06-08-2003, 03:05 AM
Tried something new -- did an overnighter in the boat last night at Strawberry. Launched from the Soldier Creek ramp, after netting over 100 chubs and shiners. We arrived at the honey hole and started fishing at 8:40 PM. We were each getting a hit about every 10 minutes on minnows. That continued for about an hour, and after that it would slow down for an hour or so and then get red hot again. We tried going to bed at about 11:30 PM, but the fish kept ringing the bells that we had attached to our poles. Finally at 1:00 AM I decided that I wasn't ever going to get any sleep if I didn't reel in my pole (there was a really good bite going on then, although there was only a 1/4 moon which had almost set). About 2:00 AM the wind came up from the north and blowed steady (not really hard, but enough to keep the boat rocking pretty good). I wish that I would have stayed up longer while the fish were biting because fish were hard to come by in the morning (started fishing again about 5:15 AM). Water temperature was 60.8 degrees. The largest fish we caught was just over 19 inches, and the average size was about 17 inches. Got checked by the game warden as we came in, and I was pleased to see that they are still actively checking up. It was lots of fun, and I want to do it again, maybe Bird Island next time.
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