09-04-2019, 12:27 AM
So I finally made it to Strawberry with the family. It was a fun trip, but fishing wasn't so hot. Most of that likely due to timing. It's hard to get them convinced to hit the water early like I would prefer.
On 8/31 we didn't get on the water until after 11:00am. I tried trolling all around the north 1/2 of the Strawberry side with very little luck. I tried downrigging with dodger/squid combos at different depths. Nothing. Even tried long-lining leaded line and pop-gear that used to never fail me. Nothing. We did bring in 5 slot-busters.....on the wrong side of the slot.....off a Jake's lure while we were trolling. This was on top without a downrigger. The biggest of the 5 was probably around 12".
On 9/1 we got out a little earlier, but not much. This time I just headed out to the middle, killed the motor, and started tossing jigs and working them back in. Right off the bat I had one on. It was only around 15". After that, nothing. A while later one of the kids said there were fish right by the boat. Started tossing the jig into them and lures past them and we were able to bring in 2 of the chubs. I should have just set up some small hooks and let the kids go to town on the chubs because that is all that was hitting. After a while I could see the breeze was starting so I started trolling again. Nothing. We finally brought in one tiny cutt, probably around 10", off the leaded line and pop gear. With the weight of the gear you couldn't even tell the fish was there.
Finally we pulled up, headed into the narrows, and let the kids play around on kayaks in a bay while I spent all my effort controlling the big pontoon in the wind.
That night I let the kids have some fun. We headed to the docks after all the boats were in (after dark) and took small nets to catch the crawdads. We caught a pretty good mess of them then just gave them to someone else there gathering them as I didn't have the pot (nor the patience) to cook them up.
Not the greatest trip for fishing. I really need to re-learn that lake! However, a fun family trip and much better than the previous week where we didn't make it due to boat trailer troubles. Unfortunately our friends that were coming to meet us had their truck breakdown on the way.
Oh, and for those planning on heading up over the next couple of weeks, the camp host said most of the camp loops will be shutting down over the next couple of weeks, so be prepared.
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On 8/31 we didn't get on the water until after 11:00am. I tried trolling all around the north 1/2 of the Strawberry side with very little luck. I tried downrigging with dodger/squid combos at different depths. Nothing. Even tried long-lining leaded line and pop-gear that used to never fail me. Nothing. We did bring in 5 slot-busters.....on the wrong side of the slot.....off a Jake's lure while we were trolling. This was on top without a downrigger. The biggest of the 5 was probably around 12".
On 9/1 we got out a little earlier, but not much. This time I just headed out to the middle, killed the motor, and started tossing jigs and working them back in. Right off the bat I had one on. It was only around 15". After that, nothing. A while later one of the kids said there were fish right by the boat. Started tossing the jig into them and lures past them and we were able to bring in 2 of the chubs. I should have just set up some small hooks and let the kids go to town on the chubs because that is all that was hitting. After a while I could see the breeze was starting so I started trolling again. Nothing. We finally brought in one tiny cutt, probably around 10", off the leaded line and pop gear. With the weight of the gear you couldn't even tell the fish was there.
Finally we pulled up, headed into the narrows, and let the kids play around on kayaks in a bay while I spent all my effort controlling the big pontoon in the wind.
That night I let the kids have some fun. We headed to the docks after all the boats were in (after dark) and took small nets to catch the crawdads. We caught a pretty good mess of them then just gave them to someone else there gathering them as I didn't have the pot (nor the patience) to cook them up.
Not the greatest trip for fishing. I really need to re-learn that lake! However, a fun family trip and much better than the previous week where we didn't make it due to boat trailer troubles. Unfortunately our friends that were coming to meet us had their truck breakdown on the way.
Oh, and for those planning on heading up over the next couple of weeks, the camp host said most of the camp loops will be shutting down over the next couple of weeks, so be prepared.
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