WHAT IS UP WITH STRAWBERRY?
Fished it with my buddy saturday with no satisfaction save, a great day and good company.
caught one cutt. it looked like it had been caught and released ten times, had a bad eye, and no fight.
saw chubs every where we fished in large numbers.....and fat like they were in the 80's.
i'm wondering if the DWR's plan of dealing with the chubs has been productive. should the regs on cutts be changed. should other predatory fish be introduced. SHOUL I CALL IN A AIR STRIKE!!
THOUGHTS?????
Welcome to BFT and thanks for posting. Interesting that there have been several reports of large number of chubs at Strawberry this year; however, I fished it on Friday (Renegade area) and didn't see a single chub.
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The chubs are spawning along the shore now, and may be seen more in one area then others..
They are what feeds the bigger trout and are not hurting the lake..If you like to catch big fish then the chubs are good but if all you like to catch is planters they are bad.. Myself I like to catch the bigger fish..
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[cool][#0000ff]Chubs are spawning now. They mass up in small areas and are highly visible. After the spawn they will disappear. Still a few to be caught by anglers but the smart ones hide from the big cutts. The larger cutts will eat chubs over 10 inches long.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The slot program and aggressive plantings of cutts and larger bows HAS made a difference in the minnow population at Strawberry. The redside shiners have almost disappeared and you don't see very many small chubs. The bigger ones spawn every year but a high percentage of the young chubs get eaten before growing larger. DWR does not find many small ones anymore.[/#0000ff]
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I feel the same way regarding the chubs. Eventually they will make excellent forage for the cuts and bows. If there is consistent forage for the cutthroats they have the potential of becoming massive!
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I have had several 50 fish days and several 25 fish days all cutthroats. They are eating small chubs, Shiners and crayfish and also other trout. To me, the Chubs seem in check, and I don't often bait fish, so seldom do I get them, once in a while they will take a jig. (nothing wrong with baitfishing, I'm to impatient.)
I was not convinced at first, but when they up the slot limit, it all came together. Some where between 16 and 20 inches they change over to focusing on larger prey.
It took time to change the mentality of the Stawberry fisherman--always going for a full limit, keeping as many as you can. Very few catch and release. Have to go home with meat. But there has been a very good change in attitude. That really helps.
I keep one or two now and then, depending on the size, usually under the slot, and the time of year, they taste better early and later.
From me, kudos to F&G. When its slow, due to the bite, weather or whatever, I can see the point of too many chubs, they take up biomass, but hopefully there is another side to that coin.
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So question for you old timers? When they poisned the lake and got ride of all the fish. When they put the fish back in did they plant chubs too. Or did some of the chubs servive the poisnen? I would think they could servive without the chubs. Any way i was just wondering if you folks could provide some insight on the subject. Thanks in advance
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Lots of fish survived.. And yes the trout could make it with out the chub BUT just not as many bigger trout..Why cause of the slot and the chubs as food, the C&R works for all fish, if you want bigger and more fish that is..
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Thanks bass rod, so what your saying is the chubs are the major food source for the laeger fish. That makes sence
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The roetone treatment is only good for about the top 35 feet of the water column. The treatment had no effect on the tributaries, so all kinds of fish survived. However, the treatment was highly effective and allowed the resevoir to get a "fresh" start. The chubs have been controlled better than they were before. I sure.am glad thy are putting more rainbows in there. In three years or so there are going to be some awesome bows again.
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Actually, the DWR treated the tributaries too. And it was a few years before the first chub showed up again. It was very, very successful considering the obstacles.The DWR did a heck-of-a-job with that treatment. But in a body of water that size, and that deep, it is pretty much impossible to kill everything.
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Me and a buddy decided to try Soldier Creek side for a change. Wow! 38 fish and only two cutthroat. That is amazing. Lots of little planter rainbows and a a couple of 2 year old fatties. We did not catch a single chub. I have seen them stack up there by the boat ramp at soldier creek before. Like TubeDude said, they can be thick if you find where they are schooled up.
Anyway, kudos to the stocking of bigger rainbows but where are the cutthroats! I was shocked that we only caught two. I used to catch alot of cuts on the soldier creek side. Where are they hiding?
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the slot limit is working, although when it was first started I thought 24 + inch cutts would be common to catch. wish they would grow bigger faster. planting the larger rainbows is making the bow fishing at the berry good again and by the next year or so we should be catching good sized bows regularly.
also the slot limit has worked so good at strawberry it has also been applied to other bodies of water including scofield res. along with adding tigers in the mix. my first tiger was a 24 inch from scofield kind of spoiled me. hopefully in the next few years scofield will make a great place to catch large cutts and tigers regularly.
chubs are great bait fish if there are plenty of large fish to keep them in check. catch and release I have released many fish over the slot over the years. my theory is if it,s not the biggest trout I have ever cough, then it.s not going on the wall. and if I release it then maybe some day it will grow big enough to be considered a trophy.
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I think there are a lot more big fish in there than most think. The big fish are harder to catch. I have been up there when condition are right and the fish finder shows mostly big marks and lots of them. So I started vertical jig and caught 4-1/2 lb kok 8 lb cutt and a 7-1/2 lb cut in a span of 15 min. Problem was I was taking the top off the waves over the bow ( some waves four to five feet top to bottom) and my mother-in-law was getting sea sick so I took her in and my shift cable broke at the dock. Ended that trip right in a hot bite. I couldn't believe how may big marks I saw. Yea, I think there are a lot of bign's up there.
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