What the HAIL is up with Strawberry ??

[LuvThemCuts]

I was at work yesterday and my friend said he wanted to go fishin, so I looked at my 'todo' list and decided there wasn't any reason to stay at work.

We headed up for Strawberry and got there around 2 pm. We fished everywhere using everything and didn't get a nibble.. I only marked a few fish (just one at a time) on my fish finder, but I assumed that was because all the fish were really shallow.

We were fishing up by trout creek, chicken creek, jake's bay, and then got the HAIL knocked out of us.

Yup, it started pouring rain and then the rain started hurting and I noticed it was HAILING on us. OUCH !! Like little pieces of broken glass.. Anyway, we buzzed back to the Marina and waited it out. The waves were getting big and I was starting to sing the 'Gilligan's Island' theme song..

Anyway, when the rain cleared, we noticed the fish and game guys stocking some little rainbows. They said they had dumped in about 125,000 of the 9" rainbows over the last couple days.

We hadn't caught anything yet, so we figured a 9" rainbow is better than nothin'.. We caught about 5 each off the dock with spinners, but then decided to go out again.

We tried that bay just south east from the marina past the camping spots I guess that's called Horse creek. We fished all along the shore line and didn't get anything except for weeds.

We were casting from the boat to the shore and had no luck. We tried Rapallas, white jigs with chub meat, spinners, worms and even rubber minnows, but nothing. We tried trolling, casting to shore, and jigging, but no dice.

So, if somebody could tell me what the heck is working over at Strawberry right now, I would LOVE to hear about it. Also, at what point to the fish start going deeper? Is there a particular water temperature at which that happens? By the way, the water temp varried from 48.5 to 49.5 degrees where we were.

I was there about 3 weeks ago and my friend was knocking them dead with a rapalla (black back, and silver belly) but I had no luck.

Maybe we should have been in the narrows or in Mud Creek.

Anyway, thanks for reading my tale of woe and thanks for any pointers you might have as to what to try next time.

Maybe it was just a bad day.. But whatever it was, it sure beat being at work !!!!

See ya,
Curtis
--aka LuvThemCuts
[signature]

[Jacksonman]

I never do well at Strawberry from a week after ice off until the spawn (mid-end of June until mid July). The best fishing for me is end of June, mid-September until ice on, and first few weeks of ice on.

I haven't figured out exactly why, but I would guess the fish are still lethargic in the cold water, they are deeper and the bait fish aren't acting like the rapalas and tube jigs that are being used (size, color, depth). They may also be pre-spawn and not concentrating on eating. Who knows?
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]We can always guess at a million reasons why fish do or don't cooperate. Strawberry is no different than any other lake in that there are annual cycles. If you hit it right, you are blessed with lots of action and fool yourself into believing you finally got it figured out...until the next trip when you eat humble pie.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]My best guess is that it is MIDGE TIME. This is when the buffalo midges hatch by the bajillions and the fish slurp up big mouthfuls of both the larvae and adults. Full tummies of easy pickins has typically put a big slowdown on the troutin' for a while. Many of the old timers find a different place to be for a while.[/#0000ff]
[signature]

[N.E.T.O.]

I agree with the above posters. According to my ledgers, I have not done well at the Berry until the last part of June or early July. Unfortunately, it is not due to lack of trying. I've got low fish counts or goose eggs written in for the fish counts on those late May/early June Berry trips. There are a few lucky exceptions of course, but for the most part, I am not planning on a trip to the Berry for at least a month.
I'll be fishing elsewhere until then.
[signature]

[sunkee]

A few friends and I couldn't decide Monday whether to hit Deer Creek for some White Bass action or the Berry for some cutts. We decided on the Berry and fished the Haws Point area. The fishing wasn't hot but it was steady from 3:00 to 7:00 pm. Drift trolled with tube jigs most of the afternoon.
[signature]

[michaelbolton]

NETO, the reason you don't have much luck until June is because you take Mini D. with you, find someone who can stay awake long enough to cast 5 times and you will knock them dead!![:p]
[signature]

[bmitchell]

I wouldn't suppose anyone has a map of the Berry would they? I am getting used to all the lakes in the area and want to begin learning some of the parts of the lakes that everyone is talking about. Thanks.
[signature]

[hollynkait]

There's one here:
http://www.redrockadventure.com/fishing/...ir_map.htm

or here:

http://wildlife.utah.gov/strawberry/straw5.html

i had to search for the first one because the second one didnt have jakes bay on it and i was wondering where that was. The second one has more on it and you dont have to click on the bubbles to see what it is like the first one.
[signature]

[Lundman]

Just to add a comment about the stocking of the 9" rainbows - a couple weeks ago on Rough'in Outdoors the DWR said the reason they are stocking the bigger rainbows it that their survivability is dramatically increased. []

They say that these rainbows will be able to bring back Strawberry to a Rainbow fishery again.

I hope they are right !!
[signature]

[N.E.T.O.]

michaelbolton said:
"NETO, the reason you don't have much luck until June is because you take Mini D. with you, find someone who can stay awake long enough to cast 5 times and you will knock them dead!![:p]"

Word! [laugh]
[signature]

[bmitchell]

Thanks for the links. That should work great.
[signature]

[Weekend_Warrior]

Curtis, you learned just like I did that this is dead time at the berry. Just like the first couple of posts said, the fish are full and figuring out the summer thing. It will soon return to good fishing but it will be a couple of weeks. Take an extra 30 minutes and drive to electric during this time of the year. Lots of nice cutts and its hot. Gotta diversify man!!! Utah has lots of awesome fishing! Let me know if you want to meet up to fish electric or somewhere else till late next month.

Oh and it sounds like its time to troll 10 inch rainbow imitations... [cool]
[signature]