05/25 Strawberry Renegade

[HuntNFishUT]

Went up to Strawberry Friday for the first time this year. It was cool but calm when we put our tubes in around 8:00. Used a Gulp 3" white curly tail tipped with crawler casting toward the bank and doing a slow, bouncing retrieve. Picked up four fish in the first two hours, nothing for a bit, then two more, then lots of nothing as a bit of a front started to push in. Off the water by 12:30 as the wind was picking up. Slow morning, but quality was good. My total was three rainbows and three cutts.

[wiperhunter2]

Seems it is always cool at Strawberry, especially this time of the year but much warmer than the Winter temps up there. It's amazing how the numbers of bows are increasing this year. they must be stocking a lot more than they normally do. How long was the biggest trout you caught?

[HuntNFishUT]

Seems it is always cool at Strawberry, especially this time of the year but much warmer than the Winter temps up there. It's amazing how the numbers of bows are increasing this year. they must be stocking a lot more than they normally do. How long was the biggest trout you caught?

Right around 20". Couple in that 17 range and one closer to 14. Rainbows were especially thick bodied.

[wiperhunter2]

Seems it is always cool at Strawberry, especially this time of the year but much warmer than the Winter temps up there. It's amazing how the numbers of bows are increasing this year. they must be stocking a lot more than they normally do. How long was the biggest trout you caught?

Right around 20". Couple in that 17 range and one closer to 14. Rainbows were especially thick bodied.

Seems like bows always do good at the Berry and now that they are stocking more of them, hopefully we will start seeing some really big ones show up in the coming years.

[TubeDude]

Seems it is always cool at Strawberry, especially this time of the year but much warmer than the Winter temps up there. It's amazing how the numbers of bows are increasing this year. they must be stocking a lot more than they normally do. How long was the biggest trout you caught?

Right around 20". Couple in that 17 range and one closer to 14. Rainbows were especially thick bodied.

Seems like bows always do good at the Berry and now that they are stocking more of them, hopefully we will start seeing some really big ones show up in the coming years.

Like this one?

[wiperhunter2]

Seems it is always cool at Strawberry, especially this time of the year but much warmer than the Winter temps up there. It's amazing how the numbers of bows are increasing this year. they must be stocking a lot more than they normally do. How long was the biggest trout you caught?

Right around 20". Couple in that 17 range and one closer to 14. Rainbows were especially thick bodied.

Seems like bows always do good at the Berry and now that they are stocking more of them, hopefully we will start seeing some really big ones show up in the coming years.

Like this one?

Over 17 lbs, that's impressive, when was it caught?

[TubeDude]

Seems it is always cool at Strawberry, especially this time of the year but much warmer than the Winter temps up there. It's amazing how the numbers of bows are increasing this year. they must be stocking a lot more than they normally do. How long was the biggest trout you caught?

Right around 20". Couple in that 17 range and one closer to 14. Rainbows were especially thick bodied.

Seems like bows always do good at the Berry and now that they are stocking more of them, hopefully we will start seeing some really big ones show up in the coming years.

Like this one?

Over 17 lbs, that's impressive, when was it caught?

Sorry.  I didn't make a note on the picture.  But in checking the properties in my photo editing file I see that it was created in my files sometime in 2017.  That was during a period when several large rainbows were shown on local TV shows or posted on websites.  Here's a TV screen capture from that same time period.  No stats or poundage.

[wiperhunter2]

Right around 20". Couple in that 17 range and one closer to 14. Rainbows were especially thick bodied.

Seems like bows always do good at the Berry and now that they are stocking more of them, hopefully we will start seeing some really big ones show up in the coming years.

Like this one?

Over 17 lbs, that's impressive, when was it caught?

Sorry.  I didn't make a note on the picture.  But in checking the properties in my photo editing file I see that it was created in my files sometime in 2017.  That was during a period when several large rainbows were shown on local TV shows or posted on websites.  Here's a TV screen capture from that same time period.  No stats or poundage.

Nice, thanks for sharing those pics. I think we will be seeing more of those bigger bows in the future with the numbers they are stocking.

[TubeDude]

A lot of it has to do with the food chain.  Lots of "bitty bites"...for both kokes and 'bows.  When koke numbers are down there is even more invertebrate soup for the 'bows.  Lots of other aquatic life like crawdads and minnows too.  But the rainbows don't target the minnows as much as the cutts do, so they really don't compete with each other that much.  That's why DWR bumped up the cutt program in the first place...to munch the chubs if not to provide a good fishery.  Most of us who have caught both prefer bows to cutts...both for battle and table qualities.  

I suspect that an increase in bow plantings is at least partially to offset the lower numbers of kokes the past couple of years.  I know more than a few 'Berry fans who would rather catch a couple of hefty bows than a boatload of cutts.  And if the kokes are not numerous enough to kick out limits for everybody it's great to be able to do some hand to fin combat with a big bow or two.

[wiperhunter2]

A lot of it has to do with the food chain.  Lots of "bitty bites"...for both kokes and 'bows.  When koke numbers are down there is even more invertebrate soup for the 'bows.  Lots of other aquatic life like crawdads and minnows too.  But the rainbows don't target the minnows as much as the cutts do, so they really don't compete with each other that much.  That's why DWR bumped up the cutt program in the first place...to munch the chubs if not to provide a good fishery.  Most of us who have caught both prefer bows to cutts...both for battle and table qualities.  

I suspect that an increase in bow plantings is at least partially to offset the lower numbers of kokes the past couple of years.  I know more than a few 'Berry fans who would rather catch a couple of hefty bows than a boatload of cutts.  And if the kokes are not numerous enough to kick out limits for everybody it's great to be able to do some hand to fin combat with a big bow or two.

I sure agree with your statements.