Fishing Forum

[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 2][#002850]I’ve been fishing the Berry for a little over a year now and have had a ball down there. So what is just around the corner has really peaked my interest ... “ice off at Strawberry”. Now, I know that there have been [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=400658#400658"]a few posts[/url] lately on this topic but I would like to see even more info so that I can get ready to give it a good go this year.

In an effort to plan and be ready, here are some questions that I keep wondering about:

When does it begin?
How long does it last?
What kind of lures have worked the best?
What tactics and techniques work best?
Should I bring my boat or just walk the banks?
Where on the lake is a good place to consider trying?
How fast is the fishing when ice off is in it’s prime?
Could I take some kids down and pretty much guarantee them a good time catching?

etc., etc., etc..

If you would rather not spill the beans here in public, I’d love to get a PM from you with any info you wouldn’t mind sharing. I promise to not advertise it if you prefer me to keep it on the QT.

Thanks in advance ... I’m pretty excited about giving ice off a try this year.[/#002850][/size][/font]
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Ice off at the berry is the best time 5 of the 6 rainbows that i have mounted are from ice off at the berry the other one was caught ice fishing the berry i have never got skunked in the boat at the berry i would feel confident that you could take the kids and slay the cutts use tube jigs or rapalas if you need more info i can PM you but alot of what i know about the berry has been years and years of fishing it so i would rather do it in a pm the last few years we have got atleast one rainbow over 4 pounds every trip and we have even caught small mouth bass at the berry
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 2][#002850]Thanks fshslyer36. I'm not bent on catching rainbows ... just lots of anything. But I am begining to wonder now, is ice off mainly a rainbow thing then? Or, can you get a cut occationaly too during ice off?
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CUTTS,CUTTS,and more CUTTS with a few "bonus" rainbows thrown in. The fish are very aggressive and will hit most tubes, lures, and flies. I am a flyfisher by heart but at ice off I always carry my spin rod with a rapala on it. The fish will cruse really shallow and I usually cast and strip from my toon from shallow to deep. I throw big buggers in 2/0 to 4/0. I think that if you take kids fishing from the bank that you would catch fish using bait. If your not catching fish cast closer to the bank. On the other side of the scale I take my spin pole for when crossing deep water and throw the rapalas at that time and do catch fish. I dont use a boat but I'm sure that you could catch fish trolling and what not.
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Old COOT,

We still need to do the berry trip that we didn't get to do last month! I have fished the berry ice off a few times and have done pretty well although I cannot claim any 4+ pound rainbows. I would bet by the 20-23th or so of April that the SC side will be open and shortly thereafter the main lake. With finals, I will only be free on the 23rd and maybe the 28th of April before I have to move to Cali for the summer. We should hit it one of those days.
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I wish I had some tips for you but I have never fished the berry at ice off. I have done well with kastmasters on other lakes though. I plan on doing it this year. My question is this, I have been up there a little this winter and the snow is SOOO deep. I kind of think that ice off may be a little difficult from shore this year becuase I dont think the snow will be gone by the time the ice starts pulling away. Your thoughts?
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The Cutts are everywhere its hard to keep them off the hook on ice off all the fish are very agressive as far as the bows we fish for them in 2'-8' feet of water and most of the time the cutts are deeper if you are fishing from shore go to haws point if you are in a boat just drift fish tubes or bait and you should have a good day
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