I thought to myself yesterday (after consulting my fishing journal) that the weekend storm should make for good fishing, and after reading MGB's post about water temp 56 degrees decided to hit it. A friend and I started at very first light and fished until almost noon and boated over 70 fat cuts and missed or long line released another 30 or so. As normal this time of year the fish have moved to the shallower areas. We fished the south end and caught 36 before 9:30 using pointer minnows in 13 feet or less and a fast retrieve. Around 9:30 it slowed for pointers and we switched to 4" white tubes and used a cast and fast retrieve technique in 10 or less over the weeds and couldn't keep the fish away. Between 10 and 11 was some of the fastest fishing I have ever witnessed at up there, as we would go 4 or 5 consecutive casts with fish hitting or being caught. We had several doubles during that time. Also, twice as I skipped the jig across the water after casting to avoid a weed I had a cut come clear of the water after the jig, similar to a fish savaging a dry fly. Fish averaged 20" at least, and we managed a few over the slot. They are extremely healthy and fought better than average cuts. We have got two months of top notch soft water in front of us, if today was any indication this fall will be epic.
BTW, water temp 55.0 at dawn, 56.8 by noon. No bloom, tall weeds, lots of minnows being chased by hungry cuts. Sorry for the poor quality pic, I left the good camera on the counter and had to use the camera phone for this pretty 22"er.
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Very nice! Sounds like your day was fabulous! I'll bet this next cool front will knock a few more degrees out of the water as well. Thanks for the report.
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Are you tipping those jigs?
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Today we didn't have to, I do like to sweeten them a little if they are a little hesitant. They were just swarming above the weed beds, we'd just creep along with the electric trolling motor watching for a ripple then cast onto the rising fish, also saw a bunch of cruisers and would cast to them and hook up. What a blast!
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Right on !! Thanks for the report . I had good success Labor day weekend in the shallows and I didn't try until afternoon . Most of the time I fished my plastics weightless too over the weedbeds . I had one cutt eat my senko 3 times while I watched and I still couldn't get him hooked up . Just had to change the hook set up and I was on them from then on . Now I wish I had some money to go fish anymore . Maybe one more trip this year and I'll be done .
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awesome report. looks like next weekend is the one for me.
hit it with the toon and jigs.
thanks for sharing the info. [cool]
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I was wondering how you would do under those conditions, just as I suspected you kicked some b**. This is the time of year when you can catch some hogs, wish I was better set up to do so. Piscispursuit has it down watch for his reports he will be posting some real big fish.
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22 inch????????? Come on. It looks like a 12 incher!!!!!!!!!!!!! You must be holding it out to make it look bigger.
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Do you think I can control my boat with a trolling motor rather than an electric? My sons have been dying to try the casting and jigging, rather than the usual downrigging and leaded line. Thanks for any info, going to try this weekend.
so would now be a good time to hit the berry with the flyrod??? any suggestions and where exactly is the south end?? thanks
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I've heard this isn't the first time your ability to judge size is questionable! Give me a call sometime during next couple of days, PM if you lost my cell number (or ask Jared).
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It's tough to be real precise without an electric, but if the conditions are calm you should have no problem. Ajenson83 - wish I could answer your question, but I'm not the one to ask about flyfishing, I'd try the fly board.
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About 5:00pm Last Sunday I watched a couple flyfisherman in pontoon boats catch a few tossing their flies close to the shore line. They caught 3 a piece in the short period of time I watched them.
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[cool][#0000ff]This is THE time for flyrodding Da Berry. Use full floating lines early, with buggers in blacks, browns, purple, white or chartreuse. One of my favorites has always been one with a green body, ginger hackle and a dark brown marabou tail. If it looks anything like a minnow or a crawdad it will get bit.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Once the sun hits the water, the fish sometimes move to deeper weed beds and you have to go to a sinker. You can get by with sink tip in some spots but at least a medium full sink is better for getting the fly down faster. Use a high D for deeper stuff.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Almost anywhere around the shoreline that has flats and weeds is good for this kind of fishing, but the fish also cruise right next to the banks along steeper shorelines.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The plastic tubes work well, but don't overlook both twister grubs and shad bodied plastics (swim baits) too. You can use Sharpie markers to add dark backs, red lines, spots or other fancy enhancements to imitate redside shiners or other forage species. Use 1/16 oz. heads on 2/0 hooks to fish slow and shallow. Go to 1/8 oz. heads for fishing deeper. A medium fast steady retrieve works better than jigging it a lot.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]And, for the marabou jig fanciers (me included), there is no better time to wet some feathers. Use the same colors as recommended for the flies. If you tie your own, add some flashabou or Krystal Flash to your wrap jobs for added attraction. Also, a drop or two of attractant stays in the jigs longer than it does on plastic. Crawdad, nightcrawler and anchovy are all good "flavor enhancers". You usually don't need to add crawler or minnow, but if the action is slow, it can help.[/#0000ff]
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So what minnows are they chasing and what colors/sizes are they? Any pics?
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I'm too busy fishing to take pics. They are 4-5" minnows of some kind and are 20-30 yards away most of the time so I can't make a species identification. I just know if you cast anywhere in the vicinity of where one came out of the water you'll have a fish on. Last year several times we brought a fish up to the boat and it would puke out a chub or shiner. So it's a good bet that's what they are chasing now.
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[#0000ff]Here are two pics...one of redside shiners and the other of chubs. Both are top prey items in Strawberry and either is readily munched when available. Both are on the decline in numbers as the cutts continue to do the job they were "hired" to do...eat the chubs and shiners.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Best bait sizes, for numbers of fish, are 3" to 5". However, if you wanna have a shot at some of the BIG cutts, you can soak a chub up to 10". Many of the larger cutts taken up there have chubs that size in their gut and some of those megacutts prefer their groceries in the large economy size.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The good news is that when throwing artificials...feathers, plastic or hardbaits...you do not have to "match the hatch" exactly. When they are ON they will smack anything that is NN...near 'nuff. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]That being said, there are times when it pays to get as close as you can to properly representing the main food items. Streamers and buggers in the appropriate length and of the right colors will sometimes get bit better than "Mickey Finns". Use dark (Olive or brown) overwings of dyed 
dle hackle or hair, with gold tinsel bodies, with maybe a wisp of orange or dark red at the throat and/or the tail.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Hardbaits are easy. Hock the wife and kids, take out a second mortgage and buy some pointer lures in the appropriate colors. With their action you can't miss. You might wanna take along a wetsuit though, in case you snag up and wanna retrieve one of those pricey lures.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]White is almost always a good choice in plastics. Even though the minnows don't look white from the side, they do from underneath. That's probably why white is the most universal color for almost any species. There are some gold sparkle plastics available and they work well as minnow imitators too. I like to put a brown or dark green back on these with a permanent marker or with plastic dye. Lateral lines are good too. Many fish are triggered by lines.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There are many good colors in plastics. Besides the whites the cutts and bows both hit crawdad colors...greens, browns and even purples. How you fish them is just as important as the color. Swim the jig or fly if you are trying to imitate minnows. Lift and drop if you are simulating 'dads. Sometimes it just doesn't matter and the fish will intercept your lure on the fall...a "pop on the drop". That is why it is important to maintain "touch" with your lures at all times. Be ready for the strike that others might miss. [/#0000ff]
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Thanks TD! That's exactly the information I'm looking for! You da man...
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