Report provided by Ryan Mosley with the UDWR's Flaming Gorge Project.

We haven't gained much ice, but the ice that formed in December has thickened quickly. Apparently there's 10-inches of ice at the Confluence and it only gets thicker as you move uplake. There's open water below the Confluence, with very little ice even in the backs of bays.

Burbot fishing has started off slow, somewhat similar to the start of the 2010-11 ice fishing season. While burbot fishing last week, we found most of the fish were caught dead-sticking versus jigging. Fish were caught from 20-40 ft, using glow jigs (Radical Glow Tubes, Yamamoto grubs) rigged on a 3/8 oz. jighead, tipped with sucker meat. Place the presentation just off the bottom and re-glow frequently. Some small lake trout were also caught, and those hit the same lures while actively jigging.

With the current forecast, it's unlikely we'll see much new ice, but I'll keep you informed of any progress.

Photo by Matt McKell