Strawberry 10/14

[Bigcat]

Fish the Berry today from 7:30 to 11:00. Beautiful morning with very little w... Trolled tube jigs about 2.5 mph while watching the finder for schools of fish. Hooked up plenty while trolling but never could get over a good school to jig. Tried 3 different area's for jigging without any fish. Fish around mud creek, the knowles, and ladders. Finished with 15 for the day. All slot cutts. Water temp 46.
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[flygoddess]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]We were at Soldier Creek from about 8:30 a.m. to about 12:30pm. [/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]Right about the calm for the first half, the wind must have picked up right after you quit. Very cold, but water temp on our side was around low 50's.. Hook several cutts 17" to 20", and a friend hook a few rainbows that were small with beat up tails (planters). I caught one chub on the way in, that is a good sign.[/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]We were in pontoons and fly fishing, but all mine were deep 30'+.[/size][/black][/font]
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[MGB]

The fish have been tough to find lately. That fiffteen mark has been fairly common so don't feel too bad. I am thinking about giving it a try tomorrow, heading up solo. Are the docks still out? It could be tough if they aren't.
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[flygoddess]

Current Creeks are still up and running. Good Luck and Tight Lines.
FG
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[FishN2Dmax]

Big Cat, You left at the perfect time!!! Around Noon, the "W" started to come in from the North East and the temps dropped very fast. it started to rain and W really picked up. The Marina parking lot that was over capacity in the morning, emptied out very fast in the early afternoon. Not a good day on the Berry for vertical jigging; We looked everywhere for a good group of fish ( Mud, chickern-Jakes, knowles, Ladders) to no avail. Even trolling was not producing much once the cold "W" came and stirred up the pond. We should have left when you did! We too caught a few cutts trolling jigs or rapala's, but nothing very impressive.[unsure]
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[Bigcat]

FishN2Dmax , glad we got out before the w... started. The people I took with me were a little cold earlier in the morning and they really would have froze if the wind had kicked up. I kept telling them it was rather balmy compared to the -26 I had fished in on the ice last winter! That didn't help them much! We were out of the parking lot (which was completely over full!) by about 11:30. Its too bad nobody is finding any schools of fish. Wonder where they are hanging out??? We got most of our fish before 9:30 and then just a couple after that. There was one group in a boat about 1/2 mile north of mud creek that was catching quite a few but they were bait fishing....netting them in a crappy net....sticking fingers in their gills...ripping out treble hooks...and trying to get them to swim off. I saw several fish around them floating belly up. Its too bad people don't have enough respect for the fishery to do what is necessary to take care of fish.

One of the best thing I have done is buy a rubber net. It is really easy on the fish and makes it easy to unhook them without even touching them and then lower the net in the water and they swim away.

Flygoddess... I never did get anywhere near the SC side...sorry we didn't get a chance to come by and say hello.
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[MGB]

Tried my luck at the berry today (Sunday) and it was the same story as the last 3 trips up there. Caught around fifteen, about 12 jigging and the rest trolling while I was scouting for schools. It was hard finding a good active school but finally located one at Jakes Bay I caught 7 quick ones then all they would do is just look at the jig. The weather was great today, mostly calm water with a occational breeze that put a slight ripple on the water couldn't ask for better conditions. The boat docks have been taken out of the Strawberry marina except for the courtesy dock and the private docks.

Surface temperature was 50*.
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[fishluvr]

What size jig heads is everyone using? I have tons of sizes but am used to ice fishing with small jig heads. Do I need to use bigger heads on soft water?
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[Bigcat]

I use 1/8 oz most of the time. I will go heavier if the wind is blowing and I am unable to keep a vertical presentation. I will then try 1/4 and maybe even 3/8 oz. Jigging doesn't seem to work very well when you can't keep it vertical.
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