Flaming Gorge Trip

[jurkneyes]

Got back from the Gorge late last night. Fished it Tuesday-Friday. Tuesday launched out of Lucerne around 2:00pm and headed up a little ways past the pipeline. Found a good bunch of Kokes at 10'-40 '. Most of them were fairly small but did get some decent ones. Sparkle pink seemed to be the best color squid but purple and pink was effective as well. Best speed was 1.8 mph. Towards evening I headed down off Antelope flats and jigged for Lakers. Only had one bump.
Wednesday got a late start because my batteries did not fully charge over night and needed a few things I had forgotten to get before heading up and the store in Manila did not open until 8am. At 9 launched out of sheep Creek and started looking for kokanee. Found a few school's but I couldn't get them to bite ,then the wind came up big time. Gave up on the Kokes and started fishing for SM. Got into some really big SM for the utah side. Mostly pre-spawn females full of eggs still. And guess what? My not fully charged batters started dying. So head down lake into hideout hoping to get out of the wind. It was a little less windy and I was able to get into some more SM, not as big as the ones in sheep Creek but fun. Decided to go down further to Jarvis and try to find some kokanee. But the wind was awful and I gave up on that quickly. Almost ready to give up on the day but thought I would hit some of my rainbow spots to see if they were still hanging around. Was able to get about 12 really nice bows on tube jigs. One was pushing 5lbs that I was not able to get a pic of because my phone decided it did not feel like working at that particular moment, oh well.. Lol
Thursday, batteries still not charged all the way. But on the water by 6am. I decided this was going to be the morning I concentrated on the Mac's. Trolled the Antelope flat area with Steve Davis, flashy fish spoons at 2.1-2.5mph. I was marking a lot of Mac's on the bottom up to 50' and a bunch of kokanee above them. At around 7am one of the down rigger rods popped free but it was a small koke. I was stacking, one rod on the bottom and one running at 60'. At around 9am the bottom rod popped and fish on and it was a big one. Let me just say how terribley hard it is to clear a rod that is down and out with a 150' of line out, clear the down rigger, fighting the wind and boat and fighting a big fish by your self[crazy].. LOL.. Anyway landed my 1st big Laker! She really did not fit in the net, tried like hell to get her in it and wouldn't you know it the hook fail out. In desperation I made one last stab at her before she went back down and some how got her in the net! [] I stood there shaking and some what in awe of this beautiful fish. Took some quick pics and a rough measurement (38")and sent her on her way. Not sure what she weighted, maybe some one with more experience can give me rough guess. After that the wind came up even wores! Lost 2 of my spoons to the fish God's (no doubt payment for the big Mac) and my brand new kicker kept dying, [mad] it has been such a peace of junk! Folded up and head up lake. Found a bunch of kokanee up past anvil point at about 20-50" down. I think the area is called Middle Marsh Bay. This school had all sizes of kokes, small to large. The wind was terrible and batterys dead again so tried drift fishing in some of the shallow bays tossing tubes for SM and only caught a small Cutthroat.
Friday on the water by 6am and headed up to middle Marsh again. Quickly got my limit of large kokes and started jigging for Lakers. Was able to get 2 pups before the wind started again. Changed things up and started SM fishing again. No SM but I did get something to take my tube jig, a behemoth of a fish. See attached pic... It bottomed out my scale at over 25lbs.
Anyway really great trip, minus the wind and a few set backs. Kokanee fishing was hot and got my 1st big Mac![cool]
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[jurkneyes]

Ops one of my pics did not attache.
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[JeepNut]

We were up there Wednesday afternoon through Saturday afternoon. We did OK in the morning but once the wind kicked up it was a pain and the fish got lock jaw. On Saturday afternoon it was really bad near the state line and I asked my clan to disconnect the down rigger balls and they just hooked them to the stow hook. We hit some really big waves and the brand new ball came off the hook and we lost the ball and all the cable......We gave up after that and came home the winds every day had tired us all out. I noticed at the fish cleaning station that lots of folks didn't get that many fish.
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[Jmorfish]

Good text and pics ! tks for a good report...I'll be up there soon, but have to try Strawberry's kokes first...Winds sure can screw up a day's fishing, but sounds like you fought through it pretty good...plug in the smoker...
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[remo_5_0]

Nice report, sounds like a great trip even with the wind and other mishaps, congrats on the Mac!
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[TRUBBS]

luckily I haven't caught a Carp out of there yet & hope I don't ever catch one of them big nasty things.
Id be upset thinking I finally had a big Mack on only to reel in a carp
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[fish_hntr]

I just wanted to thank you for leaving your big mac in the net/water as much as possible to aid in a more successful release. As for your kicker woes, have you tried cleaning the carb and only running ethanol-free gas, check out [url "http://pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=UT"]http://pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=UT[/url] for your closest pump, those of us who have made the switch will never go back to that ethanol junk. One suggestion for windy days, use the kicker for forward propulsion and the bow mount for steering, I can almost double my battery life this way and is strays far less.
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[jurkneyes]

