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[size 1]Although I have fished the Gorge many times, I have trouble finding Lakers larger than 5lbs. I know I am close because I see them caught around me and have weighed a few for people (I keep a nor mark 50lb scale with me). I am planning to go up there Sunday if the weather allows. Thanks to Tube Dude's instructions, I have made a bunch of Bunny Hunny jigs to try out. Would anyone out there have some suggestions for me on where to go this time of year? I usually fish Linwood Bay. I have an 18gal. tank that will get me about 18 miles one way. I don't have downriggers. I upgraded my electronics to a display with 240X240 so I can see them better, but I've only had it up there once and I'm still learning how to fine tune it. Any help is appreciated.[/size]
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Don't troll! Jigging is the way to go. I use 5" plastic squid (the kind used for Salmon trolling in the Pacific). I use a 2oz jig head under the body. I tip the jig with a piece of sucker meat or a whole red-sided-shiner. Blue and silver seem the best all around color, I have green and white, hot pink and dark blue, all have caught fish. If the squid fails (which it rarely does) I'll go to a buzz bomb next. Straight silver or blue and silver, replace the treble hook with a single hook, size is up to you but, I go big. I then take a sucker fillet and cut it to look like pork bait for a pig and jig set up. If both those fail I use a small 1oz "Shad Dart" sytle jig in cream color head with white hair, tipped with meat. The really trick to this is in the jigging. You don't want to work the jig to fast. I try to imitate a chub or Koke just wandering around the bottom. I come up the distace of my rod (7ft) from the bottom using a slow upward movement with little bounces along the way. When I get to the top of my 7 ft arch, I drop the rod tip back to the water about three time faster then I brought it up. When the jig hits the bottom, let it sit there ten seconds or so. Most of the strikes come when its sitting on the bottom, or just as you start to lift it off. I've found the Macks like to pick the jig off the bottom gently, if while your jig is on the bottom and your line goes a little slack, stick em cause there is a fish on the other end.
As far as where to go: I can give out a couple of not so secert spots. Lucerne is a good place to start. Draw an imanginary line between the point of Lucerne and the opening to Rainbow Canyon. At a spot on the center of the bay along that line is where I would start. Watch your fish finder, there is some broken bottom in that area with some ridges that are about 10-12 ft high. The Macs will usually lay on the side of the ridge, about a foot off the bottom. Postion the boat so the wind drift takes you over the ridge, remember to start about a 300 yards up wind and drift over the spot until the lake levels out again. Depending on water level, you should be in 81' to the top of the ridge and about 93' to the bottom. Hideout Canyon is another good spot this time of year. As you come into the canyon keep along the north wall, at about 400 yards down the wall, the bottom will be 62' deep. There will be a ledge at 36' that sticks out from the wall about 4 or 6 feet. You should see a line of fish extending out from the ledge and balled up around it. Under the ball of fish you should see bigger fish, those would be the Macks. I jig these too since trolling so close to the wall gets expensive in a hurry. All the jigs I mentioned before will work, cast masters, daredevils little cleos all work too. Hope this helps, it should get you into the over 40# club. Good Luck.
IFG
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Thanks IFG! I have used everything you mention with the exception of Buzz bombs. I usually look for fish holding near the structure and then drop some form of jig on top of them. I have been fishing a little closer to the bottom than you have. I only come up more than three feet if I see fish holding at two to three feet from the bottom. I'll have to come up a little more. I like the channel right off of Lucerne point, the gravel humps, and the single hump along the wall. I haven't fished hideout at all. I'll have to make a run over there. I've got a copy of Ray Johnson's map and the Fishin Guide map for the lake. I keep going to it and looking for structure from the maps.
I can catch Lakers consistantly, they just don't have the size to them. I stumbled across a 17.5lb. at Fish Lake through an 8" hole in the ice and I'm still trying to top that one. Probably caught 20 between 5 and 10lbs. Hundreds 5lbs. or less.
I'll give it a shot and let you know how it goes. The weather still looks like it will give me a break. Thanks again for the help.
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Take into account before reading, that I am not much on eating trout in general. I keep a few Rainbows and Browns through the year to eat and release the rest, but I keep my limit of small Lake Trout every time I go. One, Flaming Gorge needs some of the smaller fish taken out, and two, they tase better than other trout to me. Then again, I like to eat Pike too.
I love eating them. They do have a little more slime than Rainbows or Browns, but the meat is very tasty. It is usually tan in color with a hint of orange. The bulk of them that I catch are 3lbs. and they are perfect for the bbq or for baking. I would not try to eat one over 7lbs. again. They get a fair amount of fat on them after that. I tried to eat the 17.5lb. fish mentioned above. About 10-11 lbs. of meat that had more fat in it than regular ground beef. We had to cook it in a manner to melt off the fat. Boil, BBq, etc..
Cook it as you would a small salmon, and you have a very good feast indeed. If you want to try what is in my opinion, the best tasting trout there is, try a Splake. The mix of Lake Trout and Brook Trout creates the most flavorful trout meat I've ever eaten.
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Personally, I prefer macks to any other trout species. To me the flesh isn't as "fishy" as bows or brookies and is almost like perch, but without all the filet work. I have heard a lot of other comments from others who say that it is too oily, but since I batter mine and deep fry them I really haven't noticed it. If you are out on the Gorge and catch some the smaller macks, don't hesitate to fry a few up for dinner. You'll not only have some decent table fare, but will be helping out the fishery as well (at least according to the biologists)
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For you mack trollers, did you see the sparkle fish magnum being given away on the product testers board?
Heres a link.
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=40343;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread"]http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=40343;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread[/url]
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One thing I forgot to mention about the buzz bombs. If you use them, the motion is much quicker than other jigs. I pull up with one motion about 3 feet, then drop back down without a pause. Most strikes will come at the bottom of the drop. Never let the jig sit, it should always be moving. Buzz bombing for Macks is not much different than for Kokes. It helps to have a good wind to push you along, if not use the trolling motor on the lowest setting to give some horizontal movement to the jig. I've tried Buzz Bombs in Hideout, but never caught any Macks on them. Let me know how the Bunny jigs work, I really want to try them this summer.
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[size 2]I usually fish the Gorge each year on Memorial Day. I mostly fish Lucerne and Antelope for macs and Hideout for kokes. Antelope Bay is a great area for jigging for macs. Draw a straight line out from the Antelope ramp and start graphing until you find concentrations of fish. I don't stop to jig until I mark concentrations of fish. Also, I've found that the mac fishing doesn't pick up until the afternoon. So I koke fish in the morning and mac fish around 10:00 or 11:00 am. And if the wind kicks up, it's time to switch tactics because jigging becomes difficult-to-impossible.[/size]
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Sounds like you did good at the Gorge, too bad you missed the big Macks. How did the weather turn out on Saturday? WH2
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