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Limit Stick
06-16-2009, 01:00 PM
I quit my job a few weeks ago and I figured that before I start the new one I should road trip and fish some new water. I didn’t take long to decide on Flaming Gorge. Now I just needed a crew. One call to mjcook is all it took. As neither of us had ever been to the Gorge we would have to do some quick planning. To make things worse I gave him one days notice. “No problem” he says, “As soon as my fiancé’s bridal shower is over I’ll get on the road”. What a trooper…. We leave my house at midnight June 6th work our way through the considerable road construction and narrow lane closures from Cisco Grove to the state line. We lean the seats back in the truck for 2 hours at a truck stop in Winnamuca then we hit it again… a few more stops for diesel and new wind shield wipers and we arrive to the Buckboard Crossing camp ground to high winds and thunder storms.

Day1 We headed south towards Upper Marsh and Holmes Crossing based on some info that that we received. We drop lines at 6:30 and Matt hooks up a nice 3 lb Bow at 6:45 then I hook up a 4lb Mack. 3 12in kokes and another small mack and we decide to find some new water. Head head north towards Skunk Cliffs and find a fairly consistent bite with Matt catching the largest Koke at 3.9lbs at 20in. We work that area for several hours until a storm makes us run for cover. After the storm the bite is off so we search for new fish on our way bake to the marina. Finished the day with approximately 15 fish, not too bad and we now have a starting point for day 2.

That night at camp we met Rick, Justin and Cordell from Lodi. None of them were the Koke boards but they sure were great guys. They had been to the Gorge several times and shared there insight with Matt and I.

Day 2 We head straight for Skunk Cliffs and again get in to the fish. Not red hot but good quality fish. We land a half dozen fish between us in the first couple of hours then it died so we move up near Big Bend along the cliffs. Rick calls out on the radio that we too close to the cliffs and we’ll get a lot of macks in there so we move further out and find a shelf that comes to about 75ft of water from the surrounding 100-110 water. We immediately hook up a double, and proceeded to get 8 doubles in a row before the next storm pushed off again. At one point we were releasing the 2nd fish of a double and the other 2 rods go off. Afterwards we were jumping up and down like little school girls... this is what we had come to Flaming Gorge for… aggressive, hard fighting, monster kokes. The rods were in so we ran for cover and made a nice shore lunch of a willing kokanee. After the storm the bite was not as hot but we still managed several more fish. Final tally for the day was over 30 fish with 20+ being Kokes with most in the 3 to 3.5lb range.

Back at camp we made a hearty venison dinner and cocktails and shared the day’s excitement with our camp neighbors. Rick offers up 5 custom made rigs from his buddy Dirty Dog. Rick said they were sure to produce lots of fish…. And they did. Rick said Dirty Dog is on the boards but he didn’t know which one… If that true and you read this Thanks. Your gear was great.

Day 3 We set back on the previous days hot spot to find quick action for Matt (running the new gear). He lands at least 5 fish before I get bit including a 22in 3.5lb Bow. I switch over and immediately start getting hit. We finish at 1pm just as the next big storm hits with nearly 20 fish. Also was able to talk to JR on the radio a lot today… they were into them and having a great time.

Our best set ups were 5.5 sling blade or a large Kens glow dodger with pink and glow hoochie in the morning and orange and pink UV apex or hoochies in the afternoon as well as the Uncle Larry’s Pro snell in orange firetiger. All hooks tipped with a piece of Gulp worm or maggot in pink or Chartreuse.

We found the fish slightly deeper each day but our most consistent depth was around 22-26 feet over 60-80ft of water near deeper water.

Thanks Matt for company and a true adventure. I can’t wait to go again.

Here are some of the 163 pics we took during the trip. I’m also trying to edit about 1.5 hours of video footage. I post a little bit if I figure it out.

Jason

http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv142/Cruce_photos/Flaming%20Gorge%20June%2009/FlamingGorgeJune2009037.jpg

http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv142/Cruce_photos/Flaming%20Gorge%20June%2009/FlamingGorgeJune2009076.jpg

http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv142/Cruce_photos/Flaming%20Gorge%20June%2009/FlamingGorgeJune2009073.jpg

http://i678.photobucket.com/albums/vv142/Cruce_photos/Flaming%20Gorge%20June%2009/FlamingGorge68910094.jpg

Petty4life
06-16-2009, 06:20 PM
Nice report and great picturesthumbsup

AFDan52
06-16-2009, 07:15 PM
Thanks for sharing guys, awesume pictures.thumbsup

MJCook6
06-16-2009, 07:33 PM
What a trip. Now all i can think about is how to get back.

