Rainbows at Flaming Gorge

Last month we took Kevin’s new boat out to Flaming Gorge to test it out.  It worked great as a fishing boat.  We camped at the Mann’s campground on the west side of the reservoir along Sheep Creek. 

We pitched my tent and launched the boat at the nearest dock. 

Isaac, Kevin’s son, enjoyed watching the movie Lion King while we headed off to Kevin’s favorite, secret fishing spot. 

No wonder Kevin was anxious to fish this spot.  We caught a good dozen rainbows including a few over 20 inches.  The smaller ones (those under 17 inches) we let go and fried up the others for dinner. 

One thing we wanted to test with the boat was my Minn Kota trolling motor.  Kevin had rigged up a transom on the skiing ladder that we attached it to with bungee cords.  We could quickly zoom around the reservoir with the boat’s motor and slowly troll or fish the edges with the trolling motor. 

It was the perfect system.  Along the edges we were able to catch smallmouth bass with crawdad rapalas.  One huge monster of a fish hit Kevin’s lure but didn’t hook up.  That fish will haunt him for quite a while.

Kevin’s parents and brother met up with us for dinner.  His family goes all out when it comes to food and camping.  On the menu was: BBQ ribs (more than we could eat), the trout we caught, beans with bacon, corn, French bread with cheese, and for desert-strawberry and blueberry shortcake. 

With so much food, we made sure we had everything put away well before calling it a night.  You may remember previous blogs where a raccoon was able to break into a cooler or what was even worse, a visit in the night from a skunk.

Kevin and Isaac slept in the boat and I slept in the tent.  Kevin’s parents and brother stayed in a hotel in Manila. Our plan was to meet at 8:15 the next morning at Browning’s restaurant for breakfast.  I gained five pounds on this trip.

At breakfast Kevin told us about what happened that night.  At about 2:30 he heard a noise in his boat.  He looked over at Isaac and he was sleeping soundly.  He peeked out of the cuddy and the noise stopped.  Everything was black. Then he saw this white and black thing moving out from under the life jackets that ran right in front of his face.  He startled the creature as he scramble to block the opening and just as the creature turned around and raised its tail…Kevin woke up from his dream.

We picked up some more ice at the gas station to top off the coolers and then headed back out in the boat. 

Kevin had rigged a ramp for the boat to make it easier to get to shore. 

The fishing was just as good as the previous day.  After two hours we had each caught our limit and decided we should break camp and head back home, hopefully in time for a movie. 

I saved my fish to cook up the next day for dinner.  It was delicious with my home made tartar sauce.