I am fairly new to fishing Strawberry. Last October I surface trolled with a flatfish (and white wooly buggers on the flyrod) and had an incredible day. This was my first time ever fishing there. I know there was probably no rhyme or reason to our method, it was just a good day for fishing.
I will be heading up on Friday and wondering if the fish are up near the surface enough to surface troll since I have no downrigger. Or if they are a little deeper, maybe 20 ft, can I add a weight to my line to troll?
Maybe I am way off and should try another method. Any suggestions and if so, locations to try?
[signature]
First off...Welcome!!
I am sure that many others will chime in here, but Vertical Jigging has worked well for a ton of people up there this year. I think the fish will be deeper and on the bottom unless you find a few in the fingers that happen to be shallow.
Good Luck, and Like I said...others that know more about this lake are bound to chip in with their .02$,
Shawn M
[signature]
With this storm and possible snow up there Friday, it could be really great or really bad. I would look deep myself as storms seem to have that effect.
Take a few minutes and try your trolling, if that doesn't work, try the jigging.
Strawberry has been really on and off this year I think, but I am sure you will get into some.
[signature]
Thanks for the Welcome. Yes, I need to learn the jigging technique. From what I have been reading it is deadly. Would the Alge bloom effect this, or is the bloom typically on the surface?
[signature]
Flygodess, I bring a spinning rod for my boy to use, but I usually stick to my flyrod ( I even Troll with it) . The jigging techinque people speak of with the pearl plastic tube jigs, can this be done flyfishing? It seams like a crystal wooly bugger would be the fly to match this technique. Is this true? Or is there another fly that mimics this. Maybe I could use a tube jib on the end of my flyrod.
[signature]
Chironoimds would be the drop down and bounce. Nymphs too. I have heard people using buggers..I have never tried, but sounds like you got that one.
As far as Chironomids, Black and red Zebra midges in a #12 to #16. As far as trolling, Black woolly or whatever leech pattern and I have been doing very well with White Bunny Streamer. I don't really troll it but strip but I do have to strip fast, so trolling might be the ticket.
[signature]
There's other ways to achieve depth w/o down riggers. DRs give you accuracy and repeatable depth targetting, but you can get depth with lead-core line, weights, or even planer type rigs like a dipsy diver.
You can try sinking line on a fly rod, and TD recently shared some ideas on[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/forum/Utah_Fishing_Forum_C55/Utah_Fishing_General_F58/gforum.cgi?post=616689;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;page=unread#unread"] in-line spinners and spoons ahead of a fly[/url]. Some nice fly patterns too. I know in using pop gear, it does drag and help pull down whatever lure is trailing it.
I got some longer trolling rods(ugly stix), and level-line reels for dragging long lines. Cabelas has some good combos. Lead line comes colored so you can tell how far out you are (and down) by colors. Or you can get a reel with a line-counter.
Nothing wrong with just dragging a fly. You can get a lot of surface activity in fall as the water's cool, but you might get into bigger ones if you can drop down deeper. Might try twitching your rod or line as you drag. I often hold a pole, and jerk it forward, then let it drop back. Change up the action....pattern of threes.
Good luck, let us know how you do.
Yes the fish are shallow, we have been surfacing trolling for last couple of weeks and doing very well. Last week me and my Dad got 33 in two days. Mostly slot fish, but did manage to get about 8 Rainbows for dinner. We tried fishing deeper, but all were caught very shallow trolling.
[signature]
I surface trolled a couple weeks ago and did well.
But it was warm and no wind....
[signature]
What section were you at? I have read of thick algae bloom and am wondering if that would effect the surface trolling. Were you seeing this at all, and did you go to a section of the lake that had less?
[signature]
Thanks for the info. I checked out TD's post, definately something worth trying. It soundls like the easiest fix to troll a bit deeper is to ad some weight to the line. From the looks of the later replies though it sounds like we will be getting into them shallow tomorrow.
[signature]
I have also heard fishing terrestrials in the shallows has been very successful. With the colder weather that will slow down.
[signature]
does anyone know if fishing from shore will be good in the next couple days?
[signature]
hey if you see two tall guys in a rental 14 foot boat feel free to say hi. i will be in all black with a lowes hat on. good luck tomorrow and lets hope the weather will be nice and maybe we can catch some fish [
]
[signature]