Fished the afternoon and early evening with a new fishing buddy. Found lots of fish, but had to work to catch them. I wanted to try vertical jigging, but the wind was too windy, so we trolled with the downriggers. Caught the fattest cutthroat that I have ever caught at Strawberry. It was 20 1/2 inches long and weighed almost five pounds. I wouldn't say that there was a hot lure, but a fresh minnow, or a wedding ring tipped with a crawler produced the most bites. On the way back to marina I decided to try a GPS point, that I had marked on a previous outing in the middle of July, which was at least 1 1/2 miles east of The Strawberry Marina and we immediately got a double hook up. I wished that I would have tried that place earlier. This year I have discovered that a GPS helps tremendously when trolling the open waters at Strawberry. Final count was seven cutts, all in the slot, and at least ten that didn't make it to the boat.
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Quote:[size 1]This year I have discovered that a GPS helps tremendously when trolling the open waters at Strawberry. [/size]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]Kent, please explain how the GPS has helped you troll open water. Thanks.[/size][/black][/font]
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At Strawberry, particularly in the heat of the summer, I have learned that the fish often can be caught out in the bays, rather than near the shoreline, so I will troll these areas with my trolling motor looking for the schools of active fish. If I find a concentration of fish I mark a waypoint on my GPS. When the wind is blowing at a good clip I take my boat near the shoreline closest to the direction the wind is blowing from. I then point the bow of the boat in the direction of the wind, and with the windshield window closed, combined with the bimini cover, I often can troll at speeds up to 3 mph, just using the power of the wind to move the boat. I let the wind blow me all the way across the reservoir, and then time permitting I repeat the process. Often when I do this I will find schools of active fish located out in the middle of the large bays. When I locate these schools I will mark a waypoint on my GPS. With the active schools pinpointed I then use "GOTO" on my fishfinder to troll close to these waypoints. I have literally counted down the feet to one of these waypoints and consistently caught fish within 100 feet of the waypoint almost on every pass. I have also discovered that these marked waypoints will hold fish for weeks. Yesterday I returned to a previous waypoint and started trolling about 1/10 of a mile from the waypoint. I counted down the feet as we approached the waypoint and we hooked doubles when we were within 10 feet of the previously marked waypoint (quite an accomplishment considering we were averaging a bite about every 20-30 minutes before then). There is something that is keeping those fish in those areas. After trolling through the area and hooking a fish or two I will usually end up 3 to 4 blocks away from the waypoint, and I will just follow the GPS to return to the same exact area and usually catch more fish really close to the waypoint. Without a GPS it would be essentially impossible to fish the precise area because there are no nearby landmarks to use as an aid to precisely mark these locations. I am using my GPS for locations to troll much in the same way you use yours (and I do the same) to know where to vertical jig at Bear Lake and Flaming Gorge.
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Good report Kent.
I was up here again yesterday afternoon through the evening and did well on both the Scotty or leadcore while pulling a 2way and 1/2 a crawler. The catch was about 50/50 as far as Bow's or Cuts caught. Lost track of the catch count at a dozen but I suppose we tossed back 20 or so.
Btw Everyone, I posted a request for info about GPS units on the off topic board. Sure could use some good advice. HELP!!
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[#804000]Ya see he started to a gps, because his X that he used to mark the spot would either sink, blow away, or dissolve in the water. [/#804000]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]I should of known. I hope you boys put a X on the water where you were nailing those nice smallies.[/size][/black][/font]
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