10-25-2010, 05:22 PM
'Cause it takes until about the end of June or early July for the water to get warm enough for them to spawn. There isn't enough time for the fry to get big enough to survive the starvation period from now until mid May. Do smallies live in Strawberry? Yes. Do they spawn in Strawberry? Yes. Do the fry survive in Strawberry? No.
When the algae started to die a couple of weeks ago at Strawberry, it signaled the end of the growing season there. The algae dies, and the organisms that depend on it for food begin to starve, or go dormant. If a fish is big enough to eat other fish the feeding continues. That's one of the reasons that Rapalas and Lucky Craft pointers are so effective right now. White tube jigs tipped with chub meat work well right now too. But there isn't anything for 2 inch smallies to eat from now until the middle of May. They don't have enough reserves to survive until the grocery store opens when the ice comes off and the water warms up enough to grow food. If they could grow to three or four inches before the food chain shut down they would probably do okay. They don't grow that big because they get a late start because of the water temperature. Here's a thread that discusses the temperature and the algae at Strawberry. http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gfo...ead#unread
Looks like by the 9th of October that the algae had really begun to die off. It will be 7 more months before it really starts to grow again. Have you ever seen how clear the water is for about a week after the ice comes off at Strawberry?
And the thread goes on for another 12 pages while people point out that smallies do quite well in the Northern U.S., and Canada. They mention how cold it gets. They quote scripture and verse about how tough smallies are. But they ignore the late spawn at Strawberry the short growing season at Strawberry, and most importantly the long starvation period there.
[signature]
When the algae started to die a couple of weeks ago at Strawberry, it signaled the end of the growing season there. The algae dies, and the organisms that depend on it for food begin to starve, or go dormant. If a fish is big enough to eat other fish the feeding continues. That's one of the reasons that Rapalas and Lucky Craft pointers are so effective right now. White tube jigs tipped with chub meat work well right now too. But there isn't anything for 2 inch smallies to eat from now until the middle of May. They don't have enough reserves to survive until the grocery store opens when the ice comes off and the water warms up enough to grow food. If they could grow to three or four inches before the food chain shut down they would probably do okay. They don't grow that big because they get a late start because of the water temperature. Here's a thread that discusses the temperature and the algae at Strawberry. http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gfo...ead#unread
Looks like by the 9th of October that the algae had really begun to die off. It will be 7 more months before it really starts to grow again. Have you ever seen how clear the water is for about a week after the ice comes off at Strawberry?
And the thread goes on for another 12 pages while people point out that smallies do quite well in the Northern U.S., and Canada. They mention how cold it gets. They quote scripture and verse about how tough smallies are. But they ignore the late spawn at Strawberry the short growing season at Strawberry, and most importantly the long starvation period there.
[signature]