Strawberry Gets Award

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Brett Prettyman had an article in the Tribune this morning about Strawberry. Seems the American Fisheries Society has given special recognition to the outstanding fishing in our cutt pond.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][url "http://www.sltrib.com/outdoors/ci_4989013"]LINK TO ARTICLE[/url][/#0000ff]
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[trollboy8]

That's very impressive. Now we need some award winning lmb ponds, walleye ponds, smb ponds, etc. to go with our award winning trout pond and our world class carp pond.
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[N.E.T.O.]

"In 10 or 20 years, people will be talking about the glory days of Strawberry, and those days are RIGHT NOW!"

This is what I have been telling all my seldom fishing buddies now for years. I seldom fished myself until 2004 when I purchased a float tube and started going out with my buddies. I purchased a small aluminum boat in the fall of that year, and one day I decided to go to Strawberry by myself. It was a early Saturday morning in late September 2004, and was the first time I'd fished Strawberry for at least 10 years. The fog was so thick in the early morning that I launched and decided to stay within earshot of the marina. I was using a Jakes-spin-a-lure. I didn't know how to "Jig" back then. Casting and retrieving from my aluminum boat just south of the marina I started getting into the fish. The very first fish I caught was 21 1/2"! At that point in my life that was the #1 biggest fish I had EVER caught. Knowing the regulations, and being a law abiding citizen, I reluctantly released it. Fishing there in the fog, I caught 5 more fish that day, and the last one went just over 22 1/2". I was shaking I was so excited that I had caught one that I could keep.
I took it home in the cooler (had to fold it to put it in the cooler) and when I showed it to my family they couldn't believe how big it was! Anyway, Strawberry is now my #1 favorite fishing destination. A full 75% of ALL fish that I caught last year (2006) were Cutthroats out of Strawberry.

If you haven't been to Strawberry recently, you need to get yourself there while it is still world class status. Hopefully it stays that way.

Randy
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Hang in there. DWR is taking a major step forward toward beefing up the non-trout fisheries, when they bring on the Warm Water Fisheries Director. That post should be filled soon. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]They are already looking at setting up warm water hatcheries and are looking for sources of disease free brood stock.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Verily, it shall be done. Hallelujah![/#0000ff]
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[PapaBaruu]

Well done and Well deserved...

Having fished Strawberry now for close to 35 years I've seen it through many changes (not all good) but the direction that this pond is on now will truly make it a "Trophy Class" fishery if it isn't already.

I travel throughout the western states with my employment and have the opportunity to talk fishin' with folks in all of these states and many if not all have heard of Strawberry and look forward to the time that they can make a trip here and experience it for their selves.

It always makes me reflect on how lucky we are to live here in such a great state and be able to enjoy all we have right in our own back yard... PB
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[trollboy8]

I was just pokin' fun TD. I think the DWR is heading in the right direction and I am happy to see things moving that way. And, like I said before, we do have a world class carp fishery (also a prolific carp hatchery and archery range all in one. Funny how "archery" looks like a contraction of the words, "carp hatchery." Coincidence?
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[piscispursuit]

Strawberry is my favorite place to fish, hands down. The scenery is great and the fishing amazing. I have lived in Utah for nearly 20 years now, but grew up fishing the big rivers and lakes of Washington State. While it's fun to hook into a large steelhead or salmon now and then, it takes a lot of fishing to do so. Most of the lakes are full of the 12-16 inch bows and so on. Nothing I have ever fished in the lower 48 compares to what we have here at the Berry. I didn't record every fish caught from my boat up there last year (several hundred), but I am confident we averaged over 20", with the biggest being over 27. How can you argue with that kind of success? I know most people like a good ice trip, frankly I don't, so I'm really looking forward to the soft water at the Berry again. Come on spring.
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[Habs_Fan]

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It always makes me reflect on how lucky we are to live here in such a great state and be able to enjoy all we have right in our own back yard... PB [/reply]
My thoughts exactly.

[HOOSIER]

What's most impressive to me is how quickly Strawberry has turned around. [size 2]I first started fishing Utah in 2000 and heard stories about the glory days of Strawberry but it really wasn’t that great of a fishery at that time. I had more bad trips than good ones back then and it wasn't uncommon for me to get skunked. Once they made the reg changes though things sure changed. It's incredible to me that you can go catch 18-22" fish all day long. It really is an amazing fishery and I don't think people in Utah appreciate it enough. Many people would kill to have such a great fishery right in their backyard. Every time I return to Utah, Strawberry is on my list of places to visit.[/size]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]People who have not "experienced" Strawberry in the past can only listen to stories from the old-timers to judge what we ahve now.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I first fished Strawberry in 1963, just before the first big rotenone treatment. It was full of chubs, perch, carp, suckers and even a few trout. People were allowed on the lake in boats to scoop up the dying fish. They were not harmful to eat. There were not as many trout as other species, but there were some bigguns.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have been in and out of Utah over the years in between, but I did live continuously in Utah from the mid 70's through the mid 80's. At that time Strawberry was a cooler-crowd lake, where nobody felt they had a good trip unless they took home a limit of rainbows, with a few cuts. DWR dumped in a lot of rainbows but the average fish was not very large. There was also a growing chub problem by the time I moved to Arizona in the mid 80's. Couldn't even troll or fish flies without catching a grundle of chubs.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I followed the second poisoning and the joining of Soldier Creek and Strawberry, and the fast fishing the single lake produced afterward. I was when I heard of the exploding chub population again. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I moved back to Utah just as the new cutt program and new regs were kicking in. The results over the past three years have been phenomenal. DWR netting and creel studies have verified that the average size fish from Strawberry has increased several inches, and that there are now many fish in the larger sizes...whereas anything over 22 inches used to be rare. These larger fish are not only better chub munchers but do a better job at natural spawning too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Some people have complained about the lower ratio of rainbows in Strawberry. Part of the problem has been the downtime at the hatcheries, during renovations to control whirling disease. Now that is just about done and there will be a lot more rainbows available in the coming years. DWR has promised increased plantings of rainbows. The way those babies grow in Strawberry, we are in for some more bent rods.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There are still folks who cry a lot about the new STrawberry. Some anglers quit buying fishing licenses when they could no longer take two pickups full of family to soak bait and fill coolers with trout. The upside, for Strawberry, and for Utah, is that this water has exploded into a fishery that any troutaholic in the world would love to fish. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Nice job, DWR.[/#0000ff]
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[Majja]

