Strawberry 1/9/07

[Kent]

Fished Strawberry today with my wife. We landed 9 cutts, which was 9 more than the last time I went ice fishing with Kathy 5 years ago. Lots of long releases. Considering we had to stay close around The Marina not too bad of a day. The weather was beautiful, no wind and bright sunshine.
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[Fishhound]

[black][size 3]Good to see you got her out again. Do you think she will be inclined to go out before 5 more years pass ? Hopefully, after catching a nice cutt from strawberry and seeing how nice it can be out ice fishing, she will be more likely to join you on the ice in the future.[/size][/black]
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[Theekillerbee]

Cool Kent. I hope she had a great time on the ice.
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[Bigcat]

It was a great day to be on the lake. I fished today with my dad and showman. It warmed up nicely from the 5 degree start, lots of sunshine and no W.... We fished east of the marina today in about 30 feet deep. Ice was 8 inches thick. We started at about 6:30 and had fish coming through right from the get go. The fish seemed to come and go today in groups and probably only 10% of the fish we saw on the finder actually would hit. Those that did hit were very light and usually only gave you 1 or 2 chances. We did a lot of swinging and missing today. We managed 14 fish between the 3 of us. All were slot cutts except for one under the slot keeper for dinner. Beautiful day on the Berry. Wish all the fish that came through were hungry. Sure seems like they are really picky or just well fed this year. Lots of fish down there but very few hitting.
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[Kent]

Without a good fish finder we would have caught very few fish today. We fished in water 35 to 40 feet deep and caught very few fish on the bottom. Almost all fish were suspended (which is a little unusual for Strawberry).
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[catchandrelease]

It seems to me that the fish are acting like it's later in the year. I'm noticing this everywhere I've fished. Light, light, bites. Normally with ice on it's pretty hot and stays good for a while. Mantua, the Berry, and a few other lakes are behaving badly for the time of year...it's not even March yet!
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[lunkerhunter2]

Way to go Kent. See ya thursday.
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[DKSRenegade]

With a big like that, I'll bet you will be able to get her on the ice sooner than 5 years next trip.
Kent, did you see the report about catfish through the ice in Layton?
You better give it a try!
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[MrLipripper]

Okay, let's do the math: 9 cutts in 5 years = 18 in 5 more years = 27 10 years from now, etc. OR 1.8 cutts/year or 0.15 cutts/month. Hm, maybe you should get her some jewelry instead.[blush]

Oh, yeah, what was the official tally? It had better be: Kathy>=5 and Kent<4, if you get my drift.[]
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[lavaman]

Nice observation, Ryan. I was wondering if I was the only one noticing that bit of info.
Not to cause a panic, but I'm wondering if global warming is coming into effect. It sure seems the fish think it's 'later' in the season, and with these abnormal weather patterns, it makes you think.
I don't recall temps ever hitting near 50 degrees in the dead of winter (second week of January).

IMO, whether we want to admit it or not, our planet is sure changing drastically at an alarming rate.
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[Hellsangler69]

Kent , most of my bites have come from the fish that are suspended . Bottom fish have been very picky .
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[Flycasting]

Nice report.... I wish I could get my wife on the ice with me. []

I agree with the fish finder statement. When iIwas there last, we caught many of our fish suspended. We would see them come through on the finder, and would reel up and wham! I also found that the 2 pole permit is nice for that as well. I left one rod suspended, and one on the bottom. []
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[Kent]

I talked to a young man in the parking lot before heading out. He said that the fish calendar indicated that fishing would be poor yesterday. With a few exceptions (primarily those who have snowmobiles and 4 wheelers) it seems like the reports are quite consistent at Strawberry -- on any given day, either most anglers will catch lots of fish or most anglers will do poorly. Also most anglers will report hard or soft bites. Seems like there is definitely something to the lunar caldendar and weather changes have an impact; however, I fish when I can so I don't have the luxury of trying to schedule around a fishing calendar. Nearly all of the bites yesterday were really light, and often we would get a couple taps and then the fish would move on, and there were lots of swim bys. For a short time I reeled up to where I could see my jig by looking down the ice hole (I could see my jig down to 15' inside of the shack) and as I suspended the jig down about 10' a fish came by and slammed it -- that was lots of fun and the only hard bite I had all day.
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[Flycasting]

I love doing that too Kent.... Little tougher to see without a shelter, but it is exciting.

When I was there last time, I saw a fish cruising right below the hole. I reeled up, and jigged it a few times, and he smacked it... I missed him the first time. He also smacked the mealie off. I had my other rod down as well, so I reeled that one up and he smacked it too. I hooked him this time. Really fun watching him. []
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[Kent]

[size 1]"Kent, did you see the report about catfish through the ice in Layton?" Yes I did, I am trying to find out whether they were muds or channels and how large they are running. [/size]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Since DWR took over Layton Pond/Holmes Creek/Company Pond as one of the community fisheries, it has received plants of the standard rainbows and channel cats. The cats are usually planted as decent sized "catchables" with a few over 2 pounds. But, they grow fast and holdovers can become decent sized. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Hopefully they won't be "harvested" out as quickly as they are in Bountiful Lake. The average planted fish in some waters lasts less than one week. I'm sure that it won't take long for the word to get out and for the cooler crowd to show up. Pity. That used to be a nice little fishin' hole.[/#0000ff]
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[N.E.T.O.]

Great post Kent!
I'm with you. I fish when I can, whether or not it is "supposed to be" a good fishing day or not.

Sometimes I've broken the odds and done really well when I wasn't supposed to, but other times I've done really poorly when it was supposed to be good!

I can't get my wife to go ice fishing with me yet...she has this impression that ice fishing is really cold. [shocked]

Randy
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[wiperhunter2]

It must be nice to have the wife fishing with you for a change, I can't even get my wife on the boat when it's warm out[].
You posted, "[size 1]He said that the fish calendar indicated that fishing would be poor yesterday", [/size][black][size 2]my fish calender only tells me when the best times of the day are for fishing. Do you know what kind of fish calender that guy was using and where I could get a copy of it? The calender I use comes from Field & Stream. Thanks Kent [/size][/black]
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[Kent]

He didn't say and I didn't ask.
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[Out4Trout]

[cool]Kent, that is really cool that your wife went out with you ice fishing. Even if she doesn't go that often with you, just the fact that you got her out there is awesome. I'm gonna make sure my next one will at least go once in a great great while with me just for the simple fact that she enjoys being with me no matter what we are doing.

Glad you guys got into some fish even though it sounds like you guys were in the crowded zone area where the masses usually ice fish it after Jan. 1st... I may be going out there this Saturday for Craig's shindig if BassAckwards had room for one more in his shanty. Definitely will be a shanty day out there...
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