Goin Fishin on the Berry on Monday !!

[LuvThemCuts]

Ok,

So Old_Coot has taught me the fine art of Jigging and reading my fish finder with better precision. I saw a posting with somebody trolling and bringing in an 8 lb lunker.

I read a post where the water is 51 degrees and the big ones are cruizing the shore lines.

During this time before freezing, with the water as cold as it is, is Trolling better, or Jigging? When trolling, does it need to be with weighted line, or can we troll the top?

How picky are the fish with what you troll with? Are they getting desperate and eating anything that moves, or are they finicky still...?

I'm always willing to try just about anything. I want to troll, but am having motor troubles with my Honda BF75 (7.5 hp outboard 1983).

The thing wont start. I cleaned out the carburetor and it started right up, then died after a few seconds. I cleaned it again and replaced the fuel hoses and the fuel filter. Same result.. I sprayed carb cleaner into the air intake and it started right up, then died again. Like it isn't getting gas in there. I pulled the fuel pump off and it looks ok, but I'm not sure how to check it.

Does anybody know how to test a fuel pump on a 1983 Honda BF75 outboard?

Anyway, I'm looking forward to a great trip on Monday. I'll send out a report and let you all know what happened.

As always, thanks for any advice you might have, and wisdom you'd care to share. And thanks again Old_Coot for showing me the ropes. I'll be using your techniques every time I fish up there. Much appreciated !!!

So, how's the algae ? Is it gone, or is it still thick? And what's the latest Water Temperature?

Lastly, I just checked the weather and it's supposed to snow on Monday 1-3 inches... I'm feeling lucky :-) I'll keep an eye on the weather. How's fishing during a snow storm with 12 mph wind? Bad idea ? Any opinions?
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[utahgolf]

jigging! vertical over fish. You can also cast towards shore and hop the jig along. and throw raps shallow. Trolling is too boring when you can have a hay day with more active approaches.
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[lovetofish]

Trolling for Kokes.
Jigging for Ranibows and Cutts. Although both Cutts and Rainbow can be caught by trolling, you'll do better with jigs, at least I do.

Only time I ever troll (don't like trolling) is when I troll large flies using the electric motor. And even then I usually just cast a spinning reel and a small split shot 3 ft up from the fly while drifting.
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[SBennett]

Go through your carb again and clean/blow out every orifice. From your symptoms as described, you have a full blockage in one of the tiny jet passages. You can thank crappy ethanol fuel for that.
Once you get it fixed, be sure to run a good amount of Stabilized fuel through it so you can be off to a great start next spring!
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[lakepowellnut]

PM sent
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[liketrolling]

watch this see if it helps with the honda
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJKHrgDFeo8

I will be at the berry Monday so will let you know what is going on, but that will not help you.
If you are trolling in 40ft of water and don't see any fish on your fishfinder
two things, may be no fish their. are they are all on the top.
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[MisterCompletely]

If you have an external fuel tank for that kicker, I would check to make sure there's not an air leak at the tank where the hose connects, or even at the bulb or motor connector. It's not uncommon to get a small air leak at the tank connector, and it'll do just what you're describing.
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[Jackin_Jaws]

The old man doesn't have a trolling motor on his tooner, so we do the redneck buckets off the side.. 5 gallon buckets.. Sometimes one on each side sometimes 2 on each side.. It is funny looking, but works..
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[LuvThemCuts]

At what mph is the wind too much at the berry? It's supposed to be a blustery day tomorrow...

Does anybody know if they've pulled in the docks at the main marina?

[liketrolling]

[quote LuvThemCuts]At what mph is the wind too much at the berry? It's supposed to be a blustery day tomorrow...
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It depends on your boat and how safe it is, I have got fish in over 20 mph wind .
but it is not that fun.
See you look for a tracker boat.
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Does anybody know if they've pulled in the docks at the main marina?[/quote]
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I would bet they are gone last time I was up they were pulling them out.
if not they may finish this week.


lets hope this is right
http://windalert.com/map#40.182,-108.939,8,1,!98115,2

8 to 12 mph wind
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[LuvThemCuts]

First, some housekeeping:

1. All docks have been removed from the Renegade Ramp
2. All docks have been removed from the main Ramp (except for a single straight walkway down the middle of the ramp. My guess is that it will be removed soon. They removed all the places you could tie your boat on Monday while we were fishing.
3. There is a "NO FEE REQUIRED" sign in the main marina and a bag is over the post where you would normally put your fee envelope, so you don't have to pay $8.00 anymore
4. Water Temperature was 47.8 degrees at renegade and all the way to the Main marina.
5. It gets kind of nippy when it's windy on Strawberry :-)

Ok, to the report from Yesterday's fishing:

I took my boat out with a friend of mine and we launched from the main marina right about 11 am. There were people working on dismantling the docks and by the time we returned at the end of the day, all the docks had been removed except for the skinny 3 foot wide one that goes down the center of the main ramp. Everything else was removed and is sitting in the parking lot above the ramp.

Anyway, As I was backing off of my boat trailer, my motor was making a loud sound as though my prop was banking on the ground. I stopped the motor and checked, but the prop was fine. I guess the reverse gear was not engaging all the way, so I had to just kinda shove off my trailer until I got far enough back and then use the forward gear, which worked fine. That's the first time that ever happened to me with this motor. I guess I need to adjust the Cable that changes gears...

So, we headed strait to Renegade going 30 mph. It was a bit choppy, but not too bad. We arrived at Renegade and made a bee line to Old_Coot's spot where he and his friend landed 126 fish on Saturday. Not a bite... We tried the same bait, jigs, technique, even used the Super Gel stuff (Trophy Trout, rather than Anchovy) but still, not a bite.

I got a phone call about then and rolled my eyes figuring it was one of my teenage daughters wanting me to transfer some gas money into their account or something, but no, it was 'LikeTrolling'. He and a friend were in a boat a couple hundred yards from us. He said that they had been trolling in the renegade bay and had landed 20 trout, but when they tried Jigging, they had no luck. They had been up and down the area where we were and had jigged using Old_Coot's techniques, but no luck.

So, after a bit of trying it ourselves, we gave up the spot and headed into the Renegade Bay area. We drove the boat around really slow to see if we could find some fish on the finder, but it didn't show any. I guess they were all too shallow.

We headed to the East side of Renegade bay and started jigging with the wind blowing us to the West. We caught a couple that way and then I saw a ton of fish directly under us.. YAY !!! We found the mother load.. Then we floated right over them and they were all gone... I moved the boat just past them again and attempted to drop anchor as we were going over them, but the anchor wouldn't hold us into position very long due to the strong wind.. I need a better anchor... Or that cool trolling Motor Old_Coot has that keeps you hovering over the same spot no matter what kind of breeze is blowing. That's one cool motor he has.

Anyway, long story short, we basically kept going past the spot with the fish, and floating over them as the wind blew us and Jigging. We caught a few like that. We kept drifting and then moving back to where we started for a while until the wind started kicking up even more. I'm not sure how hard it was blowing, but weather.com said it was about 10 mph.

We knew a storm was supposed to blow in, so we headed back toward the main marina and stopped at a point between Haws Point and the entrance to the narrows on the east side of the reservoir.

We just did our drift/jig thing from there and gradually drifted toward the main marina. We ended up with 8 fish each and had a very enjoyable relaxing time.

2 of the fish were Rainbows and 1 was a very fat, probably 22 inch cut, but we didn't keep the cut or measure it.

The wind kicked up and it started to snow just a few flakes around 4 pm, so we decided to let mother nature have her way and we headed for the main marina, trailer'd up and headed home.

I'll tell you, there are 2 perfect foods to eat after a day of fishing on the berry. KFC Extra Crispy Dark Meat, and Pizza Hut Supreme Pan pizza. If you can eat one or the other of those 2 choices, life is good, and the stars have aligned :-)

Well, hopefully I'll get out there and fish once or twice more before the lake freezes. Not sure how long until that happens, but hopefully I have another couple weeks to get up there..
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[albinotrout]

Nice report. Sounded a bit cold but at least you had a decent day.
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[Old_Coot]

LTC,

Your report was LONG and I loved every word of it. Thanks for sharing.

A bucket of "KFC Extra Crispy Dark Meat". Ah, ya make me laugh man.
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