I have never had great success numbers wise, but have always did pretty well up there. And this fall hooking a fish that was moving my little tube around just made me giddy as a school girl.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]As good as Strawberry is, it is still subject to the 90/10 rule. 90 percent of the fish will be in only 10 percent of the water. And, finding both the fish and the right depth can be a challenge without the range and speed of a waterworthy boat.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We are limited in tubes and toons, but there are areas that produce fairly consistently, once you learn them. In fact, there are times...like late fall and iceout...that we have a great advantage in fishing for the aggressive fish that cruise the shallows and bang anything you throw at them. In a tube or toon you can maintain position, handsfree, and just keep smackin' em until your family forcibly removes you from the water.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Wait 'til iceout. Cast a jig right up onto the receding ice shelf and drop it off into open water. The strikes will scare you to death. Make sure you are wearing Depends.[/#0000ff]
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[CROSSINEYES]

we guys im not as impressed with the berry as most of ya. i started fishing in what was called the glory days! and they were. 1968 first time fishing. 5 yrs old, first ten minuts 1 27 inch cuttbow. 10 moore minuts brother age 6 28 inch cutbow. rainbow action on velvita chease at the knoles was like nothing in utah today or for many yrs since. 3 to 8 pound bows by the cooler full. it was the 60,s. they have a good start with the work that has been done thus far. but we realy deserve the slot to grow with the fish. a 22 incher is no trophy!!! and shure as heck taist worse than a 15 incher. if the slot were to increase to 1 over 27 this res will get world attention. not to mention every time out we all would be catching and releasing 6 to 7 pounders like th slotters we now catch a ton of. most of the guys here freak when they see a 27 28 inch fish. my fishing buddies and myself if it not 30 its just a good fish. anything over a 30 i a hog. but this it utah and 30 inch trout are a chore to find. unless they are browns. lol. secret spot fer them bad boys. anything else good luck. if this was implimmented we will all love the results. it will also assist keeping the big chub spawners on their fins.
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[N.E.T.O.]

I'll give you that. I think Strawberry is in its "SECOND" set of Glory Days!

I was born and grew up in Las Vegas and the only times I went fishing at Strawberry as a youngster (1960's) was when I came up to SLC on vacation with my family. I can recall once or twice going with my Grandpa, dad and uncle, tagging along with them, and we may or may not have gone to Strawberry. They ask me occasionally if I remember "that one time when I was about 7 and caught that sucker at Strawberry..." but I just don't remember. The next time that I remember going (for sure) was in 1978 right after we moved up here. By then, my Grandpa had stopped going, and me and my dad would go with my uncle and his sons (one of which is my cousin Arron, who I go with all the time now) We would always take my uncles boat and we would either fish "The Soldier Creek Side" or "The Strawberry Side". During those trips we caught a lot of little fish, but I never remembered any of us ever catching anything big. But I DO remember my dad and uncle talking about "the OLD glory days". But even by their recollection, they said that when fishing Strawberry you usually didn't catch a LOT of fish, but if you DID catch one, it was usually big. The next time fishing the Berry was in the early to mid 90's. I wasn't really a fisherman then, but just went along cause I got invited. I was not impressed and did not catch a fish, nor did anyone with me. The next time of course, was in 2004 as typed up earlier in this post.
I work for a national corporation and talk with people back east all the time. Strawberry really is gaining a reputation for being a world class trout fishing destination and people pay a lot of money to fly out here and fish it. People tell me I'm lucky that I live so close to it, and I do not deny it. I recently took my mom and dad out to Strawberry for my dads birthday in my family boat. We spent the morning and mom and dad caught about 20 fish between them...and both my mom and dad caught their biggest fish of their lives that day! (Mom's went 24+, Dads was 22+)...my dad commented that he had NEVER had such a good fishing trip at Strawberry before!

So anyway, I'll agree with you that Strawberry is perhaps in its SECOND instance of "Glory Days". But based on what I hear first hand from my Grandpa, Uncle and Dad...they never ever caught A LOT of fish out of there, just BIGS ones occasionally...and then again, they really weren't hard core fishermen!

Randy
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[PapaBaruu]

Funny how we remember "the good ole days"... True Strawberry isn't the "same" fishery it was back in the 60's & 70's - but then again I don't recall anyone catching a nice Koke, trolling the narrows, or float tubing the meadows back then ether (none where there) - wasn't anybody drillin' holes in the ice back then ether... (remember our lovely Memorial Day to October "fishing season") no ice fishing-

Sure we can't haul coolers full of fish away each trip- but then Utah now has approx 3 million potential coolers to fill (not many fisheries could support that pressure) and it's almost impossible to enforce the current reg's (many coolers full of illegle fish being taken) without making them even more restrictive.

So all in all let's be appreciative of the pond and of the great work being done by the DWR to give us a unique watery oasis in the midst of a vast desert...PB
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