Merry Christmas, Don! That was an awesome fish. I love your videos and try to employ the same methods as you teach. I hate that I live 3.5 hours away and can't get out there as often as you do (sounds like jealousy...). I was out there last Friday (12/20) and we finally put a fish like that in the boat. The pictures and videos don't match the excitement of doing it for yourself (even though my buddy fought the fish). Keep those videos coming.
Beautiful fish, love the challenge of landing a great fish. Congrats! While I understand the thought process behind catch and release, I wonder if occasionally keeping a legal limit brood stock sized fish wouldn't help the fishery with the Laker overpopulation issue that both states are fighting to reduce? Certainly would help reduce the number of pups feeding on Kokanee fry, or am I missing something?
How can I say you are missing something when all of this is theory anyway? This is only my opinion, educated though it is: The simple fact is that biologists have been proven wrong so many times when it comes to fisheries management that it would be a serious mistake to use their "opinions" as FACTS. Their findings are simply "book educated theories". I have gone on record literally hundreds of times in the 20 years I wrote the On Fishing column in the Daily Herald in Utah County, that book learning and boots-on-the-ground fisheries management are two entirely different things. Just for a second, think about the past two years here at Flaming Gorge. Starting last year and on into early this year, people didn't even want to try for kokanee salmon because most of the kokanee anglers were unable to locate the schools of kokanee. Why? Because they were drinking the Kool Aid from the biologists mainly from the Wyoming side who said that there were so many young pup lake trout that they were eating all the plankton meant for the kokes. However, last year and this year were my two best years in the last five for targeting and catching kokanee salmon, both trolling and more importantly, jigging. So, once again, I ask, WHY? Simply put, I don't have 30-years of experience chasing kokanees so I don't possess two things: Channel waypoints that show where I have fished for the past 30 years, and two, I don't have "specific" depths and lures that I have used in the past 30 years. Therefore, just as in the bass tournament days, if I couldn't locate fish I went looking for them. Instead of fishing the channels and the open bays, I moved shallower into the backs of coves, and amazingly, I found GREAT kokanees. And, as a result, many of those who watch my videos had great years too. NOT by doing what everyone else was doing, but by exploring other methods, depths, and locations and ignoring those stuck on the same trolling waypoints from 30 years ago. Now, you might ask, what does that have to do with the question of whether or not to keep a few larger lake trout to "help the overpopulation of lake trout"? Well, what has happened here at Flaming Gorge in the past couple of years is what I call the "domino effect". First, anglers couldn't find kokanee salmon doing the same things they had done for years. So, they complained to the Biologists. Domino One. Then, the biologists looked at their netting samples (which by the way, are taken in the same locations year after year to have baseline to notice differences in the numbers of various species), and they noticed an increase in smaller lake trout pups. So, they decided to raise the limit on lake trout to 12 fish per day under (i believe 25 inches). It might be 28 inches but the point is that now people can harvest more lake trout. Domino two. Now, people were complaining and petitioning in both Wyoming and Utah to suspend kokanee fishing all together from say July through the end of the year to "further protect" the spawn. Domino three. Although there was a lot of pressure being put on the biologists, they ultimately decided to change the limit for 2025 back to three fish for both possession and daily limits. Domino four. So, in a nutshell, we have people believing that there are so many smaller lake trout that we need to treat them like problem species and have now (I believe) have lifted the limit on lake trout under 28 inches (I think) as a way to curb the population. However, the facts on the ground are that many anglers have noticed a significant DROP in pup lake trout populations lake wide. Even i have noticed this. There are times that I have to REALLY search for quality schools of pups. So, once again, the question is: do we REALLY HAVE TOO MANY Lake trout in the reservoir? Some say yes while others say no. But, here's what I truly know. Lake trout are voracious eaters. They will eat each other at the drop of a hat. So, what is the problem of having millions of 8 to 15-inch lake trout in the lake? I call those fish "BAIT". Not to be put on a hook but other lake trout will target them just as they target kokanee salmon. If you don't believe me, gut a few 20-inch lake trout and see how many of them have other lake trout in their stomachs. Lake trout eat lake trout and I know larger lake trout eat smaller ones. I would rather have ample supplies of food for the lakers that are NOT just kokanees, rainbows, and burbot, along with the normal chubs, red sided shiners and other minnows including but not limited to carp and smallmouth bass. 2024 started with people not wanting to fish for kokanee but ended as one of the best years in the past decade. Anglers caught them jigging and trolling all over the reservoir, and the 2024 spawn in many areas around the reservoir was truly amazing. According to some biologists from both Utah and Wyoming, they were able to fill their quotas for available hatchery space with thousands upon thousands of fish spawning "naturally" promising goo fishing years to come. Now, here comes the punch line to this saga. All the "Dominos" fell into one another even though NONE of the fears of the biologists has been realized. Now there are plenty of kokanee because they simply moved to other water when we lost 25 feet of water two years ago to help Lake Powell. Those of us that realized this had a great kokanee year. Yet all these dominos have fallen. Now, we can only catch three kokanee (regardless of their great spawn). We can keep all the smaller laker trout as we want yet anglers are reporting that they are NOT catching numbers like they were a couple of years ago. And, finally, telling people that there are simply too many lake trout in the lake means that more and more of the HUGE lake trout are being harvested because people actually believe it is helping the fishery. If you "kill" a fish while playing and landing it,( which i have done twice in the last five years) I will keep that fish. But, because all these dominos have fallen we might be playing a dangerous game with one of the finest lake trout fisheries in the world. 1. Don't believe the biologists when the facts on the ground differ from their conclusions. 2. Try to protect the fishery by releasing all lake trout over 28 inches even though the limit allows keeping one per day. and 3. Try to understand the science. Biologists must operate with a preset protocol. Anglers do not. I would trust the guys, that truly love this fishery and although they catch a lot of huge fish, are still conservation minded and want to protect our giant trout.