I was very gentle with the Mac, she never was removed from the net or the water. But sure wish I could have had a pic of me holding her.
The kicker is brand new, mercury 6 horse. I think most of the problem is with the fuel delivery. But sometimes the bulb will be hard and it still acts as if it is not getting enough fuel. Other times I can tell it is not getting enough fuel because the bulb is soft. So I am not sure what it is. I actually had the dealer I bought the boat at instal the kicker. So I will be working to get them to fix it. I really expected more from a brand new four stroke, it sure is loud and to me seems to run way rougher then it should. I can't even lock it in to position without it shaking it's self lose with in 1 minute!
I do use my bow mount for steering, but with it not charging completely over night it was dead fairly quickly while fighting the windy week up there. It was frustrating but the fishing was still great.
I try to run ethanol free gas in my boat but it is not always available. But thank you for the suggestions I will look further into the link you provided!
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[jurkneyes]

We probably crossed paths up there. What kind of boat were you in?
Yeah, I lost my fair share of realeas and lures, lucky no balls or cable. The wind really took its toll on me as well. But I couldn't give up.
I found by moving around I could stay on active schools of kokanee all day long. There seemed to be a very good bit that would happen around 1,it was never as good as in the early morning but it kept me busy.
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[jurkneyes]

Both my largest carp have come from the gorge, both on the same tube jig while fishing for SM. It kinda does sucks, but I kinda knew this time that I had a carp. It wasn't fighting hard enough to be a big trout or SM. I think this carp was in the 30lb rang, and on 8lb line it was kind fun anyway. Lol
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[jurkneyes]

Thanks []
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[jurkneyes]

I am going to try and get out to strawberry this weekend. I have never been very successful at the berry when it comes to the kokanee. But I think I learned a little more this past week at the Gorge and will see if it translates to the berry as well.
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[JeepNut]

[quote jurkneyes]We probably crossed paths up there. What kind of boat were you in?
Yeah, I lost my fair share of realeas and lures, lucky no balls or cable. The wind really took its toll on me as well. But I couldn't give up.
I found by moving around I could stay on active schools of kokanee all day long. There seemed to be a very good bit that would happen around 1,it was never as good as in the early morning but it kept me busy.[/quote]

We were in a Crestliner Sportfish. It is white with copper colored decals and a tan bimini top. If you saw a boat with a bunch of wiggly little grandkids and a frazzled grandpa driving the boat that was us.
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[jurkneyes]

I believe I did run into you, I was pulling out on one of days at the same time as you. If I am thinking of the right boat, it had a Verado on the back and was a fairly big Crestliner. That boat stood out to me with the orange /Cooper colors, I was thinking super sharp boat! I was in a blue Lund 1775 impact.
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[Jmorfish]

One other check you might make on your kicker: check the fuel connector right as it's connected to your motor...if it's not snug to the male end, you will be running sluggish at best, and cutting out (happened to me with my new Yamaha 6) I thought I had a bummer new motor, 'til we got that connector right...Guluk...
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[jurkneyes]

I bet you're a 100 % spot on with that observation. I was thinking about that while fighting it on Friday. It is a little lose but not ever having a kicker I really was unsure if that was the problem. Thanks for pointing that out!
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[JeepNut]

[quote jurkneyes]I believe I did run into you, I was pulling out on one of days at the same time as you. If I am thinking of the right boat, it had a Verado on the back and was a fairly big Crestliner. That boat stood out to me with the orange /Cooper colors, I was thinking super sharp boat! I was in a blue Lund 1775 impact.[/quote]

That was us, we got it so we could feel safe putting the whole family in it on windy days at the Gorge and it sure works well. The Verado works great, it starts instantly and will push the boat across the lake at 45 MPH.
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[liketrolling]

[quote jurkneyes]
The kicker is brand new, mercury 6 horse. I think most of the problem is with the fuel delivery. But sometimes the bulb will be hard and it still acts as if it is not getting enough fuel. Other times I can tell it is not getting enough fuel because the bulb is soft. So I am not sure what it is.[/quote]
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think about adding a elect. fuel pump, that will keep the right fuel press. to the carb.
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[JeepNut]

[quote liketrolling][quote jurkneyes]
The kicker is brand new, mercury 6 horse. I think most of the problem is with the fuel delivery. But sometimes the bulb will be hard and it still acts as if it is not getting enough fuel. Other times I can tell it is not getting enough fuel because the bulb is soft. So I am not sure what it is.[/quote]
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think about adding a elect. fuel pump, that will keep the right fuel press. to the carb.[/quote]

If you do use an electric pump you will need one that puts out the correct pressure and has a return line on it or you will overpower the float needle in the carb.
I had the same problem on my brand new Mercury 9.9. I hooked it into the boats main tank since the boat had a second fuel feed for a trolling motor. The Mercury came with a round vent in the fuel line that isn't used when hooking it to a tank that already has a vent (according to the dealer). I also had to pull the brand new carb apart and clean the jets. The combination of the two things fixed the problem I was having. On this last Gorge trip I also had to adjust the idle speed set screw after running it for a while since it would die at idle.
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[Patchydog]

Sounds like your new kicker isn't starting off too well. Since t is a new motor I think I'd take it back to the dealer and see what they would do with trading it for the 8 hp model. I did a little research before purchasing a Mercury kicker and was considering the 6 hp model. Many of the reviews mentioned that the vibration on the 6 was much greater than the 8. This was attributed to the 6 being a one cylinder engine whereas the 8 is two cylinders. I went with the 8 and it has been great. In my opinion it's worth asking. Good luck!
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