Flaming Gorge Report 4-15-11

[Ryno]

[indent][/indent]Well it sure doesn't feel like spring outside, but we got on the water a couple of times this weekend between wind storms. Friday was pretty pleasant, at least the sun was out! A lot has changed since my last trip on the water, except the water temp which is still hanging around 40F. The reservoir is also slowly dropping, now at 6025.25 ft.

One thing that did change is we found most the rainbows in the backs of the draws and canyons, especially those that had some water coming in. We caught some pretty healthy fish pushing 22-inches and 3.5lbs, while casting jigs in crayfish colors. My go-to lure was a rootbeer colored single tailed Yamamoto grub rigged on a 3/8 oz jighead. Where water clarity allowed, you could see schools of big bows cruising around. Fun to watch and even more fun to catch.

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Did some considerable searching for lake trout from the Skull Creeks down to the dam. Not much activity for us in the lower lake. Hopefully we'll get some stable weather and warmer water temps, so the lake trout bite will pick-up.

Hope it helps, Ryno
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[joshomaru]

Sweet! Nice kype!
Bows are fixing to start their run I reckon.
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[wiperhunter2]

Thanks for posting the report Ryno. Glad to hear you were able to get out there. Do you think they are dropping the water level of the lake because of the snow in the mountains or is this normal for this time of the year?
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[Ryno]

With the snowpack 130% of normal in the upper Green and more on it's way this week, the BOR is in water evacuation mode right now. If they could, I suspect they would be dumping more than that. They're currently operating FG dam without one generating unit, and when it's back on-line, the releases should increase. It's looking like it's going to be another interesting spring.....
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[keystonecop]

I have never fished a Yamamoto grub for trout. Would you mind telling me how you fish it? vertical jig, cast and retrieve, bouncing off bottom?

Thanks
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[Ryno]

Mostly cast and retrieve, trying to stay at their depth or above the bottom. They typically hit it on the drop. I have dropped it to fish I see on the graph and caught them too, but I usually fish different lures like jigging spoons when I'm vertically jigging bows.
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