Sight fishing at the Berry 1/3/09

[N.E.T.O.]

Since we (cousin and I) hadn't been out ice fishing yet this season and were both getting getting cabin fever, we decided to brave the elements even with the crummy weather report for Friday night and head out to the Berry. I read up on a few Strawberry posts and we decided that we would hit the marina, then walk south and west to a couple of places we have fished in the past. (Notice I said WALK, since we haven't got the snowmobile going yet this year...doh!). I noticed in Kent's post that he said a lot of fish were shallow, and to reel up to them when seen on the fishfinder. We ended up with 18 fish in about 3 hours, and missed a lot more, and MOST were caught about 10 to 15 feet below the ice shack, SIGHT FISHING thru the iceholes! What a blast! We also had our fish TV going and our sonar...I'd say we got to play with darn near every fish that came around! All cutts, only one at 22 inches, the rest all in the slot. No pics. Was grateful for the ice shack...and our HEATER as the wind was cold cold cold. It was very good to get out today! We were fishing in 27 feet of water, and not very many were caught on the bottom. Most of the time when one fish came around, another was very close.

Randy
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[Deadguy]

Sounds like a good time! How were the ice conditions?
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[HOODY3]

I wish I would've gone up there like I was planng on instead of going to Causey and getting skunked [frown]
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[trdt44]

Well, we went to Strawberry today (CCE) and caught one fish. Did not see very many fish on the flasher and didn't see any other fish caught.
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[N.E.T.O.]

Ice was 5 to 6 inches thick, with a couple inches of blowing snow on the top. Pretty easy to walk and pull sleds in. Was a beautiful day other than the wind. With the 9 degree temp, and the wind, it felt like -10. I spilled a 64 ounce diet Dr. Pepper in my sled on the way out to the spot, and was mad that everything would be sticky. I got everything out, turned the sled upside down and the frozen Diet DP all came out in a chunk! Nothing was wet. Again, we were very greatful for the ice shack and heater! There were a lot of others on the ice, and talked to a couple of others who only caught a couple fish each. I think the combination of the sonar and the fish camera really helped us out. We were able to reel up to the shallow ones and sight fish from the top, or actually see the fish hit our lures with the camera on the bottom. Most of the time you could not feel the fish bite. I love modern technology and gadgetry!
Randy
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[RILEYFISH]

Nice Job Randy. Wait till Next June at the gorge. You will see gadgetry/Sonar at its finest.[cool]
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[Kent]

Randy, glad my post got you looking in the right direction. It was strange to catch so many suspended fish, and without a fishfinder I likely would have wasted even more time fishing the bottom. Until mid-afternoon I hadn't caught a single fish on the bottom, then for a few hours at least half of them were caught on the bottom.
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[N.E.T.O.]

Old Coot sent me some videos...I can't wait!!!
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[MGB]

Fished the marina area over by the camp grounds Saturday with NoBites. We caught 20 in nine hours. The bites where more consistant before noon. After noon was a little tougher. We droped the camera down to the bottom to see why we where marking fish on the sonar but getting no bites. The fish wanted nothing to do with our jiggs of any thing else we tried, they would look at it then leave. Caught fish on the bottom up to just under the ice.
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