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Had a phenominal morning at Strawberry. Arrived at Strawberry marina at 7:00 a.m. Tried to set out four lines. The first hour was crazy - I was working hard to keep two lines in the water at any given time. Wished I had arrived at 6:00; however, the alarm did not go off.
My wife and I ended up catching 33 fish. Nine Kokes and the rest were slot cutts. We had our limit of Kokes and stopped fishing at 11:30 a.m. See attached photo of Kokes. The largest koke was 2 lbs 14 oz. (If you could catch a limit of that size, you could cut down the number of Flaming Gorge trips!) A couple of the others were 1.5 lbs and the remainder were just over a pound. The largest cutt was about 20-inches. The majority were 15-18 inches.
All fish were caught between 25 & 30 feet in depth out in the middle of the reservoir. We were using down riggers. I was using cheaters on two rods, so I was pulling six bugs through the water most of the morning. The hot bugs were white & pink RMT squids - see attached photo.
The bite slowed at the morning progressed. Picked up again between 9:30 a.m. and 10:15. Went through one school during this period and caught 5 fish as three rods tripped almost at the same time (2 kokes & 3 cutts). This is the type of fishing a guy dreams of. Caught six sets of doubles on a single rod today, my all time high.
When we left the fish were still biting.
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Way to stick it to the Kokes!! Nice[cool]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]We fished the Soldier Creek side on Friday for 5.5 hours and never had a koke hit all day using the same exact dodger/squid combination between 20 and 35 feet. We did catch 9 trout, but NO kokes. Damn, that's frustrating![/size][/#800000][/font]
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Bob Hicks, from Utah
I'm 82 years young and going as hard as I can for as long as I can.
"Free men do not ask permission to bear arms."
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Way to go there congrats!! I knew i shoulda went to the berry today last time i listen to my wife! [:p] I cant beleive those squids work for kokes here i used them for spanish mackerals in miami. I am gonna have to get me some. Man its fun when you get doubles but a triple thats awesome!!
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Nicely Done![fishin]
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Sweet man! Were you guys on the Berry side with all those kokes?
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Yes - just out from the marina.
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Great job on the kokes. I met a guy at the cleaning station and he and his wife had caught three and lost one at the boat.
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That 20 inch Koke is a nice fish. That looks like the ones we catch at Flaming Gorge. You are right, if we can catch those at the Berry, it would save some gas and time.
Did you troll fast like we do at the Gorge? We try to go about 2 mph there to get the hits. Also, Did you use any wedding rings or just the RMT squids. I love the squids and funny thing is, the cutts like them too. We have even caught a couple of rainbows with them.
Thanks for the post.
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The fact that there was essentially no wind on Staurday - I was able to keep the boat between 2.0 and 2.1 mph (gps) all morning long.
Did not try wedding rings. I started the day with those two rigs and ended the day with two rigs - no need to change when those were working. I did have one rod rigged up for bigger fish; however, they never came to play.
The weekend before I fished the Soldier Creek side, caught 15 fishing two rods and five were rainbows. Two of them were pushing 2 lbs and the others were just over a pound. Caught them on the same tackle rig. Definitely seems to be more rainbows over by the dam.
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I was out there on Sat also. we caught 5 kokes before we went home at 12. I took a couple kids that had never caught a fish before and spoiled them at the Berry.
Was that you guys on channel 12 all morning?
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No - I do not have a radio on board.
Other than the 5 kokes, did you guys get very many? I did notice that there were a couple of pontoon boats out on the pond.
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#500028]Say OCF,[/#500028][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#500028]Do you know if Sportsmans or Cabelas etc. sells those Signature Squids rigged with hooks like that? The only ones I've seen around here are just the bodies with no hooks. [/#500028][/font]
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We caught a few nice cutts but let them all go. I was targeting Kokes. They taste so much better.
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Both stores carry these squids & dodgers. Go in and ask for the Rocky Mtn Tackle display & they will be there.
