Do people not go after cutts or bows at Strawberry anymore?

[kingfisher82]

I’ve been vertical jigging the berry for 15 years now and still can’t get enough of it. Love having the rod in my hand as we drift our boat, actively bouncing it near the bottom or at various depths, and setting the hook when a rainbow or cutthroat comes and bites my tube jig. Love the sport of it plus there are some lunkers at Strawberry.

But I swear every time I’m up there every boat is trolling, seemingly going after kokes while they just sit with their pole in the holder waiting for a bite.

Am I over exaggerating or do people really not target the trout anymore? Every report on the berry on this forum seems to be about their success or failure in catching the kokes. And most trout are by accident and just get in the way of their koke fishing.

More trout for me if that’s the case but I can’t imagine spending half a day at the berry and trolling the whole time. And you’re probably saying “good! More kokes for us”.

But to me, nothing beats jigging for big trout, especially when they’re being finicky and trying to nibble the night crawler on the end and you have to be skilled when setting the hook.
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[Kent]

I'm still one of those who actively fishes for the cutthroats and rainbows at Strawberry and my preferred method to fish is to vertically jig. I also enjoy the feel of a fish biting and then setting the hook. I enjoy an occasional fishing outing chasing kokes on the boats of others but my boat goes vertically jigging at Strawberry and many other lakes.
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[gmwahl]

My problem with targeting trout at strawberry is the stinking slot limit. I have a three hour drive to get there and it sucks that for my investment all I can keep is Kokanee or the occasional rainbow. All the cutts I catch are in the slot it seems. It makes much more sense for me to stay home (Garden City....on Bear Lake) than to travel all that way just to throw back my entire catch. At least I can keep the Kokanee, so that is pretty much the only reason for me to fish there and the cutts are just filler fish between bites.

Mike
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[kingfisher82]

See, and contrast to Koke fishing, I like knowing that our boat of 2-4 people will catch 30-40 trout in 5-6 hours, with a least a couple over the slot and a few rainbows too.
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[fishnotphish]

Kokanee fishing is time limited. Another six weeks and the season is over -- and by the looks of the fish, they are changing color already. I usually focus on Kokanee in April, May, June, July, maybe a little in August -- but the rest of the time I'm usually looking for trout (fall, winter).

The slot cutts can be fun to catch, but generally the fight in a Kokanee raises the challenge substantially, at least for me.
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[brookieguy1]

I don’t fish Strawberry because of one reason: cutthroats. If I could go there and vertical jig and catch only rainbows, I would spend some time there. Or, if the under 24” cutts knew how to fight, I would fish there. But the super low percentage of over-slot cutts and few rainbows takes my interests elsewhere.
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[Hookinup]

I agree. Fish the Kokes while the fishing is good. I LOVE jig fishing too..... I just wait until the Kokes slow down to re-engage. I can jig fish Strawberry for a longer duration of time than Koke fishing is really good. (ice off and heavy feed time up to ice on).

I just like the opportunity to change tactics up the kokes provide. I generally don't like trolling for trout. I prefer to jig or throw streamers.

And I pretty much catch an release everything, EXCEPT kokes. My Traeger likes them too much.
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[talyn]

My 17 year old son loves fishing the cutts and that is all we did on Sunday and Monday well North of all the boats trolling for kokes. Sunday we caught 38 and Monday we caught 30 all casting or vertically jigging. He would rather cast than troll so that is what we did for two days and had a blast.

[fish_hntr]

I love to jig for both trout and kokes, catch about a third of our kokes this way and about half of our trout, far more engaging than trolling. But if it's windy trolling is easier than fighting the boat to stay on top of the fish. I have caught most of the trout species in Utah when jigging buzz bombs and Kastmasters, when they hit it on the downward flutter and you feel that jerk and set the hook as you pull upward is an exciting feeling!
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[brookie]

Well, I am not sure how to respond without offending a lot of folks, but most of the people I see at the fish cleaning station would like to catch kokes, but haven't figured it out. Most are cleaning slot cutts and think they have rainbows. It sounds easy, just sit in the boat and troll around, but easy it is not. We do well now, but it has taken a lot of practice and fine tuning to get them regularly.

That said, Strawberry is a special lake with a great koke population, close to the Wasatch front. Kokanee are great fighters. Even my wife, who fished with me today can tell from the bite if it is a kokanee or a cutt. The cutts like to relocate across the lake with so little fight that you can barely tell they are there. The kokanee take the line off the rigger, scream all across the water, going airborne time after time. The first 4 we got on Monday, were big enough that they tore up all my rigs and I had to re-tie.

