Strawberry Advice..

[remo_5_0]

Ok, my buddy has me talked into going ice fishing, I have all the gear just need advice on what lures to use? I know what to use on open water but clueless in the ice, also 6 or 8 lb. test? Thanks
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[riverdog]

Mike, Go to Cabelas and add up what you'd spend buying needed ice fishing gear. Then use that money for a ticket to South Florida[laugh]. I do break down and ice fish 2 or 3 times most winters. My only advise is while ice fishing try not to remember winter trips on the flats sight fishing or seeing tarpon come totally out of the water several times after hooked.
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[Kent]

Mike, the same tubes you catch them with on soft water will work fine on hard water (as long as they are tipped). You can also go a little smaller if you like, but not necessary.
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[albinotrout]

I use 4 lb test but 6 will do. I use small glow jigs tipped with a meal worm or wax worm.
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[remo_5_0]

Only cost me $13 RD, borrowed a couple of rods, just needed some jigs. Plenty of cold weather gear.
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[harlin]

For pound test, that seems like personal preference..I would use 4 or 6, but that's just me. It seems I get more bites with lighter line.

Tube jigs, cut'r bugs, paddle bugs, curly tails all work really well. White and green are good colors. I tip them with nightcrawler or shiner meat. Sometimes meal worms. Shiner meat works the best IMO, but the meat gets really mushy. I'll tip the jig with the tail first, then the head of the shiner. The rest of the meat pretty much doesn't stay on the hook very well.

This year, I've done well on the bows with a 2.5 inch white tube jig tipped with a shiner tail. I just dead stick it, and 99% of the time they hook themselves (using a medium heavy rod).

BUT, the Berry sucks right now unless you have a snowmobile or are willing to risk walking forever to find a good spot. There is more snowmobile traffic on the lake this year then I've ever seen...All the easy access spots are slow fishing because of it. Last year I fished Jakes Bay a lot and the fishing was always good. This year, there is literally a packed down snowmobile highway going down the middle of the bay that is as wide as I-15..And if you try to fish that bay the smells in the air make you feel like you are at a dirt bike derby. The fishing in that bay has pretty much shut down. The ladders is getting pounded too. I would stay away from those two access points.
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[riverdog]

Ok $13 shouldn't delay your next trip south. So did you make it up to icefish?
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[remo_5_0]

Made it up, fished Chicken Creek, weather was outstanding, nothing but sun and no wind (until time to leave) not a cloud or inversion in the sky!! We were down to 1 shirt by early afternoon, fishing was slow! We lost a blade on the auger after the first couple holes so we couldn't move much, I had a few bites, my buddy got a nice Bow' to the hole and missed another.

Really fun 1st trip on the ice, I am sure I will do it again, ice was probably 10-12" thick. Next time maybe a grill will come out and some beer.
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[albinotrout]

Sounds like someone is hooked[cool]
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[joshmobile]

The speaker at the next Strawberry Anglers Association meeting will be discussing ice fishing strategies and techniques for the Berry. That will be Tuesday the 3rd of February at the DNR offices on North Temple at 6:30PM.
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[kj]

The berry has always been good to me. I use standard gear... worms, wax worms and sometimes salmon eggs. Having a tip sensor this time of year is a must. The bite is usually extremely light. I also use a vex fish finder. That makes a huge difference. I went to Renegade last monday. I iced 29, my one buddy iced 4, he just didn't quite grasp the technique. My second buddy iced about the same amount. He forgot to charge his vex so he fished blind. I normally use 4 lb test, but loaded 6 on the reels this year. It has worked well and hasn't seemed to hinder the fishing at all. I disagree on the use of the snowmobiles as being the cause of poor fishing. I have ice fished strawberry for years. At the easy access areas, the fishing always drops off this time of year. Not sure how the crowds affect things but that is the only common denomination I can attribute the poor fishing to. Getting away from the crowds always works the best. Dead sticking is probably the poorest way to fish as well. Unless they grab the hook, you will not catch them. Holding onto the pole, jugging, watching the tip sensor and above all, having a flasher makes all the difference between a 1 fish day and a great day. Some guys are always on the move, looking for fish. I have seldom not found fish any place I drill a hole. I don't move much. I drilled 1 hole monday and fished the same hole all day. 29 fish came out of the hole. fewer than 6 were lost at the hole, 2 broke the line. The previous trip, I drilled 3 holes. Sometimes the fish just don't want to bite anything you offer them. That's fishing. I have only been skunked 3 times in the last 7 or 8 years of ice fishing. The last time was 2 years ago when we went to Starvation and I forgot to grab the vexes. Fishing blind sucks. The two previous times was in the same year, (4 years ago) I took my wife and spent most of my time helping her fish. She has since learned the ropes and does very well.
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[duckdog1us]

hhhhmmmm i all way i mean all ways use 10 lbs test and its never made a difference to the fish i catch there
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[harlin]

My experience has been the opposite. I typically use large tube jigs and the bites I got on those jigs were hard. Dead sticking is not a poor way to fish, especially in the afternoon when they are not as aggressive. I've used that technique to catch several nice bows at the berry up to 19 inches. The same tactic also worked for a 25.5 inch tiger trout from causey with a 3.5 inch tube jig in the middle of the day. Different strokes for different folks.
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[flygoddess]

Never ice fished before, but if I were to try it would be with you! 29 +fish through one hole at Strawberry sounds perfect to me.
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[doggonefishin]

It is interesting to read all the different opinions on the "can't miss" techniques for the Berry. The Berry has treated me well over the years on the hard deck, so what the heck, here's my inflation adjusted 2 cents.

1. Get away from the crowds. Also, Strawberry is a place that favors those with a fishfinder.

2. I usually first try GPS waypoints that have proven their worth over the years. If I'm not marking any fish after a time, I will move. You can't catch fish that are not there.

3. Once I'm getting a few marks, then the fun begins. Sometimes, they will hit anything you put in front of their face, and it doesn't matter what you do. Other times, they definitely prefer an actively jigged offering. Sometimes, deadsticking works best. Some need to be stimulated to bite. Sometimes color of the jig and bait its tipped with matter a lot. To be honest, all methods will work a little, but dogmatically sticking to a certain method may catch you 1 fish when you could have caught 10 in the same time frame by switching up some. (Lesson I still sometimes need to learn.)

Thinking back, most of my Strawberry trips are similar. There is a short time in the average day when the fish will hit the offering any way you want to present it and fishing is fast. The rest of the day is spent playing cat-and- mouse with less aggressive fish that still will bite if you push their buttons a certain way. Some will come in and just not bite. The fishfinder is almost like a video game at these times. Its actually a lot of fun!

4. What one person considers a good day is another persons slow day.

5. I use 6 lb. test copolymer FWIW.
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