strawberry question need help?

[jr8fish]

so i have been to strawberry four or five times trolling and have not done all that great. i have caught a hand full everytime but not many. i have down riggers and everything but i cant find the fish. where are the hot spots and at what depth? i gerneraly troll lucky craft pointers jointed rapalas and i like to stay away from the bait fishing so any help would be great.
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[muskyhunter]

Go to the Strawberry archives and reports and start reading. Im not a regular there but most people do good jiggin for them. M.H.
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[Kent]

I usually have my best fishing this time of year at Strawberry. I used to troll almost exclusively, but I am moving more and more to vertically jigging. I haven't made the change because vertically jigging always catches more fish than trolling, I have made the change because I just enjoy vertically jigging more. To catch fish trolling at Strawberry one must be prepared to mix it up. I have had days where one lure was great for an hour or so and then it wouldn't buy a bite -- changed lures and started catching them again. Try a variety of lures (spoons, in-line spinners, Flatfish, a variety of flies from large to small (I have caught fish trolling a fly on my downrigger down 40 feet) dodgers or flashers ahead of your lure and the list goes on. This time of year if I am seeing fish on the fishfinder and not getting hits I usually try speeding up the trolling speed (always troll in S patterns to vary the speed on the lures). I have caught them trolling over 4 mph. Try running your lures from the surface on down to about 45 feet. If all else fails, put on a whole nightcrawler (I prefer using a rebarb hook and a worm threader with the entire curved part of the hook being exposed by running the nightcrawler up the line -- and I rarely deep hook a fish this way) and put it on the downrigger with or without a small dodger or flasher in front of it. Try trolling from right next to the shoreline all the way out into the center of the largest bays. Look around and see where others are fishing, and if you see a concentration of boats some place it usually means either the fishing is good there or has been good recently. If the wind comes up try drift trolling. Sometimes I have done great with a downrigger and other times I have been outfished by someone long-lining monofilament or using leaded line. Any other questions feel free to ask.
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[Bigcat]

WOW! Is it really you JR? Nice to see you on the board again! I was at strawberry yesterday. Trolling (long lining) was slow and we tried tube jigs, rapalas, pointers, etc. Lots of fish surfacing but not many hitting shallow trolled stuff. We don't have down riggers or lead core line so shallow was pretty much our only option. We were hoping to find some schools of fish to do some vertical jigging but very few fish on the finder all day. Once we got some wind we drifted tube jigs tipped with a worm and did pretty good in Strawberry Bay. The other area's of the lake we fished that usually have fish seemed void of fish. We caught a few throwing and retrieving pointers and tubes. Call me or shoot me a PM if you have questions!
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[hlfmoon]

Strawberry is a large body of water. You can find fish almost anywhere. The trick is to find out what they want and how deap they are. Naturally there are spots that are better than others. I have spot where we can usally catch a Koke or two, but sometimes nothing. I think the best way to find the fish on strawberry is fish it alot. I have caught many fish on the berry in places it seems no one else fishes.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]If the fish were active on the surface, and not hitting trolled offerings much, it could be MIDGE TIME. When the fish are full of bugs they usually don't smack the larger flies or lures quite as well. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Did you notice much hatching activity early in the day?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Since the cutts have knocked down the chub and shiner populations, they are turning more to invertebrates in their diets...according to some DWR stomach content surveys.[/#0000ff]
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