Ill add a few more pics...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v226/mjcook6/2009%20Fishing/Flaming%20Gorge%20June/FlamingGorgeJune2009087.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v226/mjcook6/2009%20Fishing/Flaming%20Gorge%20June/FlamingGorgeJune2009064.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v226/mjcook6/2009%20Fishing/Flaming%20Gorge%20June/FlamingGorgeJune2009019.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v226/mjcook6/2009%20Fishing/Flaming%20Gorge%20June/FlamingGorgeJune2009031.jpg

Matt

MJCook6
06-16-2009, 07:38 PM
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v226/mjcook6/2009%20Fishing/Flaming%20Gorge%20June/FlamingGorgeJune2009052.jpg

LETHAL!!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v226/mjcook6/2009%20Fishing/Flaming%20Gorge%20June/FlamingGorgeJune2009057.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v226/mjcook6/2009%20Fishing/Flaming%20Gorge%20June/IMG_1329.jpg

Lots of aerials...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v226/mjcook6/2009%20Fishing/Flaming%20Gorge%20June/FlamingGorgeJune2009055.jpg

Kokaholic
06-16-2009, 08:01 PM
Nice job Guys and great pics. Gotta love that place up there dont ya.

jacksonlaker
06-16-2009, 10:02 PM
Flaming Gorge is like the crack of koke fishing. One shot and now your'e addicted. The only cure is to keep going back !!

wahoohunter
06-16-2009, 10:52 PM
SUH-WEEET. Congrats on a great post and great pics.

binthere50
06-16-2009, 11:37 PM
Now THATS a report.....fantastic Pics!!.....What do guys you think?....is that worth a 15 hour drive? Leaving a warm and cuddly girlfriend behind?..YES!!...Leaving Calif on Monday 22nd for the Holy Land....for the 1st trip this year,
Have a funny feeling there will be another one to follow.....gotta love it

HiTechKoke
06-17-2009, 12:59 AM
Your first trip won't be your last I'm sure.... Awesome pics and report and thanks for sharing.

Kevin

binthere50
06-17-2009, 03:05 AM
Oh Yes...Thanks for sharing that report.....If you don't mind, what are those bugs you showed behind the glow dodger?
I've seen them before somewhere but I don't remember which tackle website I've seen them on or where I saw them?.....not that I need any more stuff!

Petty4life
06-17-2009, 04:42 AM
Oh Yes...Thanks for sharing that report.....If you don't mind, what are those bugs you showed behind the glow dodger?
I've seen them before somewhere but I don't remember which tackle website I've seen them on or where I saw them?.....not that I need any more stuff!

those are Rocky Mountain Tackle Bugsthumbsup

Full_Monte
06-17-2009, 09:19 AM
That is inspiring! Out of all the posts I've seen on the Gorge, this is the one that really makes me want to go.

Kokaholic
06-17-2009, 01:43 PM
Like Petty said, the bugs are the RMT Sockeyeslayer bugs. Many stores dont carry them, however if you go to our web site you can get them on there.

Bduck
06-17-2009, 02:35 PM
Great job guys. Nice fish. The challenge is soon to be here. You ever thought about getting HT Productions to film you? :rolleyes:

MJCook6
06-17-2009, 03:28 PM
Those slayer bugs are money.
I busted it out at berry this year with limit stick.
He laughed in my face...
Until i hooked up not 5 minutes in the water..

It needs to be retied after this trip... thumbsup

Matt

binthere50
06-17-2009, 04:37 PM
OK....Thanks for the "bug" info.....no time to order some online as we are leaving Mon....hope Buckboard carrys them.....We'll see...Thanks again!
Mike

Limit Stick
06-17-2009, 04:49 PM
OK....Thanks for the "bug" info.....no time to order some online as we are leaving Mon....hope Buckboard carrys them.....We'll see

They carry them and Matt's right I laughed in his face until he started slaying with them.

Jason

Kokaholic
06-17-2009, 07:15 PM
[QUOTE=binthere50;9801]no time to order some online as we are leaving Mon....hope Buckboard carrys them


Yes Matt,Buckboard has them. They were on the shelf as of Sunday when I was there. Stock up

Kokanee Killer
06-17-2009, 10:50 PM
tongue2awesome pics ...your killing me WHAT AWESOME KOKES !!!!!!

Digi-Troller
06-19-2009, 05:11 AM
Great report and pics! Thanks for taking the time to let us all in on your great trip!

redmanjr1
06-20-2009, 01:38 AM
WOW!! Great pics and awesome post. I need to make a trip down there some time after I'm healed up. You guys rock and thanks for sharing.

Bob

binthere50
06-20-2009, 05:32 AM
Thanks Matt and Jason.....you guys remind me of me and my partner when I was young! All I had to say was something like this,
"Hey, lets go to Alaska next week and fish silvers on the Alagnak"
"OK", so off we'd go, drop of the hat..in fact we went twice that year, and twice the next year.....best education I ever had...traveling and fishing.
Thanks for the bug scoop, I'll get some and let everyone know the deal when we get there Wed.......Mike

Code4
06-22-2009, 03:30 PM
Awesome photos, some of the best I have seen on any poststhumbsup. Makes me appreciate living where I do, only 20 minutes from home to Buckboard! I am a little bummed though, now I have to get more RMT stuff with the bugs! Wife is going to kill me.