Carl Guffey
Well-known member
<font face="georgia,palatino"><font size="3">Had a chance to enjoy a couple weeks of vacation in Wyoming and Utah. Last week I got to fish Flaming Gorge Lake in northern Utah near the town of Dutch John. The lake is very similar to Fontana. It is 424 ft. deep at the dam and you can read a newspaper laying on the bottom in 20 ft of water. I was accompanied by my long time friend Walt Maldenado from Utah and we had a great trip.</font></font></p>
<font size="3" face="Georgia">We started fishing top water early the first day near the dam. Not to much to talk about as we were just trying to get a feel for the lake. I changed over to a 4" grub and Walt started throwing a 1/4 oz. jig. During the day we had a thunderstorm blow in and we ran for cover in the truck. It was the only cover available as there are no docks or building on the lake, it is completely surrounded by National Park. After a 2 hour delay we went back to fishing. Not a bad day overall I caught and landed 75 fish, 74 smallmouth and 1 trout and Walt caught 50 smallmouth. Nothing huge but several quality fish.</font></p>
<font size="3" face="Georgia">Day two started out much the same as day one. We remained near the dam early but we only had two top water fish. I switched back to a grub and caught 39 smallmouth from around one island. The quality was a little better then the first day but nothing great. We decided to start working our way up stream and look for better waters. As we went up we fished Skull Creek, North Skull Creekand several main channel banks. It is tough fishing though when there is so much beauty around you. In the lower sections of the lake sheer redcliffs rise from 500 to 1000 ft straight up out of the water. Walt caught our largest fish of the trip on a spider jig with a 1/8 oz head, a 3 pounder. For the day(10 hrs.)I caught 100 smallmouth and I missed close the same number. Walt had another 50fish day. We also found a shallow area on the main channel to start in the morning.</font></p>
<font size="3" face="Georgia">Day3: Ran up the lake this morning to start topwater on the spot we had located the day before. We pulled around the shallow area and started fishing. My first fish was a 2 pounder on a spook. It was followed within a few casts by a 1.5. We fished on around the area and had a few blowups but could not connect. I convinced Walt to move back to the place we started and turned up river. I also talked him into trying the Friendsville Shuffle. We started into a time warp and enjoyed 4 hrs. of quality topwater. I said earlier that the water was extremely clear. You could see the fish come up from 20-25ft. of water to explode on the spook, it was incredible. If the spook didn't get hit coming in, you could look behind it to see 6-10 small smallmouth following it. </font></p>
<font size="3" face="Georgia">The topwater finally subsided and we switched back to a spider jig and 4"grub. We were catchng fish at 25-30 ft and it took time to get a 1/8 oz. jig head down, but you caught or missed a fish on almost every cast. In the topwater cascade we lost count of fish caught. Walt and I finished out the day with over 50 fish each and we were both exhausted.</font></p>
<font size="3" face="Georgia">We started fishing top water early the first day near the dam. Not to much to talk about as we were just trying to get a feel for the lake. I changed over to a 4" grub and Walt started throwing a 1/4 oz. jig. During the day we had a thunderstorm blow in and we ran for cover in the truck. It was the only cover available as there are no docks or building on the lake, it is completely surrounded by National Park. After a 2 hour delay we went back to fishing. Not a bad day overall I caught and landed 75 fish, 74 smallmouth and 1 trout and Walt caught 50 smallmouth. Nothing huge but several quality fish.</font></p>
<font size="3" face="Georgia">Day two started out much the same as day one. We remained near the dam early but we only had two top water fish. I switched back to a grub and caught 39 smallmouth from around one island. The quality was a little better then the first day but nothing great. We decided to start working our way up stream and look for better waters. As we went up we fished Skull Creek, North Skull Creekand several main channel banks. It is tough fishing though when there is so much beauty around you. In the lower sections of the lake sheer redcliffs rise from 500 to 1000 ft straight up out of the water. Walt caught our largest fish of the trip on a spider jig with a 1/8 oz head, a 3 pounder. For the day(10 hrs.)I caught 100 smallmouth and I missed close the same number. Walt had another 50fish day. We also found a shallow area on the main channel to start in the morning.</font></p>
<font size="3" face="Georgia">Day3: Ran up the lake this morning to start topwater on the spot we had located the day before. We pulled around the shallow area and started fishing. My first fish was a 2 pounder on a spook. It was followed within a few casts by a 1.5. We fished on around the area and had a few blowups but could not connect. I convinced Walt to move back to the place we started and turned up river. I also talked him into trying the Friendsville Shuffle. We started into a time warp and enjoyed 4 hrs. of quality topwater. I said earlier that the water was extremely clear. You could see the fish come up from 20-25ft. of water to explode on the spook, it was incredible. If the spook didn't get hit coming in, you could look behind it to see 6-10 small smallmouth following it. </font></p>
<font size="3" face="Georgia">The topwater finally subsided and we switched back to a spider jig and 4"grub. We were catchng fish at 25-30 ft and it took time to get a 1/8 oz. jig head down, but you caught or missed a fish on almost every cast. In the topwater cascade we lost count of fish caught. Walt and I finished out the day with over 50 fish each and we were both exhausted.</font></p>
