Flaming Gorge Mustang Ridge Report

[Troutster]

I went on a church young men’s trip to FG this last week.  We camped at Mustang Ridge campground and fished in that area.  Water was 68.x  Degrees, boat traffic was light until Sat. I went up early and fished a little Tuesday evening and caught the trout shown. He was a whopper.  I caught 1 Koke that I lost at the boat. Probably another that I lost and didn’t see, and boated one that my buddy caught.  We trolled and jigged in the places folks on BFT suggested and had success in every spot, or on some of the flats, spotted large lakers on Livescope but didn’t connect.  I also ran into Colton Christensen of Lakeshore Tackle in Manilla.  He was so nice giving ideas of what and where to fish. Great guy, I already have bought some of his tackle but will go out of my way to support his business.  Most trolling was at 1.5 mph with 3 oz weights clipped on the line. That was good for about 30-35 feet deep.  Used dodgers with squid or spaz tipped with chartreuse Gulp maggots.  Green or orange (squid/Spaz) seemed to get the most bites.  Also jigged up some trout with Colton’s banana spoon in chartreuse or white with swirled colors tipped with Gulp maggots.  Also caught one of my best rainbows on an olive green marabou jig near the Mustang boat ramp.  Thanks for the suggestions of where, when, and how to fish that area.  Some of the boys had never caught trout before and all had a ball.  

[wiperhunter2]

That's a great bow and report, thanks for sharing it with us. That bow looks to be over 3 lbs, did you happen to measure the length?

[joshomaru]

That looks like a cut to me! Dandy fish!

[Troutster]

That's a great bow and report, thanks for sharing it with us. That bow looks to be over 3 lbs, did you happen to measure the length?

I didn’t. Summertime trout are soooo fragile that I didn’t take the time to weigh or measure. Still had to hold it upright for 20 seconds before it swam off. I bought a nice Bubba scale that I didn’t use.  It was thick and healthy though.

---

That looks like a cut to me!  Dandy fish!

Now you have me doubting myself!  In the photo it does look like a cut.  It fought like a rainbow and at the time looked like a rainbow.  Do they have cutbows in FG.  I would like to have a second look under her chin for some slashes.

[Mildog]

IMHO I would say rainbow or possible rainbow/cutt hybrid.

[BoatBallast]

They do have Colorado Cutts in Flaming Gorge. Wyoming stocks them. I think that's a rainbow though - irregular black spots that are basically uniform in size from head to tail. Cutts would have bigger black spots that are more round near the tail.

[fast_randy]

They do have Colorado Cutts in Flaming Gorge.  Wyoming stocks them.  I think that's a rainbow though - irregular black spots that are basically uniform in size from head to tail.  Cutts would have bigger black spots that are more round near the tail.

Great post! For several years, at first I was just 12 or 13 we camped at Mustang Ridge, when they first opened.  My dad had this home made wood boat with Sears motor. And a 6 man rubber raft. We would take turns. One day the grown ups (two pair) would fish the Dam. And us kids would float and fish the river below the dam. And the next day us kids would fish the boat and Dam area and the grown ups would float and fish the river. I got to liking the river way more. We fished with night crawlers back then and now it's artificial only but I used to do well with Rapales or spinners. You don't have to be a fly fisher. That is World class fishing. Really surprising we haven't talked about it (the River) here on Big Fish much.