Well, looks like I asked all the right questions. I respect your knowledgeable opinion and appreciate your time and effort to respond to my inquiry. As always, catch and release, inside the constraints of a legal bag limit, is a personal ethics decision for each angler who chooses to return fish they feel are unnecessary to keep. I rarely keep fish here in Utah , even though I enjoy the sport thoroughly. Just my choice. When I do, it's to have a fresh meal that day or soon thereafter. I certainly do not have the expertise to question bag limits, or biologists. Not my area. Thanx for your answer, and your time. Keep up the good work.
Outstanding fish! I was at the Gorge on Friday. Still trying to figured out the lakers. I know you said trolling was more effective than jigging, but I get board and go back to jigging. Not just board, I don’t know where to troll so I lose faith in it and go back to jigging. We marked a bunch but getting them to bite proved difficult. It was really fun to watch you fight that fish. What an epic battle. Thanks for sharing.
@@heyjason403 I have pretty much given up on bass fishing outside of Flaming Gorge. First because my new boat is Not a bass boat, and Lunds simply don't have the storage place (convenient) for my bass tackle. I did catch a five-bas limit of smallies in late October here. The largest was just over five pounds.
@@heyjason403 Although i am really liking the boar, EVERYTHING is a "process". It takes me 5 minutes to even think about getting ready to move locations.
I troll from 1.3 to 1.7 mph when I am slow trolling. Otherwise, I am casting and retrieving (in the springtime and earlier in December). Thanks for watching.
Planning on fishing at flaming gorge this spring, haven't been there much and I'm wondering if you think a rainbow trout paddle tail swimbait would work good for the lake trout? its about 5 inches long
It is still a love/hate relationship. I LOVE being warmer when it is cold, and I LOVE the way I have this new boat set up. BUT, I hate how slow it is (35 instead of 55) and i have lost my desire to bass fish because it is so difficult to fish from this boat like I did for bass. All told though, my family was right ... it was time for me to get a deeper V boat, one that I can't fall out of. Merry Christmas!!
No, this was a cruise. However, we will be spending a month in Playa Del Carmen, MX in a few weeks. And, I will surely produce a few videos from there. Merry Christmas!
I caught a fish back in July in sheep creek with those exact same dimensions. Do you have any good pictures of his cheek patch? I tried to pause the video to see if it was the same fish or not but it was hard to tell without a good quality picture. Mine had an upside down G2 on his left side cheek
Heck of a battle Don. Great catch.
Thanks for sharing. Excited to come catch some in the spring.
Next Spring then. Thanks for watching.
Phenomenal fish Don! Congrats and Merry Christmas!
Awesome Fish. Nicely done.
Great fish Don, glad you’re back.
Thanks Garry. You have a great Christmas too. Are you coming out soon?
I can't wait for the ice!!
Boy, it is a long way off. Folk are worried about the burbot bash.
Swim baits, especially those in the 5 to 8-inch sizes work very well. It all depends on how fast they sink and therefore how fast they are retrieved.
Great fish,,,happy holidays!
Thanks. Same to you!
Awesome fish! Good job!
Thanks, and i hope you have a great Christmas
What a toad Don! Good job. Heck of a fight
Yes is was an epic fight. It took me close to 10 minutes to revive the old girl. She was definitely spent when I got her into the net.
