strawberry report

[fairwayphilly]

Picked up MGB and Fishound at dark thirty and after a little time change confusion hit the water about twenty minutes after first light. We started fishing right off of the ramp and picked up fish intermittenty. We moved around and fished different spots and picked up fish everywhere we went, but nothing fast and furious.
We finally anchored in a cove back in the narrows and started putting a hurting to them for a couple of hours.

That spot finally dried up and we moved around and fought the light breeze until the sun went down. We've all had better days, but we've all had worse. I would guess the boat total between 50 and 60. We all caught fish over the slot. Chuck and I both stuck nice 24"ers. The wind moved us around enough it seemed like we all left more tubes on the bottom than usual, but all in all a beautiful day for november. We did bump into Ocean and visited with him for a few minutes.
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[Fishhound]

[black][size 3]Another great day on the water ! It was also really good to get out with you and MGB again for a fine outing of fishing, catching and good conversation. A person could hardley have asked for better Strawberry fishing weather in November.[/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]Once again, it was fun to see MGB's better than GPS accurate jigging skills in action. I've never known anyone else that could jig in exactly the same spot repeatedly - and when I say exactly, I mean EXACTLY. We know this for a fact. When we pulled up the anchor, 2 of MGBs jigs were still hooked on the anchor rope within less than a centimeter of each other - that is precision. [/size][/black]
[black][size 3][/size][/black]
[black][size 3]I'm glad the time change didn't affect us too much and that you and MGB were able to be patient enough with me while I fed the puppies thier breakfast (I was the one in the wrong time zone).[/size][/black]
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[toyguy]

Those are amazing numbers. Total dream day.

May I ask what color jigs you were using? Do you ever have any luck on a motor oil color?


TG
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[Kent]

You haven't jigged with MGB at Strawberry before. He has been known to do those numbers and more all by himself.
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[N.E.T.O.]

x2 what Kent said about MGB. Sounds like it was quite a slow day for him! []
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[fairwayphilly]

Kent's right, we really only got into a decent school for an hour or two and that wasn't a great school, but it was good. The rest of our numbers simply came by diligence. The boat was in the water before the sun came up and was still in the water after it went down. If you do the math 60 fish works out to only two fish per person per hour.
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[fsh4fun05]

Correct me if I'm wrong but you can't complain about a 60+ fish day. The berry is on fire, I can't believe I've never fished it untill this fall.
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[fairwayphilly]

Don't get me wrong, I don't have a complaint in the world. It was a beautiful day for November, the company was great and the fishing was excellent. The point I was trying to make was that 60 fish isn't an AMAZING number of fish for three guys over 10 hours at strawberry this time of year. 60 fish is simply a relative number. There are lakes where that total would be the end all, be all days in the history of the lake, but at strawberry (a truely spectacular fishery) there are better days to be had.

I didn't mean to sound ho hum about it, everytime I go some one in the group brings up how amazing it is to have access to a fishery that produces such great fish in great numbers. There aren't that many lakes out there that would produce 60 fish in a day and I can't think of a single one where none of those fish are under 17".

If given a choice I would rather have the day we did and be in a sweatshirt most of the day than catch twice as many and be bundled up in full ice fishing gear all day and fighting the boat in a 25 MPH wind.
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[fairwayphilly]

Hey guys I added some pics to the top.
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[ocean]

Glad you guys got into the fish. Man the berry is a great place to fish since they started the slot size.When you guys made a left turn into the narrows then came back the other way we thought you had left because the fishing was bad. I guess i was wrong.[] I wish i could have gotten my wife into more fish than we did but when i spoke to people at the marina they said it was bad for them to.
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[Fishhound]

[black][size 3]I was using several different colors during the course of the day - white salt and pepper, cream spotted, pearl, irredescent blue speckled, clear and black, and irredescent rainbow. My jig weights were 1/4 and 3/8 oz. [/size][/black]
[black][size 3][/size][/black]
[black][size 3]I have used motor oil colored tubes in the past, but have only had limited success with them. And, that is generally earlier in the year when the fish first start heading for the shallows, and the water is not as clear as it is in the late fall. That color tube seems to work better for me when it has some kind of bright colored speckles. I also tend to have better success using green, olive, or pumkinseed with colored speckles. There are also times when chartruese works well.[/size][/black]
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[size 3]Usually I try to have a variety with me and so I can change up if one particular color is not producing.[/size]
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[size 3]Here's a sample of what I have in my Strawberry box.[/size]
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[size 3]Tubes:[/size]
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[size 3] [inline StrawberryTubes.JPG][/size]
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[size 3]Jigs:[/size]
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[inline StrawberryJigs.JPG]
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[toyguy]

Wow. Thanks for the detailed reply, Fishound. It's funny, I recognize your jig pic from one of the "bible" posts on jigging the berry. Even used it to go shopping at Sportsmens.

I'm not having anywhere near the catch rates you guys are having, so all advice is appreciated. I wonder if jig head weight might be a part of it. I've been using 3/4 oz, so I imagine that's been hampering the downward floating presentation. I just need to stick with it. And do more of it.

BTW, the limited success I've had has been with cream sparkle and also green, both tipped with worm.

TG
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[Fishhound]

[black][size 3]The jig head weight could be a key. I only use 3/4 oz when there is some chop or wind to deal with and when I am vertical jigging in pretty deep water. [/size][/black]
[black][size 3][/size][/black]
[black][size 3]Using a lighter jig head with a larger plastic slows down the descent and that can attract the attention of the fish better because it appears more naturally like a food item and then it can trigger a strike. When the fish takes your lighter jig on the fall, often all you will notice is a lack of weight on your line - like your jig is already on the bottom. When that happens, lift your rod slowly - if there is a fish there, you should be able to detect it's presence.[/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]While we were fishing on Sunday, I had two rigs set up 1 with 1/4 oz and the other with 3/8 oz. There was a time when MGB and I discussed going to 1/2 oz, but I stayed with the 3/8 and went with a smaller tube instead. [/size][/black]
[black][size 3][/size][/black]
[black][size 3]Saturday, while I was fishing with Ocean (see his post labled "[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=372230;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread"]Berry good weekend[/url]" ) I was casting a 1/4 oz but, used mostly 3/8 oz when jigging. Then I went with a 1/2 oz when we were drifting fairly quickly because of the wind. We were casting and jigging in depths of about 20 feet (plus or minus a few) a good part of the time. [/size][/black]
[black][size 3][/size][/black]
[black][size 3]BTW - While I was fishing with Ocean on Saturday, I also caught my largest cutt with a cream spotted tube on a 1/2 oz jig tipped with a worm while drifting somewhere around in 17 to 22 feet of water.[/size][/black]
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[MGB]

Thanks for the trip Phil. Its about time we got out and caught a few. Good to fish with Fishound again also. Started out slow but we had a late ralley. I think the key was to stop over an active school rather than working the shore line at a slow troll. Have to do it a gain sometime.
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[fairwayphilly]

I agree Mike, I've always done better anchoring up, the problem I have is finding an active school. It was good to have somebody on board who knows where a few spots are, eventually I'll fill up the GPS with anchor points, til then I'm willing to move around a little looking for likely spots. Glad you made it, we will definately have to do it again.
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[toyguy]

Thanks, Fishhound, for the confirmation that a heavier head hampers the flutter. As usual, the devil's in the details.

Let's see what happens when I give 'er a go this weekend at the 'berry - using lighter jig head weights.

As always, 'preciate your advice []

TG
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