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Arrived at 6:30AM and still pretty dark and FOG as thick as your mom's best pea soup. 30 seconds after leaving the dock you realize that the fog has completely swallowed you up and you can see nothing including the dock you just leftand have nothing to get any bearings off of. I have really enjoyed having a GPS the last year but yesterday it payed for itself as we slowly motored from the main marina over to the meadows without hitting land (even though it seemed like we were making a big right hand turn in a circle). I just used the track back feature on a track that I saved a few weeks ago. We trolled the meadows for 3 hours using black wooly buggers and had another fantastic morning. We boated 16 fish and missed many hits. All but 2 of the fish were cutts in the slot (biggest 20") and the other 2 were nice fat 16" bows. The fish seems to be schooled up because we would go several minutes without a hit and then both hook up. We were trolling about 2.0-2.2 MPH GPS speed. I was using sinking fly line and my buddy was long lining with 2 small split shot. We each caught about the same amount of fish with no method being better. The fish are still shallow in the top 5-6 feet of water. The fog finally cleared and the sun shinned and the fishing slowed down but was still steady. It was another great morning on the lake.
Bigcat
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Sounds like an awesome morning except for the thick fog. Did it ever clear up? What size of wooly buggers were you using? The fishing seems to be picking up at the berry lately thats great. Did you see any ducks through the fog? Thanks for the great post.
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Sounds like you have got the Berry figured out for this time of the year. Now if you do that good through the ice, please let me know how and what you are doing. I have had little luck there in the winter so far and I'm ready for a change. Are you using the fly line troling from a boat? I think that I saw you doing that last July. I have a motor for my toon but I have never used it to troll with. Do you think that it would work? DKS
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[cool]I think an electric motor would work just fine while trolling in a pontoon. As long as your battery is pretty strong. I've gotta get up there myself, and might go on Saturday if it's too windy at Lincoln Beach for the tube fest[pirate].
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Onelastcast,
The fog finally cleared about 8:30 or 8:45 and the fishing slowed down when the sun came out. But we continued to catch some even though it slowed. I'm not sure what size bugger it was (hey DMR if you read this what size....) I got them from my brother DMR. It was about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches long which is pretty standard size. As far as Ducks go I did not see any but heard a little bit of shooting in the distance. I had my shotgun with me just in case a few flew over but none did. I Would love to catch a few fish and shoot a few ducks the same day.
DKS,
I too am looking forward to the ice but fishing is too good right now to want the ice to come too soon. I had a very good ice season last year at Strawberry and usually caught 8 to 15 fish per trip last winter and usually only fished from 7 to 10 AM. Yes I was using sinking fly line trolling behind the boat but my buddy was just using mono line with two small split shot about 5 feet up from the fly. I'm sure you could use either method trolling behind your toon with the trolling motor. How fast will it push you. I wish I could slow down to 1.4-1.6 mph but my boat goes 2.0-2.2 even with two buckets in tow.
Bigcat
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Thanks Bigcat I would like to go up there again before it freezes as well. How deep was the water you were fishing in? Thanks for the reply too bad no ducks flew closer.
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We trolled in water ranging from 22-51 feet but it didn't seem to matter. All of the fish were right on the surface. When the water was calm you could see fish feeding all over the lake. Can't wait to go back.
Bigcat
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Hey Bigcat!
Sounds like you had another great day at the "Berry." It's great fun catching those fish on wooly buggers! I need to get up there again soon.
Lloyd
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] Can't wait for the ice to come either, set the hook!