Fishing Forum

[font "Comic Sans MS"][#0000ff][size 4]My friend Mike Harbison and I fished the Berry today. I have always loved fishing the south end of the lake in the late fall. And today made me love it even more.

The drive to the lake from the Ogden area was clear roads all the way until the turn off from 40. Then the roads were snow packed and ice and full of ruts. But gentle careful driving in four wheel drive did the trick just fine. The parking lot and ramp at the Strawberry Bay Marina were dry and completely void of snow and ice. However, there are no docks at the marina so you have to enter and exit your boat from the bank.

No fog at all this morning. We buzzed over to the Renegade area, anchored up, and started fishing. We only caught about five fish in the first hour there. A few hundred yards away from us was Kentofnsl and his gang. They proceeded to show us how to catch lots of fish fast.[/size][/#0000ff][/font]
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I didn’t want to endure any more humiliation so we left to see if we could do better elsewhere. Our next stop was east around a point where we caught another 3-4 fish but again not the lure busting action we were hoping for. So, off again to another location. This time we went up into the center of Horse Creek … BINGO!

Because I figured that we would be catching lots of fish today, I brought lots of cut bait (chub) so that we wouldn’t run out … three times more than usual. That was a good choice because we STILL ran out of bait. We caught 52 fish today … most of them out of Horse Creek in about 23 feet of water. For about an hour around 11:00 o’clock, we were catching fish as fast as we could bait and drop. That was the fastest fishing I have ever experienced in my life! I loved it. The bite seemed to turn off at about 1:00 … right about when we were running out of bait.

We never caught a single cutthroat over 22 inches. But we did bring home two very nice big healthy rainbows.

Those fish sure were putting on the feed bag today. One big cut took mike’s lure and then went right over and took my lure … two lures in it’s mouth! We both took credit for the catch.

Another fish Mike caught took Mikes lure a second time immediately after being released from an initial hookup!

There was one time when I had one fish on and two others followed it up trying to take the lure out of my fish’s mouth. Crazy competition.

The lure of choice was a 2.5 inch pearl white with glitter tube jig with a 3/8 oz. lead head tipped with chub. We did catch about five fish on crank bait but tube jigs were definately the main attraction.

We would fish the tubes about 2 inches off the bottom. It was important to not try to set the hook at the first nibble. We could get more hookups if, after the first nibble, we dropped the rod tip just a little, counted 2 seconds then set the hook.

I tried the trick of using WD-40 on my 10 lb. braided line to keep if from icing up. That worked great. Mike didn’t and he was fighting icing up all morning.[/size][/#0000ff][/font]
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I, on the other hand was casting at will as if it were summer. I love that trick.

Now for the pitching of pennies; because I figured that we would lose track counting, I brought a handful of pennies and each time we caught a fish, we would put one of the pennies in a dish. That worked great. We never had to remember our count but still had an accurate count when the day was over simply by counting the pennies in the dish.

I sure wish I had the time and money to make it back up there again this week. Man, the weather this week is supposed to be fantastic and the bite is really on.
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#0000ff][size 4]--- Coot ---
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Great Report Old Coot, I love the penny idea, maybe it should be everyone puts a dollar in there own jar and the one with the most takes all!

That lake is amazing! but can be frustrating, you really have to be persistant and move till you find the fish, to many times I have seen guys plant it in one spot and wait for the fish to come to them and end up having a rotten day on the berry, But once you do find them, it can get pretty crazy.

I will be there on Tuesday, suppose to be in the upper 50's in the valley, That is just to tempting not to go and get another trip in.

You gotta love those chunky bows as a bonus. They sure taste pretty good right of the grill. Makes my mouth water thinking about it.

Do you think its still possible to launch at renegade, we'll be taking up a 14' aluminum and I really don't want to venture from the main marina to the meadows.
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[quote KC5]

Do you think its still possible to launch at renegade, we'll be taking up a 14' aluminum and I really don't want to venture from the main marina to the meadows.

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Several boats launched from Renegade today. Be prepared for a long drive on snow-packed roads.
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Did you notice any boats fishing the bay west of the Marina? I haven't fished it all year but it always looks good, that way we don't have to head all the way to renegade in the little boat.
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[quote KC5]Did you notice any boats fishing the bay west of the Marina? I haven't fished it all year but it always looks good, that way we don't have to head all the way to renegade in the little boat.[/quote]

KC, this time of year I have found the smaller narrower longer bays to be the better fishing as oposed to the bigger wider bays. But that's just me.
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Wow, great fishing! Good job, finding where they were stacked up and fighting each other for a chance at your bait. That's the best!
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Coot,

There's a good reason to not strike at the first hit. I've watched those cutts on my fish tv come up behind the jig, grab it by the tail & just shake he-- out of it, then swim around and grab it head first. Seen it time & again & I'll bet other underwater tv users have too.
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That's a great report. Thanks.. Another tip that has worked for me is to put out a 2nd rod, I use a Ice rod, and fished it right under the boat. It is just as fun as through the ice with the short rod. Then, with the main rod, cast and do a slow lift and fall retrieve. If you do the same count of 2 before you set the hook you will catch more. If you miss, let it fall again and be ready, they will keep hitting it all the way to the boat. 90% of the time you will get them on one pole or the other, and the one that follows the hooked fish, will pick up the boat side jig. Last trip, three of us, using this method caught 229. It works.
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I launched my 16' aluminum boat from the Renegade marina on Thankgsgiving morning, and it hasn't snowed since, so the road won't be any worse than it was then. Snowpacked and rutted, but a 4x4 truck does fine. The road to Renegade is no worse than the road from Highway 40 to the Main Marina turnoff. Here is a pic of the Renegade boat ramp on Thanksgiving morning. We were the only ones there. Oh, also...we caught a lot of fish that day!
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Ralph, that is an excellent report! I can't tell you how many times I've been in close proximity to a boat where either we were catching and they weren't or they were catching and we weren't...but it happens a lot to me. I sometimes think (my opinion) that once a frenzy starts, the dinner bell really does ring and that there is some sort of fish communication that goes on and the fish really do school under a particular boat for a given length of time...sometimes hours or even all day! I've also been witness to one of the two boats catching where the other wasn't...and then like a switch, suddenly the other boat starts catching and it dies for the first boat, hence, the school moves.
I like to think that when I'm on a spot and we are catching fish, that EVERY spot around that area is the same, but more and more I'm believing it's not.
Anyway, sounds like a fun and fairly uneventful trip. I sure wish I had a bunch of vacation time and money laying around and I'd be up there every day if I could from now till ice up, as it really is ON right now!

Randy
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Yes, I do believe that the shcools of fish slowly move and like you say, gravitate to the nearest feeding frenzee.

Note to self: Save lots of vacation time for late November fishing on the Berry.
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Great to hear that you got out and did well buddy! []

I still have yet to have a day like that at the Berry, and I just haven't gotten up there this Fall. And I dunno if I will not having a 4WD vehicle.

I hear ya about not having a quick hookset. I got the habit of being as quick as I can on the ice, but having a lot of missed hits jigging at the Berry while the guy on the other side of the boat was nailing 'em, I learned to not set the hook until after I lift the rod up and feel some pressure! []
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