So I'm taking my wife up this weekend to strawberry camping for our anniversary. This is our first camping trip without any kids. I used to hit the berry all the time with the boat. I haven't been there on a boat for nearly 6 years now, and from shore was even longer back.
I want her to have a really enjoyable time, so any thoughts on where we might go to get into some fish would be greatly appreciated. If it weren't so expensive I would just rent on of the marinas pontoons for the day, but I just can't afford their prices.
Please help. It's been a very long time & I'm sure she's getting quite sick of my old strawberry stories!
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I take it you don't want to rent one of their little aluminum boats either? They're like $45 for a half day (6 til 1).
If that's the case and you're shore bound for sure then all the old rules still apply. Find a point or rocky out cropping and try your favorite bait. Mine would be a worm/marshmellow but it has been years since I used to do that.
If you don't get fish with in a half hour move to another area. It's all about finding them first then getting in front of them with what works. Remember they're in closest in the morning til about 11 and then again the last two or so hours of the evening.
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You could try Haws point. or around the soldier creek side. Been some pretty good rainbow fishing on the SC side. If you going with bait you should try some powerbait. I prefer to use flies, jigs, spinners etc. But people usually do well on rainbows there with power bait. The bay across from the boat launch is usually pretty good
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We were at renegade 2 days ago and got 9 nice sized bow's in 3 hours. later in the day.
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Was there this last Saturday at Soldier Creek side. There are some small islands right nearby, and we caught a lot of rainbows using power-bait and trolling silver shad rap rapalas right outside the islands. Lots of green moss, so keep your bait above it.
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Thanks for the pointers. Unfortunately I'm boatless this time. Was really hoping to get the boat going and show her the fun of fishing the berry from a boat, but that's not going to happen.
Again, thanks for the tips. Keep them coming. Last thing I want is to get skunked. I would probably have a hard time getting her back there.
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I fished the Soldier Creek side last Thursday all day , the Rainbow fishing over there is fantastic.
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So we made it up there. The weather was good, company was great, and scenery was good as always. Unfortunately, the fishing didn't cooperate. This was my first trip there in a few years and my first camping trip with just my wife, no kids. I was really looking forward to it and looking forward to getting back to fishing the berry.
We spent nearly the entire day Saturday and part of the day Sunday fishing. We did Haws Point Saturday morning, the Ladders in the evening, and the Soldier Creek dam Sunday morning. My wife caught a 17" rainbow Sat. morning and had one other bite. I had no bites but I did catch a bunch of crawdads. At the ladders we caught about a 16" sucker just after dark, and nothing else. At the dam I had one small fish follow a lure in that I was pitching, but didn't bite. My wife had one bite, and I brought in about a 12" rainbow.
We were throwing about everything you could think of out there. All types / colors of powerbait, worms, lures, etc, etc. NOTHING seemed to work.
I am so missing my boat right now and was even tempted to spend the $250 they charge to rent one of their pontoons! Somehow I need to get the boat going again. The fishing was very disappointing to say the least.
On a plus note, it was a very nice time with my wife for our 6th anniversary. That made it all worthwhile.
I'm heading up again in 2 weeks with some inlaws and they are expecting me to show them how to fish the lake, so please keep any tips coming!!!!
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All the success I have had Is from shore fishing on the soldier creek side... I buy the garlic powerbait and I mix it with the corn. I use the Carolina rig tweaked a bit for trout. Put an egg sinker on your line and then tie a on a swivel. and then from the swivel I tie about 2-3 feet of leader depending on the weeds and then a 12-14 size treble hook and then I just let that sit on the bottom and the powerbait will float above the bottom and I kill it that way everytime! Try it out... I usually put the bait about 30 feet from shore. Don't add a ton of powerbait, you want just enough that it will float, ad I usually have one barb sticking out. Good luck! [fishon]
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We went up there Saturday morning between about 9 and 12. I didn't know where to fish Strawberry so we passed the fee station and walked down a slope to a long beach bog about a quarter mile further down the road. We landed two nice cutts but neither made the cut. Here is my boy with his.
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Looks to me you walked down to the meadows and fished! its usually pretty good down there but you need to go around to the other side where its deeper.
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