Merry Christmas, Don! That was an awesome fish. I love your videos and try to employ the same methods as you teach. I hate that I live 3.5 hours away and can't get out there as often as you do (sounds like jealousy...). I was out there last Friday (12/20) and we finally put a fish like that in the boat. The pictures and videos don't match the excitement of doing it for yourself (even though my buddy fought the fish). Keep those videos coming.
I'm glad to got one the other day. Patience is indeed a virtue when you are going after the big ones. Merry Christmas to you too.
Beautiful fish, love the challenge of landing a great fish. Congrats!
While I understand the thought process behind catch and release, I wonder if occasionally keeping a legal limit brood stock sized fish wouldn't help the fishery with the Laker overpopulation issue that both states are fighting to reduce? Certainly would help reduce the number of pups feeding on Kokanee fry, or am I missing something?
How can I say you are missing something when all of this is theory anyway?
This is only my opinion, educated though it is: The simple fact is that biologists have been proven wrong so many times when it comes to fisheries management that it would be a serious mistake to use their "opinions" as FACTS. Their findings are simply "book educated theories". I have gone on record literally hundreds of times in the 20 years I wrote the On Fishing column in the Daily Herald in Utah County, that book learning and boots-on-the-ground fisheries management are two entirely different things. Just for a second, think about the past two years here at Flaming Gorge. Starting last year and on into early this year, people didn't even want to try for kokanee salmon because most of the kokanee anglers were unable to locate the schools of kokanee. Why? Because they were drinking the Kool Aid from the biologists mainly from the Wyoming side who said that there were so many young pup lake trout that they were eating all the plankton meant for the kokes. However, last year and this year were my two best years in the last five for targeting and catching kokanee salmon, both trolling and more importantly, jigging. So, once again, I ask, WHY?
Simply put, I don't have 30-years of experience chasing kokanees so I don't possess two things: Channel waypoints that show where I have fished for the past 30 years, and two, I don't have "specific" depths and lures that I have used in the past 30 years. Therefore, just as in the bass tournament days, if I couldn't locate fish I went looking for them. Instead of fishing the channels and the open bays, I moved shallower into the backs of coves, and amazingly, I found GREAT kokanees. And, as a result, many of those who watch my videos had great years too. NOT by doing what everyone else was doing, but by exploring other methods, depths, and locations and ignoring those stuck on the same trolling waypoints from 30 years ago.
Now, you might ask, what does that have to do with the question of whether or not to keep a few larger lake trout to "help the overpopulation of lake trout"? Well, what has happened here at Flaming Gorge in the past couple of years is what I call the "domino effect". First, anglers couldn't find kokanee salmon doing the same things they had done for years. So, they complained to the Biologists. Domino One. Then, the biologists looked at their netting samples (which by the way, are taken in the same locations year after year to have baseline to notice differences in the numbers of various species), and they noticed an increase in smaller lake trout pups. So, they decided to raise the limit on lake trout to 12 fish per day under (i believe 25 inches). It might be 28 inches but the point is that now people can harvest more lake trout. Domino two. Now, people were complaining and petitioning in both Wyoming and Utah to suspend kokanee fishing all together from say July through the end of the year to "further protect" the spawn. Domino three. Although there was a lot of pressure being put on the biologists, they ultimately decided to change the limit for 2025 back to three fish for both possession and daily limits. Domino four.
So, in a nutshell, we have people believing that there are so many smaller lake trout that we need to treat them like problem species and have now (I believe) have lifted the limit on lake trout under 28 inches (I think) as a way to curb the population. However, the facts on the ground are that many anglers have noticed a significant DROP in pup lake trout populations lake wide. Even i have noticed this. There are times that I have to REALLY search for quality schools of pups. So, once again, the question is: do we REALLY HAVE TOO MANY Lake trout in the reservoir? Some say yes while others say no.
But, here's what I truly know. Lake trout are voracious eaters. They will eat each other at the drop of a hat. So, what is the problem of having millions of 8 to 15-inch lake trout in the lake? I call those fish "BAIT". Not to be put on a hook but other lake trout will target them just as they target kokanee salmon. If you don't believe me, gut a few 20-inch lake trout and see how many of them have other lake trout in their stomachs. Lake trout eat lake trout and I know larger lake trout eat smaller ones.
I would rather have ample supplies of food for the lakers that are NOT just kokanees, rainbows, and burbot, along with the normal chubs, red sided shiners and other minnows including but not limited to carp and smallmouth bass.
