Strawberry Report 1/1/05

[Out4Trout]

[cool]CBR and I made the long and harry trip up to Strawberry today. We left at 6:00 a.m., and the roads were quite harry at that time, with a little black ice, and snowpacked roads the whole way up. Got on the ice about 8, after being the 3rd people on a brand new trail out to our spot. Yeah, we waded through 2 ft. deep snow to get out there, and we were already tired and a little out of breath by the time we got out there. The sun was coming out with a slight breeze. It was about 20 minutes til I got a bite, but missed him, and I'm pretty sure Craig hooked up with the same fish seconds later.
It was a nice sunny day at the berry with a little snow and clouds mixed in, but overall a nice day out there, even if the fishing was a little slow by Strawberry's standards. Craig landed 8 or 9, and I only iced 3 of them, with my first fish under the slot of the year, so he's horderves tonight. Didn't get any big ones today, but Craig and I still had a ball even if the fishing wasn't hot. We left at about 2 before the late afternoon bite came because each of us had things to do at home. It felt great to catch our first fish of '05 which is going to be a killer fishing year!![]

Glad we weren't at Mantua falling through the ice today[pirate]. Thanks for the warning, BLM!!
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[mikecromaine]

glad you and craig both got into them sounds like you both did better then craig and I did yesterday We will have to get togather here in teh new year and hit it again
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[Out4Trout]

[cool]Thanks, Mike! Yeah, we've gotta get out there again! After a week or two, Craig is gonna be tied to his home with the Mrs. about to give deliver and all, so you and I will have to get out and have some fun, and Craig can live vicariously through us! Sorry, CBR[]. Didn't mean to rub that in. Craig and I had fun today. I wanna catch a Cut like the one skipythelurker and his son caught yesterday!!
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[CBR]

Here are some of the photos taken today. It was awesome being on the ice today.












Check out all that snow!

Was great on the ice today, I lost alot at the hole as usual. "__it happens". The cutts fought hard today, feisty buggers.
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[fairwayphilly]

Looks like a pretty good start to the new year. How was the wind up there? I hit causey today and there wasn't hardly a breath of wind. The day was beautiful, even if I did a whole lot more fishing than catching.
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[CBR]

Not much wind, calm most of the day. And enough sun for my to get some pink cheeks. I love the snowy white scenery and was tempted to run and jump in the snow.
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[Bigcat]

I also braved the snowy roads yesterday to get to the Berry. We were going to leave at 5:30 but decided after the late New Years eve night to give the snow plows a chance to do their thing and left instead about 8:00. The plows still hadn't made a dent on the roads. Used 4 wheel drive from Orem to the lake. Arrived at the lake and was fishing by 9:45. Fished at the marina in about 18-22 feet of water. There is 18 inches of fresh powder and about 3 inches of water under the powder on the ice. When we drilled our holes the water comes rushing through the hole out on top of the ice. It makes it so you don't even have to clean out the hole. Good waterproof boots were essential yesterday. I wore snowshoes which helped to stay on top of the powder for easier walking until they got a little wet from the slush and then the powder just sticks to them and they end of weighing about 20 pounds a piece. However they do prevent you from stepping in someone elses hole by mistake which I saw several people do yesterday. Anyway I digress..... We landed 3 fish in the first 5 minutes and then spaced the rest out over the next few hours. There were 8 of us fishing (including new members and friends of mine cyclonejack and DMR) and we caught 25 fish total with 13 of the fish caught by 2 people. We used everything from paddlebugs, boogers, whattacrickets, foxee's, and curlytail jigs. We tipped with wax worms, meal worms, and minnows and sometimes used smelly jelly. No one thing seemed to work better than another. The fish seemed to come through in schools and we would get several bites and then nothing for a while. All of the fish were in the slot and most were 17-18 inches. I saw that big 27 1/2 incher that skipperthelurker turned loose trying to get my jig but I figured he was old and tired from the battle the day before so I pulled the jig away from him. Ya right! Another friend (also new member captainamerica) showed up at 12:30 with his dad and son. Nothing like 3 generation fishing trip. []. Fishing had all but died by that time. He brought his aquaview camera which was very interesting. For the next half hour we watch fish after fish cruise by and quickly examine our jig and bait (we tried lots of different things!) from about a foot away and then cruise out of the picture. It was like they were full and didn't want to have anything tasty to eat. The encouraging thing was that there were LOTS of fish swimming around. All very nice cutts. The discouraging thing was that they didn't want to play at all!!! It was a very fun day overall with decent fishing, louzy roads, good weather, and great company. Talked to crossineye on the radio and heard one other person on channel 12 but don't remember who it was. The roads were a lot better going home. Planning on going back again on tuesday but looks like more snow is expected and I sure hope that slush layer freezes!!!!!!
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[CBR]

After drilling alot of holes I noticed that the ice was solid until you drilled the hole then water would come out of the hole and create the slush. I think ice bows a bit with all that snow on there.
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[tomegun]

Where you part of that big party southeast of the marina?

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[Bigcat]

We had a group of 8 and were more east than south but a little southeast.... But I saw a couple big groups so yes we were one of them.... Did that help any? LOL
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