12-17-2013, 11:04 PM
I made my first trip up to Strawberry Reservoir yesterday. I was hesitant to make the trip because I didn't know how thick the ice was as I've heard conflicting comments about ice conditions.
We arrived early yesterday morning at the Marina. The bays are frozen solid and the lake was capped. We were the only people on the lake. Between my ice fishing virgin younger brother, father and I we pulled 35-40 fish out of the Swiss cheese cut ice. We cut probably 20 holes from 8-17 feet. I did have my early Christmas present-Marcum LX-6-which is an absolute amazing piece of awesomeness.
We caught all of the fish on 1/16oz white or green Eagle Claw Paddle Bugs tipped with wax worms. Nothing chewed on pink or gray paddle bugs nor hit anything else that we tried (spoons, rat finkees, tubes, ratsos, grenades, pipe bombs, dynamite, Grandma's green jello, etc ). Only a very few were caught deeper than 14', most were between 8-12'. You could literally look down the ice hole and watch the fish grab your jig. Also, most all the Cutts were caught on green and mostly all the rainbows were caught on white.
My ice fishing virgin younger brother caught the biggest fish of the day, a 21 1/2" Cutt (not fair!) and my dad pulled out the biggest rainbow, I think it was a 20 1/2" 4lb fat rainbow. I didn't touch my pole for 2 hours because I was running back and forth between my dad and brother because one would hook a fish so I'd run over to help. While I was helping him the other would hook a fish. I literally ran back and forth for 2 hours. I did have my gopro and was trying to record as much as possible for a YouTube video but I ran out of space on my sd card. I had to switch to my iPhone to get some more footage. I'll try to work on the video ASAP so y'all can see how it was.
The Marcum LX6 digital sonar is simply awesome. The ability to change everything (sonar settings, display settings, colors, modes, etc). So glad I spent the few extra $$ and bought it over others. Being able to observe the fish and see how they react to jigging styles (aggressive, slow, motionless, etc) was also amazing.
Early morning it seemed that the fish didn't care how aggressive you jigged, they slammed it. As the day progressed they became more nit picky and would only bite if that's how they liked their meat and potatoes.
In the afternoon the bites slowed down until we quickly figured out (thanks to the Marcum lx6) that the fish liked BIG jigging strokes (2-3ft). For some reason they'd target lock on the big strokes then slam the jig on the fall.
All in all it was an awesome trip and I'm glad I gambled. What made it a great day was being with my dad who I haven't spent a lot of time with lately due to our completely opposite work schedules and to have my little brother along was also fun. That's the first time I've ever seen that boy hold a fishing pole and have his hands covered in fish slim. I'm pretty sure I just converted him.
Make sure to swing by my YouTube channel (MrRojoneck) to see the video in a few days along with others and also for those of you on Instagram, I've got plenty I pictures to look at.
Anywho, here's my first post on BFT. I hope it's considered worthwhile and helpful. I figure if I spread the love and someone catches a fish from something they saw or learned from my posts or videos then maybe karma will help me someday in return. Strawberry is fishable and packed with hungry fish. Let 'em have it! See y'all out there. Rojo.....out!
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We arrived early yesterday morning at the Marina. The bays are frozen solid and the lake was capped. We were the only people on the lake. Between my ice fishing virgin younger brother, father and I we pulled 35-40 fish out of the Swiss cheese cut ice. We cut probably 20 holes from 8-17 feet. I did have my early Christmas present-Marcum LX-6-which is an absolute amazing piece of awesomeness.
We caught all of the fish on 1/16oz white or green Eagle Claw Paddle Bugs tipped with wax worms. Nothing chewed on pink or gray paddle bugs nor hit anything else that we tried (spoons, rat finkees, tubes, ratsos, grenades, pipe bombs, dynamite, Grandma's green jello, etc ). Only a very few were caught deeper than 14', most were between 8-12'. You could literally look down the ice hole and watch the fish grab your jig. Also, most all the Cutts were caught on green and mostly all the rainbows were caught on white.
My ice fishing virgin younger brother caught the biggest fish of the day, a 21 1/2" Cutt (not fair!) and my dad pulled out the biggest rainbow, I think it was a 20 1/2" 4lb fat rainbow. I didn't touch my pole for 2 hours because I was running back and forth between my dad and brother because one would hook a fish so I'd run over to help. While I was helping him the other would hook a fish. I literally ran back and forth for 2 hours. I did have my gopro and was trying to record as much as possible for a YouTube video but I ran out of space on my sd card. I had to switch to my iPhone to get some more footage. I'll try to work on the video ASAP so y'all can see how it was.
The Marcum LX6 digital sonar is simply awesome. The ability to change everything (sonar settings, display settings, colors, modes, etc). So glad I spent the few extra $$ and bought it over others. Being able to observe the fish and see how they react to jigging styles (aggressive, slow, motionless, etc) was also amazing.
Early morning it seemed that the fish didn't care how aggressive you jigged, they slammed it. As the day progressed they became more nit picky and would only bite if that's how they liked their meat and potatoes.
In the afternoon the bites slowed down until we quickly figured out (thanks to the Marcum lx6) that the fish liked BIG jigging strokes (2-3ft). For some reason they'd target lock on the big strokes then slam the jig on the fall.
All in all it was an awesome trip and I'm glad I gambled. What made it a great day was being with my dad who I haven't spent a lot of time with lately due to our completely opposite work schedules and to have my little brother along was also fun. That's the first time I've ever seen that boy hold a fishing pole and have his hands covered in fish slim. I'm pretty sure I just converted him.
Make sure to swing by my YouTube channel (MrRojoneck) to see the video in a few days along with others and also for those of you on Instagram, I've got plenty I pictures to look at.
Anywho, here's my first post on BFT. I hope it's considered worthwhile and helpful. I figure if I spread the love and someone catches a fish from something they saw or learned from my posts or videos then maybe karma will help me someday in return. Strawberry is fishable and packed with hungry fish. Let 'em have it! See y'all out there. Rojo.....out!
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