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I have fished Strawberry five times this year (first trip on New Year's Day and the most recent trip was yesterday) and I have caught 22 on three of those trips (I caught 28 and 37 on the other two trips).
BTW gorgeous day yesterday, except for the wind. Still a little slush on the ice, but it is getting less each trip.
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I remember it well, but it was a few days before 1/1/19.
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[quote Irish_Miner]
How many slot busters?
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We have been averaging about 1 slot buster, each, per trip. One young man, that I have taken a couple times, is doing much better than that and how he is doing it reminded me of how I used to catch many larger fish years ago. I will be trying that technique on future trips and my fish count may go down a little, but the quality should improve.
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Yep my 'secret' technique won't catch the most fish, but it sure ups my odds on the bigguns. Good thing I swore you and Randy into secrecy [cool] Thanks for another great trip.
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Another interesting tidbit of information: All three of us were fishing from our shacks on Saturday afternoon due to the sharp and cold wind that we were experiencing at Strawberry. While I had been watching lots of fish in the morning...that wouldn't bite...even the fish disappeared from under my shack the whole afternoon. And it wasn't that they weren't showing on the sonar...I had a fish camera positioned on the bottom looking directly at my lures...the fish simply weren't there. Yet less than 15 yards away, Kent and Shawn were experiencing schools and schools of fish under them all afternoon. They must have been chumming with something different than I was chumming with. (Just kidding of course...!) They both ended up with around 20 each for the day...while I barely managed 5 fish (with one other lost when I accidentally got my line to close to the heater getting it in). Doesn't happen very often, and when it does I'm reminded that some days there is always that one guy that just doesn't catch fish...and Saturday that guy was ME.
Was still a great day out on the ice. I did catch my first Rainbow of the year at about 21 inches or so!
While coming off the ice, we saw a 4 wheeler nice and stuck right on the boat ramp. We were grateful that we didn't have to dig out a 4 wheeler or snowmobile that day!
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I used to N.ot have E.nough T.ime O.ff to go fishing. Then I retired. Now I have less time than I had before. Sheesh.
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Well I don't think it counts as chumming, but I did spill a can of soup all over inside my shack. I rinsed off my hands and a few tools in the hole, stomped the rest into the snow. Maybe a touch of cream of chicken is the magic sauce
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N.E.T.O., The same has happened to me a few times. I'm wondering if the high power output of my fish finder can be felt by the fish and they simply move outside of the cone to where your friends are fishing.
The high power is great for all it can do in deep water, but I wonder if fish right under the transducer move away from it.
Mine is the MarCum LX-9. I'm wondering if yours is the same because you did say fish camera. What is yours and is it high power?
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So Kent... those are some pretty impressive numbers. How long are you staying to catch that many. I generally catch about half that number of fish. We usually fish from about 8 a.m. to noon on a long day, 11:00 to 11:30 a.m. on a normal day. The bite is done around 11 to noon and I haven't stayed long enough to find out when it picks up again.
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I'm a hard-core angler. Some have said too hard core. I often like to fish from about 8:00 AM to around 4:15 PM. The time of day for the best bite has varied widely. Early morning has been good on some trips but on one trip the middle of the day was best. On many trips I have marked fish almost all the time. Getting them to bite sometimes is a major challenge. Particularly on this last trip, I missed far too many bites. I typically miss bites because I am not patient enough and jerk too soon.
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I've always wondered what exactly electronics do as far as attracting fish in or repelling them. My Fishfinder is actually a LOW power Unit (Lowrance M68c) and since I haven't remembered to buy a new battery yet this season I've been using one battery for both the sonar as well as the fish camera (which is an old FISH TV black and white). Since I only have the one battery...my standard mode of operation is to only use the sonar until I see the bottom change shape a little or see something in the column, then turn the FISH TV on and turn the sonar off to save battery power. The fish TV Camera is aimed at both of my lures so I can see 100% of the action happening down there on the bottom. It's literally an interactive video game. At times in the morning on Saturday, the FISH TV would be on for an hour at a time with fish being there constantly. This is the same setup that I've used for years and some days I'm the one with the high fish count and some days I'm the one with the low fish count. I haven't been able to gather enough evidence to convince me that the electronics have any effect at all on attracting or repelling the fish. I have noticed however that if I fall asleep for a couple hours it significantly reduces my overall fish count for the day. The one thing I've noticed for sure is that my eyes have to be open for either the fish finder or FISH TV to do any good at all...
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I used to N.ot have E.nough T.ime O.ff to go fishing. Then I retired. Now I have less time than I had before. Sheesh.
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I too have often wondered if the high output (wattage) units have an adverse affect on fish. I don't have any evidence that it does, but I have thought about it. I do know that if I don't hold onto my pole, I catch fewer fish. Using a "Jaw Jacker" or what ever they are called or setting the pole on a stand to wait for a bite is not as effective. Miss too many hits, especially during late ice season. The electronics let me know a fish is in the vicinity and all I have to do is wait for the slightest movement of the pole tip and set the hook. Very often one small bump is all you get. During late ice season, I often have to use a tip sensor to detect the bite.
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