07-23-2012, 04:12 PM
Hey all,
I and a couple of other people that I fish with regularly, at Strawberry specifically, consider ourselves "pretty good" when it comes to that fishery. We've had some really stellar days out there even when other people aren't catching anything. We spend a LOT of days on that water each year, we record and log our findings and success each trip and refer to that data often. We think we know how the seasonal migration works, and for any given day or time the year, we think we know where to go to catch fish. We primarily jig because that is what yields the biggest fish. We have trolled in the past, and had success trolling, but we've never caught really big ones trolling. For that reason, we usually leave the trolling equipment home. Although we are somewhat stuck in our ways, and use only a few techniques to catch fish there, our techniques do work well and have been proven succesful time and time again.
This year (summer) however...something is way different. In the last three trips (over that last month) I have really struggled to put fish into the boat. Every now and then a good shellacking is in order, so it's no surprise when we only have a one or two fish day every now and then, but to have three trips in a row that way, is really unusual for us at Strawberry especially this time of the year.
First of all...the fish are NOT where they usually are this time of the year, especially early in the morning I am struggling to find them. And then, on Saturday, once we found the fish, and I mean stacks and stacks of them...they wouldn't bite. We finally left out of sheer frustration. For two fisherman, 6 hours of fishing...we only caught 4 fish. We would be on top of anywhere from 1 to 6 or 7 fish, drop down, the fish would come up to see our lures (looking at the fishfinder), follow them down...follow them up, etc. but just would not bite. And we were using a plethora of different baits. Chub, shiners, worms and even shrimp. Also we used a multitude of different lures. Old favorites like white/pearl tubes, we tried different colors and sizes of tubes and different lures altogether (Tube Dude brand lures which usually do the trick), and we even tried a bare small hook baited drop shot style (which worked better than anything else by the way). We had fish under us continuously for almost 2 hours, and they just would not bite. Extremely frustrating. It's frustrating enough to not find fish (hence not catch fish), but it's way worse to FIND them and not have them bite.
Has anyone else experienced tougher than usual conditions at Strawberry this summer? Apparently they have migrated into a previously unknown (by me) area and I'm struggling to find them. And worse...they aren't biting on what I'm offering.
Talked to a longtime BFT'er on Saturday whom I hadn't seen in a long time, who I consider to be the #1 Jig-Fisherman at Strawberry...and even he was struggling on Saturday.
We did talk with someone who was having marginal success for Rainbows with power bait on a treble hook on the bottom from a boat, but we are not into that kind of fishing. Not that there is anything wrong with that type of fishing...we just prefer the jigging/slow retrieve method of fishing.
I've shared techniques and specific spots in the past with anyone who inquired, and would love some current tips or tricks that anyone has on where the fish currently are and how they are catching them, via PM. If you want to keep your secrets to yourself...I respect that also. We are primarily looking for the schools of Cutts that are usually in the northern part of the lake this time of year.
Thanks in advance!
Randy
[signature]
I and a couple of other people that I fish with regularly, at Strawberry specifically, consider ourselves "pretty good" when it comes to that fishery. We've had some really stellar days out there even when other people aren't catching anything. We spend a LOT of days on that water each year, we record and log our findings and success each trip and refer to that data often. We think we know how the seasonal migration works, and for any given day or time the year, we think we know where to go to catch fish. We primarily jig because that is what yields the biggest fish. We have trolled in the past, and had success trolling, but we've never caught really big ones trolling. For that reason, we usually leave the trolling equipment home. Although we are somewhat stuck in our ways, and use only a few techniques to catch fish there, our techniques do work well and have been proven succesful time and time again.
This year (summer) however...something is way different. In the last three trips (over that last month) I have really struggled to put fish into the boat. Every now and then a good shellacking is in order, so it's no surprise when we only have a one or two fish day every now and then, but to have three trips in a row that way, is really unusual for us at Strawberry especially this time of the year.
First of all...the fish are NOT where they usually are this time of the year, especially early in the morning I am struggling to find them. And then, on Saturday, once we found the fish, and I mean stacks and stacks of them...they wouldn't bite. We finally left out of sheer frustration. For two fisherman, 6 hours of fishing...we only caught 4 fish. We would be on top of anywhere from 1 to 6 or 7 fish, drop down, the fish would come up to see our lures (looking at the fishfinder), follow them down...follow them up, etc. but just would not bite. And we were using a plethora of different baits. Chub, shiners, worms and even shrimp. Also we used a multitude of different lures. Old favorites like white/pearl tubes, we tried different colors and sizes of tubes and different lures altogether (Tube Dude brand lures which usually do the trick), and we even tried a bare small hook baited drop shot style (which worked better than anything else by the way). We had fish under us continuously for almost 2 hours, and they just would not bite. Extremely frustrating. It's frustrating enough to not find fish (hence not catch fish), but it's way worse to FIND them and not have them bite.
Has anyone else experienced tougher than usual conditions at Strawberry this summer? Apparently they have migrated into a previously unknown (by me) area and I'm struggling to find them. And worse...they aren't biting on what I'm offering.
Talked to a longtime BFT'er on Saturday whom I hadn't seen in a long time, who I consider to be the #1 Jig-Fisherman at Strawberry...and even he was struggling on Saturday.
We did talk with someone who was having marginal success for Rainbows with power bait on a treble hook on the bottom from a boat, but we are not into that kind of fishing. Not that there is anything wrong with that type of fishing...we just prefer the jigging/slow retrieve method of fishing.
I've shared techniques and specific spots in the past with anyone who inquired, and would love some current tips or tricks that anyone has on where the fish currently are and how they are catching them, via PM. If you want to keep your secrets to yourself...I respect that also. We are primarily looking for the schools of Cutts that are usually in the northern part of the lake this time of year.
Thanks in advance!
Randy
[signature]
I used to N.ot have E.nough T.ime O.ff to go fishing. Then I retired. Now I have less time than I had before. Sheesh.
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