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Flaming Gorge fishing report submitted by Ryan Mosley, Flaming Gorge Project Leader for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.
We're over halfway through February and we're still building ice! The lake is now capped all the way down to the Pipeline. Although the main channel may be unsafe, many of the bays have safe ice which should bode well for burbot anglers.My buddy and I took a trip uplake this weekend, hoping to entertain our kids. Mission accomplished. We found safe ice (5-inches) in a small bay near Holmes Crossing. While we prepped rods and augered holes, they wrestled, sledded, and fueled up on snacks. The first bites came at sunset, with a flurry after dark, and then the occasional fish before we finally departed at 8:30 p.m. We stayed pretty busy catching fish and totaled 36 burbot and one lake trout. Fish were caught from 10-45 ft along rocky structure. Many glow lures tipped with sucker meat were productive, including: Northland Buckshot spoons, Yamamoto grubs, and wobble jig heads. Fish were caught on both deadsticked rods/tip-ups and while jigging close to the bottom.I suspect with new ice forming downlake, there's a lot of unharassed burbot that haven't seen a lure since last winter. If it remains cold, burbot fishing should continue to be "red hot" in these recently iced portions of the lake. With the recent ice development, the only boat ramps that were open as of last weekend were Lucerne, Antelope Flat, Cedar Springs, and Mustang Ridge.Picture- From left to right, Teddy Hays (Vernal), Koby Mosley (Dutch John), and Toby Hays (Vernal) with 36 burbot.