Strawberry

[GooseBuster1]

has anybody been fishing on Strawberry lately? I was thinking about pulling the boat up there tomorrow.
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[Rom1452]

Went a few weeks ago to the SC side on my toon and me and a buddy caught a bunch of planter size rainbows on purple and red buggers and not one cutthroat. I'm heading up in the morning and thinking I'll try out the Chicken Creek East area. Silver truck and blue toon. Maybe I'll see you.
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[trueblue2]

I've been fishing the SC side about twice a.week for the past four or five weeks. The kokanee bite was strong earlier, but has really dropped off for me the last two weeks. Tried Sage Creek a couple of times on the SB side and it was very good for large Cuts. Also, Renegade was very good for large Cuts. Been fishing deeper so haven't picked up many Bows.

The Kokes were hitting squids in pink or orange, but they are few and far between for me now. The cuts love a large spinner and worm combo fished down at 30 feet.

To sumarize, the trout fishin's hot ... The Kokes are not. Hope that helps a little.
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[GooseBuster1]

perfect, my boat is not set up with any downriggers so kokanee would not be an option. I have to do a few honey dues around the house and then I'll probably go up for the evening fishing. hope to see you both up there. I will be in at 90 blue metallic bass cat boat. I will on the Chicken Creek side since that's what I'm most familiar with[reply][/reply]
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[Lundude]

kokes can always be an option. was up there last Saturday,using downriggers and also had the lead line out. Caught zero kokes on the rigger and 3 pretty descent kokes on the lead line.
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[wiperhunter2]

Why do you think the koke catching has slowed down so much TB2? You can fish the Gorge all Summer and catch them, seems strange the Berry would be any different[:/].
Mntcat1 and I were up there last Sunday, the kokes were shallow in the morning, 7' to 15' but by afternoon they had moved deeper, 20' to 30'. We missed the morning bite because we did not realize they were that shallow but the afternoon bite was really good for Rich on Sat afternoon. WH2
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[ReelMasta]

We had a slow day Friday with only 2 kokes boated, just got to take the good with the bad and thank our Universe for such beautiful opportunities.

Going to hit it a 05:30 Sunday morning. Anyone willing to share the depths your catching the berry kokes?
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[mtncat1]

I did good In the afternoon at 28 feet 1.6 mph, but that was last Saturday.
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[trueblue2]

I think now the reason I haven't been doing well on the Kokes is that I'm fishing under them. My sonar seems to distinguish between trout and Kokes by the shape of the trace (it's based on the shape of the air sack). I was assuming that the shallow ones were trout because there were a lot of rainbow planters around and I was getting some strong sonar hits down at 50 and 60' that appeared to be kokanee.

I don't believe I have ever seen kokanee in the upper 15' of water and I have never caught any that shallow. Wondering why they are up there. Must have something to do with the plankton. Live and learn I guess!

I think I talked briefly to MtnCat on the lake just as the fog lifted and was so surprised to hear he caught 8, while we struggled to get two.

I will be at the Gorge next week so won't have opportunity to get back to the 'Berry till the following week. I will definitely run some lines shallow to see if they are still there. With the number of Koke fingerlings stocked and the number of fish that run thr River in October, it seems completely unreasonable to think they have been caught out already. I appreciate hearing what has been working. See ... You can teach an old dog new tricks!
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[Bduck]

Curt, I was there last Wednesday 6-17. I was out on Strawberry side and caught 9 kokes. 4 of those self released at the back of the boat, 3 appeared to be 3lb class and 1 nearer 3 1/2-4lbs. I released 3 dinks and kept 1 2 1/2 & 1 3lber. The cutts were playful too and saw it as a bonus catch. Got 12 to the boat, 3 self releases I didn't get to see, some drivebys, but all were slots. Just as with the Gorge, keep changing up gear until the right combo makes it mark.
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[wiperhunter2]

Nice, what time did you get on the water Roger?
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[ZugBug]

Kokanee salmon prefer water at or near 54 degrees. So if you can find that temperature in the water column your chances of catching Kokanee increase. Also my experience with the fish in strawberry that are in the 60 + foot range have all been cuts. Just my experience.
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[beechin]

Fished Strawberry last Tuesday morning on the Solider Creek side. Was on the water by 8 AM and fished near the dam and managed to catch 3 Kokes. The fishing was real slow and didn't mark that many fish. The fish that were boated were caught between 30-45 feet deep on pink Cha-Cha's with a silver dodger. Thinking about another trip before the DV outing.
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[Rom1452]

Made it up really early and hit Chicken Creek East. Wasn't the first to get there as a group was camping on the far end. I set up my toon and waiting for the sun and I could barely see fish surfacing around 5-5:15. I went out about 5:30 and headed out and caught the first trout at 5:50 on a purple fly and sinking line just kicking kind of southeast. The second pic was a good one. I had my spin rod in the holder trolling a olive bugger and that guy hit. I pretty much just spazzed out so I didn't measure or do anything right because I was so excited and trying not to drop my camera in the water I only got the one pic. That was probably 25 min after the first. I guess the catch and release was done right. He took off quick. Cruised around for some time trying a few other flies and put on a dodger and pink squid on while I came back in with the minnkota on before meeting a friend with a boat over at SC marina. That caught a small bow right in the middle of the bay. I was off the water about 9:30 only catching the 3. There were way more people on the water and most fishing from shore by that time.

Over at SC went out on the boat and trolled for kokes in the bay with downriggers and other lines on top and my buddy that keeps a boat there could believe it was so slow. I actually caught another bow in the way in. Pretty good day an left at 1pm when the wind picked up.
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[Bduck]

[quote wiperhunter2]Nice, what time did you get on the water Roger?[/quote]

Was there early, both lines set at 0630.
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[HD7000]

Did pretty well this weekend! The kokes were only about 20'-25' down...
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[wiperhunter2]

Hey, isn't that one on the left a bow? What time were you on the water? We are hoping to be on the water around 5:30am tomorrow.
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[HD7000]

Yeah, we launched out of mud creek around 6 and soaked some bait while I rigged up my trolling lines. Landed the fat bow then reeled up and headed after kokes. It wasn't fast fishing but pretty constant biting every 15-20 minutes or so. We left around noon and they were still biting. Would have landed more but I was letting the kids enjoy fighting them...
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[cutter4]

Nice bow,fubared jaw?Beutiful fish.
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[HD7000]

She was prettier fresh out of the lake... a few hours in the cooler plus a little rigor mortis took away her color and distorted her jaw a bit. Still tasty though!
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