heading to strawberry early this sunday morning to launch the boat and do some trolling with the Girlfriend and my good buddy, looking for tips to get on the fish seeings how last time i went we only got one fish the whole day.
this time i have 2 down riggers with 10 pound balls to use.
ive always used pop gear and wedding rings tipped with worms but the more ive been reading the more im wondering if im trying the wrong rigging
seeing that alot of guys are using jigs and power bait?
Anyways, just looking for some insider tips on how to get on the fish from you guys that frequent the berry.
Thanks in Advance!
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Hey Trubbs got some advice for you and maybe some guys on here will disagree and some won't but this is my opinion. When I first bought my boat just a few years ago I thought by trolling at the Berry I would slay fish left and right. WRONG. I did ok but not what I thought. Try flatfish, rapalas and such. So I ventured into vertical jigging and fishing got a lot better. Tube jigs, gulp minnows and other goodies always tipped with a minnow. Then I finally got down riggers and thought the sky was the limit .Wrong they work but only on certain days. But yes they do work great for Kokanee. Try out in front of the narrows by the island. Fish in deep water but a depth of 30'-50' with the rigger and a flasher and some spoons or squids. Then I met some friends that did not have all the toys and gadgets I had fish finders, down riggers, tons of whatever. They just pulled up in a bay tossed out PB and we caught tons of fish and I mean tons. So it all just depends buddy. Any way good luck. Let us know how you do.
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Seeing on how I just fly fish the berry this info will be more about how I used to do it not about how I do it now.
Trolling is all about finding fish and going back and forth through them than getting one hit/fish and going farther along that same line.
Always troll in an S curve, never in a straight line.
Put different lures on everyone's line at first so you can find out what will work faster. My set up with three people would look like this... a little jakes, a minnow #7 floating rapala, and a tube jig. BTW I always used lead core trolling line instead of down riggers so I gots no down rigger advice for you.
Troll close to shore early i.e. until about 8 or 9 am and again in the last hour or so of dark. But don't go out over deeper water until they quit hitting.
Fish a foot or two above what the fish finder says they're holding at.
Learn how to rig a dead minnow for trolling. That never failed me but I didn't do it often.
Change your trolling speed up and down through out the day. I always started at a slow troll and after 20 minutes with no hits I bumped it up a notch until I was trolling at close to 3 mph.
The only other advice I can give is to take me with you some day and I'll show you what I used to do in person. I had tons of fun trolling strawberry and would love to do it again.
Good luck and keep trying different stuff until you find something that works.
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I used to troll Strawberry a lot, but now I almost exclusively vertically jig. If you are going to troll, you don't need the pop gear. You can catch them with just a larger fly on your down rigger or just a whole night crawler (use a worm threader to slide it up your line. As mentioned, a whole minnow will often work. More fun to reel in a fish without also having the pop gear on the end of the line.
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I've yet to have a sub 35 fish day trolling Strawberry this year (and I only go for half days). We've had several over 50. And one morning near 80.
Downriggers at 20-30 feet (depending on the time of day) with rapalas has been the best thing -- usually. But Strawberry can be different each day. Jakes, Needlefish, wobberlers, and a trolled tube jig have also all been very productive at different times.
Trolled flies have been very effective early.
Most boats you see will be drifting PB or vertically jigging however. That's definitely a good change up if the trolling isn't producing -- or vice versa if you'd rather start with the bait.
Oh and I agree with all the advise given above... particularly the part about the pot gear. I hate that stuff and very, very rarely ever put it on my lines.
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Thanks for the solid tip/post,
If you don't mind, where are you having the best luck & where what time are you using what depth?
What rapalas are you using? Tipped with anything?
How far are you setting the line away from the D-Rigger ball?
I have tied 3 1' leader wires together to my release to make it a more sensitive release for the smaller fish, does that sound correct?
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[#004080]As you have seen there are many different opinions and tactics. I almost exclusively troll in Strawberry and do great most of the time. Strawberry is fincky. Sometimes the moon, weather, temperatures or atmoshpere will change everything. Fish really early and late. The heat of the day will turn them off as they go deeper.[/#004080]
[#004080]Strawberry is not so deep that you need downriggers like you would at the Gorge. I use medium, four blade Luhr Jensen, hammered, half bronze, half chrome pop gear. I attach a 3/4 oz weight to the rudder, and attach about 30" of 8lb leader with a #2 worm hook. Pinch off 1/3 of nightcrawler and slide the other [/#004080][#004080]2/3 of the worm up the hook leaving a small tail to wiggle in the water. Too much tail will result in short hits. If you have line counter reels, you can let your line back about 125' from the boat. This will put your gear between 25' and 30' below the surface. I use this same set up at Deer Creek, East Canyon, Henry's lake, Hebgen Lake, Scofield and anywhere else that I target trout.[/#004080]
[#004080]Just my tactic, but I do really well wherever I go.[/#004080]
[#004080]Good luck.[/#004080]
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I read on here that many people fish the berry with worms, powerbait and so on.
