Strawberry Rookie Report

[Troutster]

Took my first crack at Stawberry with a boat. Only ice-fished it previously.  Got there at 10:00, asked the marina store for a little help with where to start, “Find 30 feet of water, doesn’t matter where.” Not sure that’s true. Asked a nice white beared guy on the dock and he pointed me to a couple of places in the main bay.  I had 3 other rookie to semi-rookie folks with me.  We trolled a little with dodgers and caught 3, but did better spot locked or drifting and casting tubes tipped with a piece of night crawler. Tried green/brown and rainbow, but white ruled the day. Also tried a drop shot silver sparkly minow… zip.  Caught a few on a glow minnow jig.  Most fish were mid column.  Fishing was steady but a little slow.  We caught 20-25 between the 4 of us, I spent a fair amount of time bating hooks, retying jigs, netting fish, and handling the boat.  Livescope showed me the fish but not in the numbers or aggressiveness I have seen ice fishing.  Still, all of the cuts and rainbows were nice and healthy with no dinks.  My 3 passengers were thrilled.  Weather was perfect with just a breeze. Boat traffic wasn’t bad for a holiday weekend.  Definitely worth the trip.

[lovetofish]

Nice report. Some of the best fishing of the year at Strawberry is just around the corner. Fall fishing IMO is the best time to fish there.

[wiperhunter2]

You did good for your first trip in a boat to the Berry, but as with any lake, location is key and the more you fish it, the better your success will be. We have had pretty good success in the renegade area, in the past and the catching gets better the cooler it gets. Thanks for the report and smiling pics

[Kent]

Congratulations on your outing. If you are open to a couple suggestions (if not, just ignore my recommendations), here are a couple. We have found that getting there at least three hours earlier than you did is key to having a great day. Often, from first light to a couple hours afterwards are by far the fastest action. If you can get your hands on some chubs, cut bait works much better than nightcrawlers at Strawberry.

[Troutster]

Congratulations on your outing.  If you are open to a couple suggestions (if not, just ignore my recommendations), here are a couple.  We have found that getting there at least three hours earlier than you did is key to having a great day.  Often, from first light to a couple hours afterwards are by far the fastest action.  If you can get your hands on some chubs, cut bait works much better than nightcrawlers at Strawberry.

Thanks for the tips.  With my wife and sister/brother-in-law, earlier wasn’t an option, but I’ll make it happen on my next outing.  I caught a bunch of chubs 2 weeks ago up at LC but forgot to grab a couple. That too will be there next time. Thank you!

[Dirt Bag]

What a great outing. Look at all those big s.