01-04-2008, 07:37 PM
Thought I'd go ahead and give reports of my last 2 adventures at Strawberry this week.
Headed up New Year's day w/ 2 adults and 5 kids. We got up at the marina at 9am and I was amazed at how cold it was up there. A guy at the marina told us his guage read -25 below. We headed west past the tent city and set-up shop about 400 yards away from the marina. The kids were too cold to fish and They ended up just playing around while 3 of us fished as hard as we could. After 4 hours we caught 6 fish w/ 2 over the slot.
Yesterday with the kids back at school, it was time to get serious. My nephew and I took up a 4 wheeler and drove it around to the Bryant's Fork side and fished in 20 feet of water all day. The ice was extremely thick (6 -10 inches) and not an ounce of slush. The weather was absolutely beautiful and extremely comfortable. We fished from 10:30 (would have been a lot earlier but we spent an hour helping some tourists dig their snow machines outta the waist-deep snow) until dark. The fishing was smoking-hot from 11 until 1 and then it dropped off considerably. We kept a tally of the days catch and I caught 18 while my nephew caught 21. I would guess 3 were over the slot and very hefty. I took pictures but have come to the conclusion that they look like guppies after seeing Hookjaw's pig and will not post them....LOL.
Some thought's on fishing tactics since there is quite a discussion on Hookjaw's latest report.....
Fishing w/ second pole is almost too much of hassle! I had a second pole permit while my nephew didn't and he caught more than me. After 1pm the strikes were very tentative and almost imperceptible while the strikes from 11 - 1pm were fiesty and forceful. Sometimes just having 1 pole to concentrate on is better than bouncing between 2 poles.
Also, I took Tube Dudes comments about leaving fish on the ice (or taking the fish out of the ice) very seriously but found it almost impossible to unhook the fish without pulling it out of the water. If the fish was in the water it would never settle down enough for me to properly get the hook out. I found that once the fish was out of the hole, it calmed down considerably enough for me to delicately remove the deeply-set jigs. It's kind of a catch-22 isn't it???? At least the weather was warm enough to allow me to wet my hands properly!
Anyway, there you go!!! Thanks to all have given their reports on what's going on at Strawberry. There are alot of snowmachines cruising the areas around the marina and even saw some by us. There was little snow on top of the ice and I wouldn't hesitate taking a 4wheeler out there....the problem is getting it down to the ice. We had to walk on snowmachine tracks to keep from falling up to our waist in snow.
Gaeter
[signature]
Headed up New Year's day w/ 2 adults and 5 kids. We got up at the marina at 9am and I was amazed at how cold it was up there. A guy at the marina told us his guage read -25 below. We headed west past the tent city and set-up shop about 400 yards away from the marina. The kids were too cold to fish and They ended up just playing around while 3 of us fished as hard as we could. After 4 hours we caught 6 fish w/ 2 over the slot.
Yesterday with the kids back at school, it was time to get serious. My nephew and I took up a 4 wheeler and drove it around to the Bryant's Fork side and fished in 20 feet of water all day. The ice was extremely thick (6 -10 inches) and not an ounce of slush. The weather was absolutely beautiful and extremely comfortable. We fished from 10:30 (would have been a lot earlier but we spent an hour helping some tourists dig their snow machines outta the waist-deep snow) until dark. The fishing was smoking-hot from 11 until 1 and then it dropped off considerably. We kept a tally of the days catch and I caught 18 while my nephew caught 21. I would guess 3 were over the slot and very hefty. I took pictures but have come to the conclusion that they look like guppies after seeing Hookjaw's pig and will not post them....LOL.
Some thought's on fishing tactics since there is quite a discussion on Hookjaw's latest report.....
Fishing w/ second pole is almost too much of hassle! I had a second pole permit while my nephew didn't and he caught more than me. After 1pm the strikes were very tentative and almost imperceptible while the strikes from 11 - 1pm were fiesty and forceful. Sometimes just having 1 pole to concentrate on is better than bouncing between 2 poles.
Also, I took Tube Dudes comments about leaving fish on the ice (or taking the fish out of the ice) very seriously but found it almost impossible to unhook the fish without pulling it out of the water. If the fish was in the water it would never settle down enough for me to properly get the hook out. I found that once the fish was out of the hole, it calmed down considerably enough for me to delicately remove the deeply-set jigs. It's kind of a catch-22 isn't it???? At least the weather was warm enough to allow me to wet my hands properly!
Anyway, there you go!!! Thanks to all have given their reports on what's going on at Strawberry. There are alot of snowmachines cruising the areas around the marina and even saw some by us. There was little snow on top of the ice and I wouldn't hesitate taking a 4wheeler out there....the problem is getting it down to the ice. We had to walk on snowmachine tracks to keep from falling up to our waist in snow.
Gaeter
[signature]
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