How many will admit to watching there slot cuts float away belly up, what a shame.
I fish bait in places I know I'm going to keep what I catch.
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[quote MasterDaad]Sending PM[/quote]
No PM received yet.
As for floating fish, I've only lost a very small amount of fish. I like to make sure they are good & revived before letting go. But sometimes theres just nothing you can do
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I don't usually bait fish (and I avoid it for similar reasons) but I admit to killing the occasional slot Cutt because I use trebble hooks with barbs on my trolled stuff instead of single, barbless hooks.
Catching in the numbers we do, unfortunately, sometimes results in fish kills.
I think the survival rate is for our release fish is good given the other precautions we take, so I don't intend to change what I do.
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Here is a tip to save fish:
I sometimes fish the Berry with PB. When I do I only use size 20 trebles. Usually the tiny treble is in the corner of the fishes mouth. If the fish guts it, I simply cut the line at the fishes mouth while always leaving the fish totally in the water, never netted. I then help the fish rest for a few minutes before it takes off.
No fish is more valuable than a 35 cent #20 treble hook.
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You should have it now... it was a long PM
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I've wondered about this... perhaps this is better in an offline discussion but when did the line cutting of swallowed hooks become the advise?
I recall reading that and wondering how that could possibly be the best environmental course of action.
I can't imagine the life expectancy of a fish with a hook in its stomach is much more than a few months.
And what happens if/when they float up and the birds get to them?
And then when the bird swallows the hook, what is the impact on the bird?
And then when the bird bites it, the rodent that eats it...
And so on and so on.
It seems to me leaving the hook in the food chain is a bad idea and it would be better to have a severely damaged Cutt.
But I do understand that is the advise....
Is my concern not valid for some reason?
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I dont know how much truth there is to it, but ive been told by numerous people that the hooks rust away in no time at all.
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The hook will rust away long before the rodent gets to eat the dead bird. And the bird would have to eat the stomach of the fish. Okay that might happen but is less likely. Oh and the fish will poop out the hook before it rusts many times and that hook will fall to the bottom of the lake and rust away there.
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[quote OldTroller]The hook will rust away long before the rodent gets to eat the dead bird. And the bird would have to eat the stomach of the fish. Okay that might happen but is less likely. Oh and the fish will poop out the hook before it rusts many times and that hook will fall to the bottom of the lake and rust away there.[/quote]
Tough call. Check this site out:
http://www.recycledfish.org/safe-angling...elease.htm
In particular:
Our research shows that - at least on trout - you should not just cut the line and let them swim away. Yes, they swim away, but most die within 24 - 72 hours. The engorged hook impales the stomach wall, and either tears open the stomach, which poisons the fish internally, or the hook point impales the stomach and then jabs at the heart and liver as the fish swims, and the fish bleeds to death (internally).
Many of us have caught fish with engorged hooks, so we know that fish CAN live that way. However, in our research, the survival rate is very, very low. It was 100% mortality on large trout, for example. Other species (like bass and sunfish) are heartier and may do better, but still many will die.
Conventional wisdom suggests that you should just cut the line at the fish's mouth and let the fish go.
If it appears that the hook is embedded in cartilage, this is a good strategy. Trying to horse a deeply swallowed hook out of a fish can end up doing more harm than good. In this hooking situation, most hooks will simply rust out after a short time.
Certainly not required, but why don't more people go barbless hooks? It just makes so much sense. Specially if you hook something other than fish. I don't loose many fish because of this. If I do loose a fish it is my error.
It actually makes fishing more sporting and fun.
Now to the OP good luck and personally I would try trolling at first.
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Thanks all for the insight into this. Sorry for the hijack
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We've had good luck using a hook discorger(sp?) to retrieve hooks that are hooked deep in the fish's mouth.
Where is everyone having the best luck at? Over in the bay or over at solider creek?
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