Flaming Gorge Firehole - Dec 27-28

[joatmon]

catchinon and I fished in the Firehole area of Flaming Gorge Friday afternoon through early Saturday afternoon. Access was good, with no problems driving right to the lake’s edge. We went out about a hundred yards and setup in about 40 fow. I was still drilling holes and checking depths when catchinon yelled, “fish on”! and pulled in the first pup. He caught several before I pulled in my first. In fact he was at 10 to my 4 at one point. I think he quit fishing and went to sleep about that point. I had to work hard to catch up to him.

Craig was using a Gitzit white glow tube jig, tipped with sucker meat, to catch most of his fish. We both tried several other glow white tube jigs and curly tail grubs, but none were as effective.

I tried several different areas and depths to try to catch some burbot. No luck. We ended up with 21 lake trout pups, although Craig caught one that was more of a full grown dog. He can report on that fish but it was a real lunker.

We may go back in January or February, probably to the Buckboard area.
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[wiperhunter2]

If you were after burbot, you should have tried a little a little more shallow, last time we were there we caught them in 8 to 14 FOW. We were fishing right by that cliff around the corner from the boat launch, on the down lake side but there were others there that were catching them just out from the boat launch and a little upstream. Sounds like you two did good on the laker pups.
Where you two fishing on the ice all night?
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[joatmon]

Yeah, we stayed on the ice all night. We had a couple of tents and it was a little better this year comfort wise. I have to admit a motel sounded better and better as the night went on.

I did try shallower for burbot, going in water 4-20 feet deep along the cliffs. Caught one laker there, but no burbot.

We fished in the beach area, not at the boat ramp. Armed with various advice, we chose the beach. Might try the boat ramp area another time.
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[wiperhunter2]

As I said we were right around the corner from the ramp area, maybe 1/4 mile from the ramp. If you did not catch them shallow, they must not have moved in yet, burbot usually spawn around Jan from what I remember but they always hang around rocky shorelines and points.
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[catchinon]

The expert I talked to said we could catch lakers and burbot in the same place which I took to mean through the same holes but he may have meant in the same general area. Next time we go we need to concentrate only on burbot and forget about trying to get any lakers. And go with somebody who knows what they are doing.
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[catchinon]

Oh, the big one I caught was almost 26", a big pup, not a monster. It weighed 5 pounds and 9 ounces. Sure made the average pups look little. Before I caught it I had been a little down about the trip; my attitude certainly brightened after that. In fact, I caught my first fish at 2:00, the second at 2:15, the big one, and the third at 2:30. I was the hare and Brett was the tortoise. At one point when we got in the shelter after dark every time my jig hit the bottom I had a fish on. We were trying for burbot at that point and I was starting to mumble under my breath about "just another laker." Ah, to have such problems. I had ten by 7:00 and when a fish swallowed the tube I was deadsticking and then got all wrapped up in my other line, I decided to take a break. I would start fishing again when Brett started catching burbot. I spent the rest of the night alternating between huddling the heater and napping on one of the bedrolls. It was fun but exhausting.
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[wiperhunter2]

Not necessarily, the first time we fished for burbot was a firehole too, we did not fish with anyone with experience and we did ok. We did not kill them but we caught plenty for our first trip. Sound like you were doing everything right, if you were fishing just off the bottom but rocky points and shore lines are the key. I've caught them on sandy bottoms too but never any numbers that way.
You can for sure catch them in the same holes but I've never caught that many lakers while fishing for burbot.
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[wiperhunter2]

That is a good sized pup. Were you dead sticking your glow jigs?
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[wiperhunter2]

Here is a link to the post of our first burbot trip at Firehole:
http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gfo...ot;#379165
Pic have all be removed after that problem we were having with the site.
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[catchinon]

I only caught one deadsticking. Bouncing the bottom worked the best. I caught all my fish on the same lure, a 2.5" fat Gitzit tube in pearl color. The package had a sticker on the outside saying they glowed, but I haven't found anywhere that it says they make them in glow. I was hoping to get more. Any ideas?
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[Springbuck]

[quote catchinon]And go with somebody who knows what they are doing.[/quote]

Well, you seemed to do alright for "not knowing what you were doing."

My dad and I went one thick 19" rainbow, out of 10 different trips at the Gorge over three years a few years back. So not bad for your first time.

We took all the advice we could from experts, went to the Burbot Bash twice. Every time we checked the reports here, seemed like whenever we showed up, the fish left.

So, congrats.
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[catchinon]

Thanks. I don't call myself catchinon for no reason. Fishing is a constant process of learning and experimenting. I honestly believe my success on the lakers was totally dependent on picking the right lure the first time out of the box. But then I picked that lure because of what I had learned by research and advise from experts.
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[wiperhunter2]

If they were glow, you would have needed to reel it up every 10 to 15 min to recharge the jigs. That's the trick about dead sticking for burbot, without doing that, it might explain why you did not catch any. Maniac makes glow curly tail jigs, that work great for them.
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[catchinon]

I was charging them in the daylight during the day and a UV light after dark but I'm still learning about the intervals. It definitely was a learning-curve trip. Brett had tested his before we went and knew which ones glowed longest and brightest. Another little project for me to do one of these long winter nights.
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[wiperhunter2]

Best way to tell if your jigs are glow, is to cup them in you hand, where there is no sun, of course at night, just turn off any light and you can tell.
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[gmwahl]

A good way to really intensify the glow on your glow jigs is to use a small glow stick (like the kind that you use in those glow in the dark bobbers) and tie it to the jig shank before putting your glow tube on. Even if you get lax about recharging the tube, the glow stick keeps it nice and bright. We use these when fishing for lakers at night during the spawn up here in bear lake and it works pretty good except we are using them on unweighted hooks inside of glow hoochies and we are using them on fly rods.

Just an idea....

Mike
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[catchinon]

Thanks, Mike, it's good to hear from you. Been wanting to ask you if you think we will have fishable ice up there this year. What do you think?
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[utahbasser]

What was the ice thickness? and whats ice like at buckboard?
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[joatmon]

Ice was about 10” thick where we were. Not much in the way of popping and groaning like we experienced last year at Buckboard.

Not sure about ice at Buckboard. There is a FB group called “Flaming Gorge Ice fishing” that is a good place to see what others are reporting there. I’ve heard there is a Pupulation Control Contest by the new Buckboard Marina owners (tagged fish?). I tried their website for more info but it was under construction. We may try going to Buckboard if we can swing another trip this winter.
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[MrShane]

Those new owners of Buckboard are going to really turn Buckboard around, I believe it will become a jewel of The Gorge.
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