2024 started with people not wanting to fish for kokanee but ended as one of the best years in the past decade. Anglers caught them jigging and trolling all over the reservoir, and the 2024 spawn in many areas around the reservoir was truly amazing. According to some biologists from both Utah and Wyoming, they were able to fill their quotas for available hatchery space with thousands upon thousands of fish spawning "naturally" promising goo fishing years to come.
Now, here comes the punch line to this saga. All the "Dominos" fell into one another even though NONE of the fears of the biologists has been realized. Now there are plenty of kokanee because they simply moved to other water when we lost 25 feet of water two years ago to help Lake Powell. Those of us that realized this had a great kokanee year. Yet all these dominos have fallen. Now, we can only catch three kokanee (regardless of their great spawn). We can keep all the smaller laker trout as we want yet anglers are reporting that they are NOT catching numbers like they were a couple of years ago. And, finally, telling people that there are simply too many lake trout in the lake means that more and more of the HUGE lake trout are being harvested because people actually believe it is helping the fishery. If you "kill" a fish while playing and landing it,( which i have done twice in the last five years) I will keep that fish. But, because all these dominos have fallen we might be playing a dangerous game with one of the finest lake trout fisheries in the world. 1. Don't believe the biologists when the facts on the ground differ from their conclusions. 2. Try to protect the fishery by releasing all lake trout over 28 inches even though the limit allows keeping one per day. and 3. Try to understand the science. Biologists must operate with a preset protocol. Anglers do not. I would trust the guys, that truly love this fishery and although they catch a lot of huge fish, are still conservation minded and want to protect our giant trout.
Well, looks like I asked all the right questions.
I respect your knowledgeable opinion and appreciate your time and effort to respond to my inquiry.
As always, catch and release, inside the constraints of a legal bag limit, is a personal ethics decision for each angler who chooses to return fish they feel are unnecessary to keep.
I rarely keep fish here in Utah , even though I enjoy the sport thoroughly.
Just my choice. When I do, it's to have a fresh meal that day or soon thereafter. I certainly do not have the expertise to question bag limits, or biologists. Not my area.
Thanx for your answer, and your time.
Keep up the good work.
@@PaulL.Marrott No problem. Tight Lines!
Outstanding fish! I was at the Gorge on Friday. Still trying to figured out the lakers. I know you said trolling was more effective than jigging, but I get board and go back to jigging. Not just board, I don’t know where to troll so I lose faith in it and go back to jigging. We marked a bunch but getting them to bite proved difficult. It was really fun to watch you fight that fish. What an epic battle. Thanks for sharing.
There is nothing better than putting time in on the water. Patience is the key and you will get your chance at surface fish.
Any cold water bass trips planned Don ?
@@heyjason403 I have pretty much given up on bass fishing outside of Flaming Gorge. First because my new boat is Not a bass boat, and Lunds simply don't have the storage place (convenient) for my bass tackle. I did catch a five-bas limit of smallies in late October here. The largest was just over five pounds.
@ that’s a nice small mouth Don! I hear you on storage, these walleye boats aren’t bass friendly boats.
@@heyjason403 Although i am really liking the boar, EVERYTHING is a "process". It takes me 5 minutes to even think about getting ready to move locations.
That is UNBELIEVABLE! I have never trolled for Macs actually. Always vertical jigged. How fast were you trolling those bad boys?
I troll from 1.3 to 1.7 mph when I am slow trolling. Otherwise, I am casting and retrieving (in the springtime and earlier in December). Thanks for watching.
Planning on fishing at flaming gorge this spring, haven't been there much and I'm wondering if you think a rainbow trout paddle tail swimbait would work good for the lake trout? its about 5 inches long
How do you like the new boat after fishing in it for the summer? Sure is a beautiful boat!
It is still a love/hate relationship. I LOVE being warmer when it is cold, and I LOVE the way I have this new boat set up. BUT, I hate how slow it is (35 instead of 55) and i have lost my desire to bass fish because it is so difficult to fish from this boat like I did for bass. All told though, my family was right ... it was time for me to get a deeper V boat, one that I can't fall out of. Merry Christmas!!
@ merry Christmas bud!
Thanks for sharing.
Did you fish in Mexico? If so hope you will post some video.
No, this was a cruise. However, we will be spending a month in Playa Del Carmen, MX in a few weeks. And, I will surely produce a few videos from there. Merry Christmas!
I caught a fish back in July in sheep creek with those exact same dimensions. Do you have any good pictures of his cheek patch? I tried to pause the video to see if it was the same fish or not but it was hard to tell without a good quality picture. Mine had an upside down G2 on his left side cheek
Send me your email. Don@donallphin.com