Now I will give you that a good sized rainbow will give a battle, but fishing with power bait is not my cup of tea.

As others have said, the koke window is short, so right now you are going to see kokanee fishermen. For me jigging, that is what the ice is for (while dreaming of summer kokes).

Good luck and hope you have a great time jigging for cutts - to each his own pleasures.
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[brookie]

Oh yeah, I forgot about if you fish and want to take some home to eat. I would debate the taste issue, but the only people who know what cutts taste like are the guys that take home the limit of "rainbows" that are really slot cutts. The rest of us throw back all the slot cutts. Actually two years ago, I caught a 27" cutt, one of very few slot busters I have brought in. The poor old thing looked like a grandpa. I turned him back as well - felt sorry for the old guy - he hardly fought at all - thought I was pulling in a wet rug.
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[Jmorfish]

I don't think you are exagerating at all....right now, the highest percentage of boats on the water are targeting the Kokanee....prior to Strawberry being chemically treated the fish were all rainbows - lots of them, and big....and alot of chubs.....obviously not all the chubs were killed off, and the cutts are supposed to help control them....Kokanee were introduced, and I didn't really know, or care, 'til about 4 years ago, when I started hearing some guys talking about catching Kokes there....I, too, was just fishing for the cutts and rainbows prior to that, a little in Summer, but mostly thru the ice.....so now I still jig for the cutts, and occasional rainbow, all thru the ice, like what Brookie said......and Spring and Summer I love taking advantage of this relatively new resource -- Trolling for Kokanee.....but jigging, casting, trolling, bait fishing from shore.....it's all Fishing....and it's all good...Guluk..
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[OCF]

That said, Strawberry is a special lake with a great koke population, close to the Wasatch front. Kokanee are great fighters. Even my wife, who fished with me today can tell from the bite if it is a kokanee or a cutt.

Well said Brookie!

On my boat we are very disappointed when we hook up with a cutt - even the larger ones near the top of the slot. They feel like you are reeling in a wet rag. You can see the difference just in the strike as Brookie mentioned. Now the kokes - pound for pound there is not a tougher fighting fish. Even the small ones put up a good fight. For fresh water fishing, there is nothing more exiting than watching your line come out of the downrigger release and instantly load up and then watch a big silver bullet making marlin jumps out of the water behind you. It is very addictive! In addition, IMHO they are the best eating. My Traeger loves them too - see attached photo.

I think the 2018 koke season is coming to an end. Most of us will change over to trout fishing & start fantasizing about next years kokanee season.
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[PACMEN]

Most are cleaning slot cutts and think they have rainbows

I for one don't understand why law enforcement does not spend more time at the fish cleaning station.

If they don't know what they have caught they ought to release it.
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[Elkslayer1]

Can you all tell me what jigs and sizes you use for the cutts and what apoomsmwork well when casting? Do you fish close to the shores for the cutts? Thanks
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[dubob]

[quote OCF] Now the kokes - pound for pound there is not a tougher fighting fish.[/quote][font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]You've never caught a wiper, catfish, carp, or tiger muskie?[/#800000][/font] []
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[riverdog]

I find fishing for kokes and sockeye boring. I do it when I want meat to eat. Saying Kokes in stillwater fight harder than Cutthroat is like saying an F is better than an F-. Who cares when it’s that poor. If you ever hook any big Cutts in the tributaries of Strawberry before it closes for the spawn the fight will blow away any Koke in the Reservoir by far. Part of the problem is the Cutts they placed are Yellowstone Cutts - now grouped with Snake River. The 25 inch Cutts in Yellowstone Lake are also wet rags. To reliable get any fight out of a trout in stillwater you need them to be well over 10 lbs. I think DWR should get some of those Pyramid Lake Strain of Lahotan Cutthroat off of Pilots Peak by the Nevada border and raise for Strawberry http://pyramidlakeguides.com
. It’s not like the Yellowstone Cutthroat were native to the drainage were Strawberry is anyway.
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[Kent]

The cutts in Strawberry are Bear Lake strain not Yellowstone. If you want to catch some weak fighting yellowstone cutthroats go to Electric Lake.
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[Jmorfish]

Hey Bob - guess I'd have to agree with you on the fighting ability of the Wiper, but then If you are talking "Warm Water" species, I'd put in a good sized Bull Bluegill as tops, if you're talking pound for pound....But I think OCF was talking about the fighting abilities (and highest quality) of our "Cold Water" species....our Kokanee Salmon....IMHO, of course...[]
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[Kent]

Link to fish species in Strawberry:
[url "https://wildlife.utah.gov/strawberry/straw10.php"]Link[/url]
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