Fishing Forum

My family and I needed to get out of the house on Saturday, so we kept it relatively close and went to Strawberry Reservoir. We've been to Strawberry quite a bit together and typically fish the same old spots all the time. This week, we planned on exploring a different part of the lake that neither of us had seen before.

From looking at the maps, I knew that a road to the narrows existed, but had no idea what kind of condition it would be in or if it was even publicly accessible. It was a relief to see that it wasn't gated and we proceeded to give the Rodeo a nice workout.

Most of the road is fine, but putting it into 4Low was necessary in a few spots along the way. I'm pleased to say that the Rodeo handled it very well, being the toughest road I've taken it on so far. After mashing our way to the edge of the canyon, we were rewarded with a pretty good view.

















We had a pretty mean hike in front of us, for kids at least. Considering the wind coming from the west, I chose the far corner at the mouth of a little bay as our fishing spot. Shown bottom-center of the photo below:



There were no real trails to follow and the bushes got pretty thick, so it ended up being quite the task to haul my daughter and a bunch of gear the whole way. Luckily, my boy James has turned into a real trooper and only needed to be helped in a few spots.

The hike also provided us with a lot of eye candy, which helped offset the scratches we were getting on our legs.











Finally arriving to our chosen spot, it was a relief to see that erosion had provided us with a mushroom shaped umbrella for shade.



There were schools of chub swimming around, just off the rocks, mostly in the 8-12 inch range and I hooked a couple of those before deciding to ignore them. At one point, I did spot a nice school of what looked like shiners, which I haven't seen at the berry for a few years.

Using a shiner, I was able to land my only trout of the day, a 23 inch cutthroat. It was amusing to catch this one because it took my minnow from under the rock I was standing on. Then it gave me a real fight, making several strong runs. It's nice to have a worthy battle from a berry cutt, which have a reputation of being lazy fighters.



Sonia, my wife, had more action than I did, but got broken off every time unfortunately. She still enjoyed the thrill of fighting some nice fish. We saw one of them and it was pretty big. Too bad.

She still had a good time though. The kids were surprisingly good, even without a lot of space to run around.



My slot buster ended up being the only fish brought to hand all day, but I was happy with that and it was a really neat experience to see a different side of Strawberry and take a fun drive through the mountains.



Happy Fishing, Humans.


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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#500000][size 3]Wow, I really enjoyed your pics. I don't think I've ever even seen pictures of the narrows like that, and it looks very scenic from up there. Glad the trip worked out for you, and thanks for those great pics![/size][/#500000][/font]
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Yeah! WOW! Again.......

What a beautiful little trip. I'm so jealous of those whose families join them in the outdoors. I swear I tried, but I somehow raised a bunch of couch potato-types.

The pics are beautiful; your wife is pretty, the scenery gorgeous, your kids are cute and happy, and the fiish looks great..

We all are, but YOU are a blessed man.
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Well thanks! It was fun to get out and the hike was a little more than what we'd anticipated, but a good experience for all of us.

Someone just mentioned this on another forum, but does anybody know if that land is okay to access?

I was told that they think it's Indian land. I drove right through an open gate and there was only one sign that stated "Property Line", posted by the forest service, but certainly didn't see anything about "trespassing".

I would hate to have inadvertently trespassed on sovereign land. Definitely isn't properly posted, if so.
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Great Post! I hit the soldier creek side on friday night and theres was tons of chubs cruising the shoreline as well; talked to my friend on chicken creek and same thing. I wonder if they are spawning right now or something. Regardless, that is a lot of chubs from different areas on the lake. I usually can avoid them with going to bigger patterns but i caught three of them on wooly buggers. The ones I caught were big 12-14", but still fight good(left them on shore). I did manage three cutthroats from 19-22" and a 12" rainbow, fishing from a tube in the evening. Lets hope that strawberry is finally coming around!
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As I recall from looking on a map, the land both on the north and south side of the reservoir through the narrows is tribal land for almost the full length of the narrows.

I am not sure what the tribe would do if they caught you in there (however, I have heard about some bad stories of people being caught on tribal land in Duchesne county) & I am not sure if they even patrol it?

Beautiful photos of the area, family & fish!
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The land is private (Tribal Land), however, I don't think too many people use it to access fishing grounds. Come August it will be posted, generally the gate is closed as well. The area used to host some decent deer hunting, but now gets tons of pressure. If you want to see a lot of does and fawns a good drive. Ps. never take that road when it is wet. Some of the nastiest mud in the state.

In a word: DAMN she's fine.

Nice report, thanks.
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Fantastic Pictures.!!!! The view alone was worth the trip. Glad you managed to get one in hand. Again beautiful pictures. Thanks for sharing them.
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