Flaming Gorge Rainbow Report 4-18-14

[Ryno]

I've gotten quite a few questions about the rainbow fishing, so I figured I should drop a quick report.

Rainbow fishing is good to dang near great on the Gorge right now. There are fish stacked up in the tributaries and launch ramps but thats also where there's more angler pressure. We had better luck last weekend just searching for concentrations of fish on shallow, rocky points from the Dam all the way up to Sheep Creek Bay. You can sometimes spot these fish by rises, on the fish finder, or by looking with polarized glasses as you're casting jigs towards shore. Lots of shoreline can be covered without a bite, but when you do find them, you'll get several hits (and hopefully fish) in a small reach. We used a variety of jigs in 1/4-3/8 oz weights including 4-inch worms, 3-inch curly grubs, and marabous in colors ranging from earth tones, black, and pink. Most of my hits came on the fall. My favorite was a pink marabou jig in 1/4 oz, tipped with a pink Berkley trout worm. Many of the larger fish are pushing 3lbs and a blast on light tackle.

Water temps are slowly warming and on Friday we saw them as high as 44F.

Hope it helps and good luck, Ryno
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[wiperhunter2]

Thanks for the report Ryan, sounds like the bow catching has really heated up. Do those bigger bow have pink meat?
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[SkunkedAgain]

Great report, wish I could get away and run down, but work won't allow, but thanks for the encouragement.... Later J
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[Ryno]

They do, but when they are very active in spawning mode and not eating much, it won't be as pink, firm, or overall as favorable. I will typically select for smaller rainbows to eat this time of year, but occasionally eat the larger ones in the winter before they spawn or later in the spring- early summer after they spawn. I avoid the colored up males or females that are full of eggs when I want to harvest a meal.

Other than during the spawn, Gorge rainbows will typically have a "fire engine" red fillet. Thanks, Ryno
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[remo_5_0]

Thanks Ryan!!! I love you, in a bro type sense[sly] I will be there Fri.and Sat! Thanks for the great info as usual!!
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[gettingthereok]

hi,good report, have you tried for kokanee yet this year
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[Ryno]

I was finding some kokes in the backs of canyons in the lower reservoir and catching a few. When I did find them, they were in large schools and typically suspended anywhere from 40-80 ft over 80-100 ft of water. I was catching them using 1/4 jigging spoons, including those made by Tubedude and also Northland Buckshots. Last weekend I looked for them, but never found any.

Catching them from big schools in deep water was pretty unique for me at least for this time of year, but that pattern may have changed. Typically I troll pretty close to the surface this time of year using the dodger/squid combos under planer boards, but I haven't tried that yet. It can be a pretty productive technique for kokanee too. As the surface temps continue to warm, trolling near the surface (where most of the zooplankton are) should get more consistent.

Hope it helps, Ryno
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[gettingthereok]

thanks, ya strange to jig deep schools like that, i bet now long lining in top water column should be the ticket,best thing about early trout and kokes is cold fronts wont shut them down like warm water fish, good time to hit the gorge.
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