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Had a great trip this last week with my Dad and Brother, we ran down to Manila and fished the Gorge Friday and Saturday. Friday Dad and I hit it and had a really good morning for Koke we ended up with 16 fish and most were nice silver 2 - 3 lb'ers. I did nail one really nice hog of a red one (estimated it at 3 to 4 lbs) that I released as soon as I could, we found that the Koke didn't survive very well so we ended up keeping 3 and 2 we didn't plan on, but when they didn't swim away they got added to the limit. Anyway I also had a great Mac to the boat, but lost it as we tried to net it... Day two on Saturday my brother joined us and we headed out from Buckboard in a crowd of boats, and it was a lot slower for us on Saturday even though all the other boats seemed to be doing really well we ended up with 22 fish but they were mostly males and mostly red so it was tough to get the keepers we were looking for. Didn't catch as many larger fish but did still have a bunch of fun... Got into the rainbows and was a couple short of what we wanted to take home and ran into Gary (WyoGuy) on the way in and he pointed us in the right direction to pick up some nice silvers to almost fill our limit, but we got blown off before we caught the last one.. Thanks Gary and that was a long ride back in white caps, I'm glad my motor didn't quit on me that would have been ugly... Anyway grand total of 38 fish in the two days, 5 mac, 11 bows and 22 Koke... but we had to work hard to catch that many... I lost my new favorite dodger and cotton candy squid and my catching really went down, even though I used the same thing in a smaller size after... Didn't know lead core line got rotten, but I had a nice hit first thing Saturday morning and it took my whole rig... and I was slow the rest of the trip.. Got the fish right on ice this trip and it really made a world of difference in the texture of the meat as I got it ready to smoke it was nice and firm so I can't wait for it to get done... Thanks everyone for the tips and help, it was a great trip... Later J
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Glad I could help. I bet it was a rough ride back, the wind got kind of nasty for awhile. Sounds like a great trip!
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I think it sounded like we had flip flop days, we did better on Friday and it sounded like you did better on Saturday, I guess I classify better as catching larger silver fish... We didn't catch many red fish on Friday and it seemed like most were red on Saturday, I think the catch rate was similar both days, but larger fish on Friday for us... I finally got a digital scale and I think a lot of those fish seemed larger than what they actually weighed. We got a couple 2.5 ish fish that I thought would have been 4 pounders but the scale seemed to say other wise... It was sure nice having someone with lake savy help us know where to go, we didn't do too well Friday after the wind started, we ended up finding some rainbows along the cliffs where the wind was partly blocked, but they were only 12 to 14 inch, kind of like what we were catching when you passed on the info about where to finish the Koke limits... Well thanks again for the assist and I hope we can make it out earlier next year it's a fun trip... Later J
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I may be heading up there for the holiday weekend, where abouts were you fishing. Did you stay by swim beach or head over towards the pipeline. I'm not looking for gps positions just a point in the right direction. Thanks
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We fished south of Buckboard, I think it was called Breeze Hill area just look for the flotilla you can't miss it. We were fishing the Wyoming side for the larger sized Kokes. I heard Swim Beach was really hot for bows but we didn't try it. One guy we talked with told me worms with marshmallow off swim beach was good for 4 lb bows. Sounded fun except I don't like fishing bait because I can't let them go and the limit is so low for two day trips I have to be careful not to fill my four fish too quick. Good luck and have fun. Later J
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I'll put them in the smoker tonight should be ready tomorrow night. Talked to my brothers kids last night. They said their fish were excellent and he took the red ones. Was talking to a guy at the cleaning station that thought he knew a lot. Anyway he claimed there are three different varieties of Kokanee in FG. Said the big ones came from Canada. Not sure if this is true but if it is I wonder if the minies in Porcupine could be upgraded to the magnum version they're a lot more fun to catch. Yup Yote you ought to take a Gorge trip sometime it's a great puddle with a ton of potential. It even has local legends like I understand Ray Johnson is still fishing it everyday but Sundays so the local story teller goes. I thought he had passed on, but it sounds like he's still at it. Now there is a fishing machine. I wonder if it's still fun if you do it everyday? Well guess I better get after it so catch ya later. Oh and those fish didn't need a scratch and sniff they were so strong you probably can smell them from your place. Slimy stinky fish but tasty. Fun trip it was worth the drive. I'm thinking Bear Lake this fall when I get caught up again. Later J
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