03-08-2019, 03:59 AM
Fished Strawberry today with Shawn. Getting to the marina was an adventure. We found at least a foot of new snow, and some deeper drifts, on the road from Highway 40 to Strawberry Marina. The road had not been plowed and we slowly made our way over there with two other vehicles following me (Why am I always the leader?). Was hoping that at least the parking area would be plowed, but no such luck. I think all of us got stuck in the parking lot. Tried to get the vehicle and trailer positioned a little better and was able to move it about five feet and called it good.
Headed out to fish "The triangle"; however, it was snowing so hard that it was impossible to see where we were. I decided we had gone far enough and stopped the snowmobile and we stepped off into the worst slush I have encountered this year up there. There was about 1 1/2' of snow on top of at least 15" of slush.
I was worried that the snowmobile was going to be stuck when we tried leaving in the afternoon, but I shouldn't have worried. It handled it with no problems. I immediately drilled a hole and found that we were in about 78' feet of water, so I knew we were close enough to where I wanted to be. I spent awhile building an island to fish off of and Shawn started fishing. He had caught about 3 fish before I even baited a hook. I was pleased that I built a nice island, because it served me well.
After an hour or so I heard Shawn screaming with joy and I looked over and he had landed his first ever kokanee. A couple hours later he landed a second even larger kokanee. Between times we were reeling in many cutthroat.
I fished a couple hours with two rods rigged for kokanee and I may have had a hit or two from them, but I'm really not sure. I then fished most of the rest of the day with one rod rigged for kokanee and the other rod rigged for cutthroat. I was amazed at the number of cutthroat that we were able to catch fishing in that deep of water. I caught them from a couple feet under the ice down to almost 60' deep. Most were caught down from about 30' to 35'.
Shawn definitely won the quality prize and I won the quantity prize.
Getting out of the parking lot was also no small task. We found it was still totally unplowed. We unhooked the trailer and turned it around by hand. I then backed all the way out of the parking lot out onto the road. Then I backed all the way back in the parking lot to the trailer. Towed the trailer to the road and drove the snowmobile to the road and up on the trailer.
Another fun day of fishing with great company.
Shawn with his two kokanee.
[inline "Shawn kokanee.jpg"]
[signature]
Headed out to fish "The triangle"; however, it was snowing so hard that it was impossible to see where we were. I decided we had gone far enough and stopped the snowmobile and we stepped off into the worst slush I have encountered this year up there. There was about 1 1/2' of snow on top of at least 15" of slush.
I was worried that the snowmobile was going to be stuck when we tried leaving in the afternoon, but I shouldn't have worried. It handled it with no problems. I immediately drilled a hole and found that we were in about 78' feet of water, so I knew we were close enough to where I wanted to be. I spent awhile building an island to fish off of and Shawn started fishing. He had caught about 3 fish before I even baited a hook. I was pleased that I built a nice island, because it served me well.
After an hour or so I heard Shawn screaming with joy and I looked over and he had landed his first ever kokanee. A couple hours later he landed a second even larger kokanee. Between times we were reeling in many cutthroat.
I fished a couple hours with two rods rigged for kokanee and I may have had a hit or two from them, but I'm really not sure. I then fished most of the rest of the day with one rod rigged for kokanee and the other rod rigged for cutthroat. I was amazed at the number of cutthroat that we were able to catch fishing in that deep of water. I caught them from a couple feet under the ice down to almost 60' deep. Most were caught down from about 30' to 35'.
Shawn definitely won the quality prize and I won the quantity prize.
Getting out of the parking lot was also no small task. We found it was still totally unplowed. We unhooked the trailer and turned it around by hand. I then backed all the way out of the parking lot out onto the road. Then I backed all the way back in the parking lot to the trailer. Towed the trailer to the road and drove the snowmobile to the road and up on the trailer.
Another fun day of fishing with great company.
Shawn with his two kokanee.
[inline "Shawn kokanee.jpg"]
[signature]