Sockeye Slayer needs to throw me a bone for all of this advertising!
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#502800]I hit Cabela's yesterday (just up the road) and they had the RMT dodgers and Cabela's squid bodies but none rigged with hooks. BUT the salesman showed me how to make my own and they turned out great. I hope they work great tomorrow morning at the Berry. Apparently Cabela's had a bunch of the rigged squids in a sale-price bin and they got bought up. [crazy] Oh well, they cost about 5 buck that way, and you can make your own for about 75 cents. [  ][/#502800][/font]
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Could one of you guys take a picture of the rigged squids you are using and put it with a tape measure so I can see how big it is? I'll be fishing the Berry this friday and after being skunked 2 times in a row, I'm gettin' ready to catch a boat full of lunkers !!
I'm a catch and release guy and they all swim away happy.
Also, a point of clarification.. When you say you are trolling in 25-40 feet of water, does that mean you're letting your lures troll on the surface and the water's 25 feet deep, or that you're using down riggers to get the lures down to 25 feet in depth.
I've never tried down-riggers, but it sounds like they might be the missing link to my fishing success.
I usually just troll a white tube jig with worm or chub meat on it, or drift fish with it, or stay still and jig.
I have had lots of luck with a white fly that I found at Fish-Tech. It's about 2" long with a large hook. White feathers and a read head. Put that on with a half worm, and the fish seem to like it (for trolling).
About chub meat.. I have tried using it from the frozen chubs but once they thaw, they just won't stay on the hook. They turn to pudding and one strike and they're gone. Does fresh chub meat from a fresh caught chub work very good? Is it stinky enough for the fish to notice it??
Thanks for your answers and your help. There's pleanty of fish in the berry, so let's help each other out and catch a ton. My brain is slow and sometimes if I can see a picture of what you guys are using, that makes all the difference in the world.
See ya on the lake,
Curtis
LuvThemCuts
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[#ff0000]See comments below in Red:[/#ff0000]
Could one of you guys take a picture of the rigged squids you are using and put it with a tape measure so I can see how big it is?[#ff0000] The actual plastic part of the squid measures 1.75-inches. I usually tie the squid 9-10 inches behind the dodger. The dodgers in the photos at the first part of the thread measure 4.25-inches (small) and 5.5-inches (large). The dodger need to bent a little so that there is a little "s" curve in them to give them some action. If the squid is not whipping back & forth while being trolled, you might need to bend them a little more.[/#ff0000]
Also, a point of clarification.. When you say you are trolling in 25-40 feet of water, does that mean you're letting your lures troll on the surface and the water's 25 feet deep, or that you're using down riggers to get the lures down to 25 feet in depth. [#ff0000]What I mean is, the down rigger ball is dropped to 25 feet in depth & the squid/lure is tracking approximately at this depth. The actual depth of water that I am fishing in was 80 -100 feet in depth.[/#ff0000]
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I've never tried down-riggers, but it sounds like they might be the missing link to my fishing success. [#ff0000]If you try it, it will be hard to go back to any other type of fishing.[/#ff0000]
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[#ff0000]Good Luck.[/#ff0000]
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I hope you were successful. Sorry for the slow reply but I have ben busy.
Also, a point of clarification.. When you say you are trolling in 25-40 feet of water, does that mean you're letting your lures troll on the surface and the water's 25 feet deep, or that you're using down riggers to get the lures down to 25 feet in depth. [/i]
I mean that I am fishing 25-40' down with my downrigger.
[/b]I've never tried down-riggers, but it sounds like they might be the missing link to my fishing success[/i].
Once you get a downrigger and learn how to use it, your catch rate will go up so far that you will wonder what took you so long to decide to get one.[/b]
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Thanks a million for sharing your trip and pics and freely giving the tips. I am headed there this weekend and hope to have a sliver of the same luck. I'll plan to report back next week too.
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