03-14-2019, 07:55 PM
This is my take on the trip several of us made to Strawberry on Tuesday. For more information see the 3/10 and 3/13 reports.
SkunkedAgain invited me to go along with himself and some other BFT members on a trip out of Strawberry Marina. I conferred with TopH2o and Dubob and worked it out to meet up with Bob in Heber as I was afraid I wouldn't get to the right place up there and it turned out I was right in my concern as it was a bit of a labyrinth and someone even ended up getting a little mixed up on the correct route. Since I didn't have a snowmobile I rode with Jeff while Bob pulled my sled. We went about 2 miles out to a spot Mike had set on his GPS. There was a snow crust several inches thick over several inches of slush. A couple of guys rode their snowmobiles several times over a route to pack the snow down so we could walk on it without breaking through. Off those paths we broke through and it was pretty tough walking. There were 8 of us (I think) scattered out a few yards apart around the area. The method was to pack down the snow and slush to make a (sort of) solid island to keep you up out of the slush. The ice was near 3' deep through various strata. Before I was done with my first hole my neighbor had a fish on and continued to catch cutthroats steadily. When I got my first hole ready I baited up a hook with a half a nightcrawler and put it what I calculated to be 30' down in the 80 fow we were on. That was the average depth others were catching fish at. The worm eventually got a bite but in didn't hook up. To make a long story short it took Jeff, Dubob and me a while to get dialed in while Mike (TopH2o) and his friend were catching steadily. Bill was using a Shrimpo with an added red plastic tail and a bit of worm which he was pulling them in steadily on. At one point he loaned me a setup but I didn't have any luck. That pattern would remain throughout the day; I would use the same thing (or similar) other guys were catching on and got nothing. Mike was catching on a pink squid under a silver dodger and was catching both cutts and kokes. Jeff kept trying different things and found the best success with a 1.5" Maniac Lures Cut'r Bug in plain glow. I tried both those without success but I guess was rigging them slightly differently or didn't have the right jigging presentation or something because they didn't work for me. Meanwhile I did have some some success with Atomic Teasers tipped with waxworms in a couple of colors. I caught a small cutt which I took home for the smoker and a nice fat 18.5" one which I photographed for the contest. I had a few that got off due my errors. Then I hooked into a much bigger/stronger-fighting fish. Jeff came over to help me land it and we agreed that it looked like a big koke. He said it looked as big as anything we caught during the day. I should have played it longer and worn it out because when I tried to get it up in the hole it broke off. That one will haunt me for a while, but oh well, that's why we keep going.
Pink, orange and white seemed to be the colors of the day. Most caught a number of fish throughout the day. I believe that Jeff caught 26 including a 19.5" cutt and a 14.5" koke. I think I landed 3 fish and should have gotten 2-3 more on the ice.
It was a beautiful, warm day. At one point I was down a couple of layers on top to my long underwear shirt which was getting hot on my back with the sun on it. The best part was meeting and fishing with some regular BFT members. A big thank you to all of them. The worst part was that I got a very bad sunburn on my face. I forgot to grab my hat with a bill on it and I don't usually wear sunscreen. Big mistake.
When it came time to leave, the slush was starting to rear its ugly head. Jeff was trying to carry me and pull three sleds and as a result we got stuck in some deep slush. We unhooked the sleds and got the snowmobile unstuck. Another guy in our group (sorry, I don't know his name) gave me and my sled a ride out while Jeff easily pulled his sleds out without my dead weight on his machine.
Was a great day and one I will remember fondly for a long time.
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SkunkedAgain invited me to go along with himself and some other BFT members on a trip out of Strawberry Marina. I conferred with TopH2o and Dubob and worked it out to meet up with Bob in Heber as I was afraid I wouldn't get to the right place up there and it turned out I was right in my concern as it was a bit of a labyrinth and someone even ended up getting a little mixed up on the correct route. Since I didn't have a snowmobile I rode with Jeff while Bob pulled my sled. We went about 2 miles out to a spot Mike had set on his GPS. There was a snow crust several inches thick over several inches of slush. A couple of guys rode their snowmobiles several times over a route to pack the snow down so we could walk on it without breaking through. Off those paths we broke through and it was pretty tough walking. There were 8 of us (I think) scattered out a few yards apart around the area. The method was to pack down the snow and slush to make a (sort of) solid island to keep you up out of the slush. The ice was near 3' deep through various strata. Before I was done with my first hole my neighbor had a fish on and continued to catch cutthroats steadily. When I got my first hole ready I baited up a hook with a half a nightcrawler and put it what I calculated to be 30' down in the 80 fow we were on. That was the average depth others were catching fish at. The worm eventually got a bite but in didn't hook up. To make a long story short it took Jeff, Dubob and me a while to get dialed in while Mike (TopH2o) and his friend were catching steadily. Bill was using a Shrimpo with an added red plastic tail and a bit of worm which he was pulling them in steadily on. At one point he loaned me a setup but I didn't have any luck. That pattern would remain throughout the day; I would use the same thing (or similar) other guys were catching on and got nothing. Mike was catching on a pink squid under a silver dodger and was catching both cutts and kokes. Jeff kept trying different things and found the best success with a 1.5" Maniac Lures Cut'r Bug in plain glow. I tried both those without success but I guess was rigging them slightly differently or didn't have the right jigging presentation or something because they didn't work for me. Meanwhile I did have some some success with Atomic Teasers tipped with waxworms in a couple of colors. I caught a small cutt which I took home for the smoker and a nice fat 18.5" one which I photographed for the contest. I had a few that got off due my errors. Then I hooked into a much bigger/stronger-fighting fish. Jeff came over to help me land it and we agreed that it looked like a big koke. He said it looked as big as anything we caught during the day. I should have played it longer and worn it out because when I tried to get it up in the hole it broke off. That one will haunt me for a while, but oh well, that's why we keep going.
Pink, orange and white seemed to be the colors of the day. Most caught a number of fish throughout the day. I believe that Jeff caught 26 including a 19.5" cutt and a 14.5" koke. I think I landed 3 fish and should have gotten 2-3 more on the ice.
It was a beautiful, warm day. At one point I was down a couple of layers on top to my long underwear shirt which was getting hot on my back with the sun on it. The best part was meeting and fishing with some regular BFT members. A big thank you to all of them. The worst part was that I got a very bad sunburn on my face. I forgot to grab my hat with a bill on it and I don't usually wear sunscreen. Big mistake.
When it came time to leave, the slush was starting to rear its ugly head. Jeff was trying to carry me and pull three sleds and as a result we got stuck in some deep slush. We unhooked the sleds and got the snowmobile unstuck. Another guy in our group (sorry, I don't know his name) gave me and my sled a ride out while Jeff easily pulled his sleds out without my dead weight on his machine.
Was a great day and one I will remember fondly for a long time.
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The older I get the more I would rather be considered a good man than a good fisherman.
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