12-19-2013, 01:40 AM
Two of us hit Strawberry today. What a perfect day! No wind, upper 40's and decent ice. We fished in the marina area and had the place to ourselves. That will change soon. The fishing was very good. We landed 54 fish and had lots of swings & misses.
The fish were mostly cutties in the slot range with one over. Some nice bows too. The fish we're not particular on type of jig or color but very particular on the bait we tipped with. This is the first time I've experienced such a strong preference for shrimp. Out of all the fish we caught, only one was on a crawler tipped jig and one on a waxie tipped jig. Everything else was on a jig tipped with a small piece of cocktail shrimp. Lots of playing around to see if it was circumstance or actually a factor. No doubt the shrimp were the ticket. I used a setup with an inline hook. If the hook had shrimp and the jig below a crawler, the hook produced. If the jig had shrimp and the hook a crawler or waxie, the jig produced. Fascinating. Maybe that will help those that fish there in the next few days. We fished in 10-20' of water and the fish were most active around 12' regardless if it was deeper.
Ice conditions weren't bad in the shallow bays. 4-5" of good ice. Out towards open water things get sketchy. Lots of cracks with water and what appeared to be much thinner ice. Very busy ice today.
Good luck to those that go out this weekend. A couple pics attached to make this report more interesting.
Cheers!
[signature]
The fish were mostly cutties in the slot range with one over. Some nice bows too. The fish we're not particular on type of jig or color but very particular on the bait we tipped with. This is the first time I've experienced such a strong preference for shrimp. Out of all the fish we caught, only one was on a crawler tipped jig and one on a waxie tipped jig. Everything else was on a jig tipped with a small piece of cocktail shrimp. Lots of playing around to see if it was circumstance or actually a factor. No doubt the shrimp were the ticket. I used a setup with an inline hook. If the hook had shrimp and the jig below a crawler, the hook produced. If the jig had shrimp and the hook a crawler or waxie, the jig produced. Fascinating. Maybe that will help those that fish there in the next few days. We fished in 10-20' of water and the fish were most active around 12' regardless if it was deeper.
Ice conditions weren't bad in the shallow bays. 4-5" of good ice. Out towards open water things get sketchy. Lots of cracks with water and what appeared to be much thinner ice. Very busy ice today.
Good luck to those that go out this weekend. A couple pics attached to make this report more interesting.
Cheers!
[signature]