Thanks everyone for letting me waste the gas to find out Strawberry has shut down, Had to find out for myself though, the bugs were like carpet on the water surface. We trolled, jigged and fished bait. My dad had one fish rip a rapalla of his line and we had one cut follow the jig to the boat but no hit. we fished the Renegade/Meadows area mainly over and around the inlet to the narrows. didn't see many bringing in fish. Everyone else having the same luck or do I just SUCK as a fisherman this year!
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Sorry man, Strawberry dies in july (I thought we sent you the memo). If you you're looking for kokes they should liven up here soon.
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Actually, according to all my logs and journals over the last 6 years...July is the very best fishing at Strawberry. Save Renegade for early spring and late fall fishing. This is a screwed up year, so everything is late and the lake is fishing a month late. It's fishing right now like it normally does early June. Look for fish around 25 feet deep. Leave the trolling stuff home. Jigging is where it's at right now. Also, casting tubes with a slow retrieve on the bottom will yield fish when the jigging is slow. When you feel a tap, open the bail a bit or let some line out and let the bait go back where it was...wait for the tap and set the hook. I'm hoping to be up there this Saturday. I would have been there today except that I was exhausted from another trip I just got back from!
Also, I never have much luck with crank baits, such as Rapalas, although some people do. Are you tipping your jigs?...with something other than a worm?
July has been my most productive month each year at the Berry for the last 6 years. I've had 80+ fish days (myself!) during July, and I'm not that good of a fisherman. There are others on this board that really kick it at that lake.
I just heard from a workmate that trolled all day on Saturday without a bite for the 2nd weekend in a row! I keep telling them to start jigging, and I even showed them how once...but I guess they would rather troll and not catch fish than jig and catch fish. You do have to have a good anchor to jig. It's always windy. I'm just rambling now sorry...
Randy
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I'm surprised to see some of these reports, although i didn't fish this weekend. We fished the weekend before and caught 14 trolling. Caught 8 on rapalas and 6 on pop gear with a worm.
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We were there monday, it was quite good for us. First pole in the water hooked up before I could get the 2nd pole in the water. It continued like that for about an hour... fun and hectic. Around 8:30 it slowed down as the sun came up, so we trolled into some different areas. Around the narrows we got into them again.
Not as hot as last year, but it was a very good day for us. We took home 10 large rainbows, releasing the rest.
All of the poles got action, the best pole was running a rainbow rapala chasing a RMT fire and ice.
Fairly disappointed though we couldnt get into any kokes... we usually do quite well on them.
-DallanC
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Thanks for the tips and advice, isn't it interesting some can catch them consistantly and others not, I don't get to spend alot of time patterning lakes and the fish so it is often hit and miss for us. I respect those who get to put in the hours and time to gain the knowlege to consistantly catch fish, My father loves to troll so thats how we chose to fish, In his day on the berry we would always catch alot of fish, we always trolled monofilalment line and an array of flatfish, I tried to tell him the lake has changed, fishing for trophy cuts and the limited amount of rainbows in the lake it will never fish the same, I love to jig but he doesn't feel it is affective. this was his trip, they are numbered now because of his age, so regardless of our fishing success it was a beautiful day on the berry. It brought back many great memories, On another day I will concentrate more on the fishing instead of the time spent with my father and son. Just a note though, the meadows were covered in mig hatches, there were spots they were so thick you could barely see water between them. I look forward to another day!
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Also dont forget the SC side is over 200ft deep in places, its colder than the berry side and usually fishes different. There is a learning curve for each side for sure.
I am a huge proponent of scents on lures and believe it makes a huge difference.
-DallanC
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Sorry to hear you had a tough time and contradict your report, I trolled from my boat with two of my kids Friday and Saturday each morning from about 7 am until 11:30 or noon. Both days we boated better than 50 fish and lost another 15 or so while reeling them in. The fish have gone a little deeper, we trolled RMT flashers and squids hanging behind downriggers at around 25 feet deep, caught about 2/3 rainbows (a couple of 4 lbers), 1/3 cuts and 2 Kokanee. We fished primarily the Soldier Cr side and the Narrows. I'm headed up again Friday.
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July has always fished better for me than the spring time at strawberry. Float tube flip'n tube jigs or drifting in the middle dropping tubers tipped with a worm. I never keep any fish this time of year because they always seem to be really soft and full of moss. Better luck next time.
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