Taking On A Flaming Gorge Wave

Paul, Chris and I decided we needed to hit Flaming Gorge while the Rainbows were close to shore and easy to catch. We must have shown up a week or two too late, the schools of rainbows were nowhere to be seen at their usual spot at Antelope Flats.

We were trolling most of the time, caught a few behing pop gear and a flatfish, but wasn't producing any good numbers.  I had read that a pumpkin flake colored tube jig was working when cast to shore and retrieved, so I gave it a shot, and fishing caught fire! Probably caught a dozen or so within two hours, here are a few we got in the net.

 Dark colored rainbows.

Another fatso that gobbled the pumpkin jig.

 And another.....

 Caught this one trolling the fly rod with a black bugger, my favorite way to land a fish from the boat.

 Beautiful fish

The weather kicked up and turned real ugly, and fast. I am convinced that a smaller aluminum boat would certainly have been capsized. It got so hairy that Paul got out the life jackets and handed them out, and I steered us right into a wave while I was distracted getting mine on. Everybody's feet were soaked by the wave crashing onboard, and really had me nervous for a bit. Finally the weather calmed down enough to make our way back to the ramp, we were all frozen, what a storm! The Gorge is a great place to fish, extra fun when the rainbows are spawning and have these rich colors in May.

 

Until the next fish......