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Flaming Gorge Report from Ryan Mosley, Project Leader for the UDWR.
The kokanee fishing continues to be spotty, but productive when you're on the spot! We found concentrations near main channel cliffs and points in the lower canyon. Many of the fish we observed on the graph were schooled relatively tight, a common characteristic for kokanee near the spawn. We also caught a few rainbow trout and one lake trout using kokanee presentations. This time of year, kokanee are typically shallow in the morning and evening hours (40-60 ft) and migrate deeper during the midday hours (60-80 ft). Make sure you watch your fish finder and put the lure at the depth the fish are at. I'll frequently move my rigger to match the changing depths I'm seeing fish at on the finder. We used several lure types and colors, but the most productive was a Rocky Mountain Tackle (RMT) Dodger in "fusion", followed by a RMT squid in "double-glow orange". We also caught fish on RMT dodgers in "hyperplaid", RMT squids in "double-glow pink", "silver" Apexes, Northland Forage minnows in "rainbow trout", and RMT Serpent spoons in "tequila sunrise". Boat speed was 1.8-2.2 mph and water temperature was 70-72 F.As you can see from the pic, some kokanee are well into their spawning transformation. The season will close on September 10th to protect fish engaged in the spawn. The countdown for the end is on.Photo is Flaming Gorge Project staff, Matt McKell and Ben Carswell, holding kokanee caught on Flaming Gorge.