Flaming Gorge 7-12 through 7-14

[jackfisher]

Glad to hear some got into the Macs and kokes this last week on the Gorge. Congrats to Riley fish on the beauty he caught with Captainn Jim!

I fished the gorge Friday and sat last week, and had little success. I fished the Lucern area particularly the Henry's fork arm and also fished Hideout canyon. I graphed tons of fish but did not hook up with any kokes.

This was my first time fishing the Gorge. I purchased a bunch of stuff from Jared at Rockymountaintackle.com, (very high quality stuff by the way). I fished the hyperplaid flasher with pink on pink uv squid, Pink flasher with
uv pink haze, I tried bugs behind flashers, the mai tai spoon behind a flasher and on its own etc. All this with no luck!

The kokes I saw were graphed between 25-45 feet or so. I fished stacked downriggers at 15-35' deep for the kokes and 60'+ for the Lake Trout. I long line released a laker (15+ pound range big for me pup for others) behind the boat other than the lost laker it was skunk city for me for macs and kokes. I trolled from 1.3 to 2.5 mph spending most of my time in the 1.8 range.

We caugt a lot of smb which redeemed the trip in some regards but I sure would like to know what I did wrong and how I can figure the kokes and macs out.

I have 2 boys 7 and 9 years that love to fish (particularly when we are catching some). For bedtime they ask for fish stories, and boy can I tell some whoppers. After dreaming about fishing this lake for years we were disappointed we did not add kokes or Macs to our species bagged list. I would really like to go up again and show my sons to a good time, but I think I need some more help!

Any tips/advise would be really appreciated feel free to post or pm me

thanks in advance
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[bluefishon]

Sounds like you had the right stuff for the kokes, what time of day were you fishing? Usually youve got to hit em real early, doesnt take long for the bite to shut off. Jareds stuff has been working great for us. We used the pink squid and hyperplaid dodger as well, but we were picking them up between 55-70 ft. trolling 1.6mph. Talk with Jared he will give you some great ideas on using his stuff.
Also check with the laker experts for some good tips on those guys, Jim Williams has been generous in offering some tips for the lakers and Im sure there are others who would be willing to share some ideas to get you headed in the right direction. Fishing the gorge is a learning process, it can make for some great memories when you can put that knowledge to work. Let me know if I can help any further.
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[RILEYFISH]

Jack fisher,

Thanks, That is a trophy of a lifetime for me. I will never forget that day!

Tough fishing at the gorge for the macks right now. We did fish for a short time out of Buckboard and picked up some nice bows. I was running Shasta pink Pee Wee's and Pink KOKE A NUTS behind a silver pink sling blade and we could not keep them off the hook. As fast as I reset the rigger and put it down, They were on it again.

Remember the koke bite is lite, gotta keep a close eye on them.

Good luck next time you go up.

RILEY
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[jackfisher]

Thanks bluefishon and rileyfish for the advice!

I got out before the sun was up but I was fishing way too shallow for the kokes and macs. I will contact jared next time I head up to get some info on his gear and the fish.
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