 and 50 feet and I bet I was on the Kokanee, but thought they were lakers. Learned another thing!

I launched from buckboard and fished just south of there on the west side of the lake by the cliffs to try to stay out of the wind. I did mark a waypoint there, as each time we would hit a spot the fish finder would go nuts and we would mark bait balls and schools.

Thanks again for the inputs! I am a fast learner!
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[BoatsandHoes]

When you say you kept seeing bait balls on your fish finder, what do you mean by that? I saw a couple of those on my fish finder last time I was at the gorge and had no idea what that could have been. Is it a school of chubs?
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[a_bow_nut]

Most of the time those balls are the salmon. They swim so close together that the finder won't show the arcs. It will be more of a blob on the screen as you pass over them.
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[SamDaFishMan]

Yup, I was on top of em! My son kept saying, "Dad, I think we should drop down and see if we get some hits". Sometimes I can be a stubborn old man.

My rig is new to me and I will learn to trust more what I see!
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