Strawberry 11-21-09

[Kent]

A couple of fellow BFT members have been wanting to hit Strawberry with me, so yesterday we finally made it. With a forecast of overnight snow for Friday night, I was worried about the possibility of slick roads, but alas no need to worry. Drove all the way to Renegade without seeing any fresh snow on the roads anywhere. There was some old snow still on the road to Renegade, in a few shaded areas, that one needs to take slowly, but that was it.

Arrived at the ramp to find a few bank anglers, but we were the only boat (never saw another boat all day long) and the ramp was dry. Launched the boat and was thrilled that it started right up in the cold conditions.[] My happiness didn't last long though because the outboard would not go into gear forward or in reverse.[frown] Powered up the electric trolling motor and I was grateful that our first place to try was close by.

Jacob caught a couple trolling a tube jig during the short trip to our destination. Anchored up in 22' of water and we were thankful that there was just a slight breeze and it was warm enough that we didn't even need to wear gloves. Those conditions lasted for about 10 minutes and the wind started to blow from the west (and continued blowing for the rest of the day), temperatures cooled and the boat was dragging the small anchor.
Dropped the heavier anchor and the boat stopped drifting and all was well, except it was plenty cold on the hands and face.

Now for the catching report. It was a stellar day. No fish showed on the fish finder when we anchored up, not unusual for Strawberry, but I was still hopeful that we would find a few. We started getting bites almost immediately and I don't think we went 5 minutes the rest of the day without one of us getting a bite and usually it was a bite about every two minutes, until we left at 3:30 PM.[] We never had to move the boat to locate the fish. One angler landed over 30 fish, and the other one landed just over 40 (they also probably lost as many as they landed) and I managed to land a few. Nothing huge today with all of the fish being cutts in the slot (average was about 19-20 inches long). All fish were caught on tube jigs tipped with chub, red shiner (I tried crawlers for awhile without success) or crawdad (see below). White, crawdad, black and chartreuse were the hot colors.

I caught a large crawdad and decided to give it a try as bait. I have never fished with crawdad before, so I wasn't quite sure how to fish it. I took off its tail and peeled most of the shell off of the tail. I tipped my tube with it and I caught three fish as quickly as I could drop the tube to the bottom! Unfortunately, the last fish ate the crawdad. I am going to start hauling my crawdad trap with me when I fish Strawberry so that I can get fresh bait. Advice on how to fish with crawdads would be appreciated.

Great day with Aaron and Jacob and grateful that I was able to get them into some fish and especially that the forecasted snow never happened.
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[Fish-or-die]

I'm still in awe at how the fishing was! I only sat down when I had to tie on a new jig, the rest of the time it was bite after bite. Twice I had my own double!!! It's funny how fast the day flies by when your catching them like that! Thanks again Kent for the amazing fishing trip.
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[bowhunter3]

Great job guys! Sounds like you had a blast. Gotta love this "snow storm" we have had this weekend. Man, leave it to the weatherman to get things absolutely WRONG. I was pheasant hunting in a T-shirt today. Anyways, I hope the fish stay nice and hungry, as the ice is just around the corner.
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[rainbowlunker]

I wanted to reply earlier, but my modem at home is not working....[mad]. Thanks Kent for a wonderful day on Strawberry. I started the day with the record of fishing Strawberry twice and catching a total of zero fish. I now can say that I have caught 30 fish at the Berry. What a great day of fishing. It has been fun to see the faces of my family when I tell them about our success! I really appreciated the opportunity to fish with you Kent. Thank you for your tips and expertise.
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[4thekids]

Great report. You anchored in 22' of water? I was wondering, I would like to take my teenagers there to try and get them some larger fish than what they are used to but have never fished it. Any tips for a "new to the Berry" shore angler?? I am not at all familiar with the area and would be traveling from Roy.
thanks for any help
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[Kent]

Here is a picture of an interesting looking cutt that I caught that day.

[inline "Snub Nosed Cutt.JPG"]
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[Kent]

Not sure how much help I can be to a shore angler, but I will try. I hesitate suggesting fishing PowerBait (because fish swallow the hook so often) about 12 to 18" up off of the bottom, but it will definitely catch fish up at Strawberry. A nightcrawler and a marshmallow will often work. A whole minnow under a bobber will also work. This time of year many fish are reachable from the shore, so just about anywhere you want to try could hold some fish. Hopefully, some others will chip in with more specific areas to fish.
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[ponyboyf350]

Unfortunately, I do not have access to a boat either. I have learned the hard way how and when to fish Strawberry. I have been up numerous times in the last month and fishing from the shore has been awesome. They seem to range from 17"-23". Generally catching Cutthroat's where I have been.
One of the spots you might try is Hawes point. It's a mile or two past the Strawberry bay marina entrance.
Send me a PM and I'll give you more information.
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[THESLAYER]

do well at chicken creek west this time of year also
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[Old_Coot]

Last fall I was going to take some scouts for a day of bank fishing at Strawberry. Since I had never done it before (I'm a boat fisher), like you, I also needed good info on a good location to fish from the bank. I got a lot of good input about the Chicken Creek West/East area. As it turned out, we never did take the scouts fishing from the bank. We were all able to fish from boats. But I did make a Word document with notes on how to get to the good bank locations in case I ever became boatless and wanted to fall fish Strawberry from the bank.

I have attached that document if you care to take a look.
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[4thekids]

Thank you so much for the info and map. If we get the chores done around the house we are going to give it a try. If so, I will be sure to report.
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