Utah/Strawberry Reservoir 5-10 June 2016

[wolfs4evr]

Back to the Berry for the second year since we enjoyed it so much last year []

This is the 6th year we have gone somewhere as soon as school gets out for a week. Weather was much nicer over last year (essentially the same time period/the first week school is out in Vegas so my oldest daughter (Madison) can go.) I was in shorts/flip flops from sun up to sun down all but one day. Last year I wore jeans the entire trip. The lake is down 1 foot and is 4 degrees warmer than last year (surface temp).

Killed it. At least IMO we did. Got to the Soldier Creek campgrounds Sunday afternoon, fished Monday through Thursday and over those 4 days we caught/lost/released/etc a total of 92 fish putting in 32 1/2 hours on the water covering 102 miles. We departed on Friday since we were both beat, the boat batteries had about had it (no kicker so ran my Terrova for propulsion) and I didn't want to have to deal with that annual marathon on Saturday heading up the mountains out of Provo like we did last year.

The set-ups I put on our 4 Kokanee Salmon rods Sunday night never left the 4 rods. We fished the exact same thing to the T every single day with no regrets at all. 2 light weight action Kokanee rods set-up for use on the Planer boards with a one ounce tungstein slip weight to get them down some and 2 ultra light Kokanee rods trolled out of the back of the boat with 2-6oz snap weights on them depending on the time of the day (2oz in the am, 3oz as soon as it slowed up and 6oz when it got really slow). Downriggers is the norm for Kokanee fishing but early in the year they are not as deep so one can get away with no downriggers and do good.

(FYI a Kokanee Salmon is a land locked fresh water version/variant of a Sockeye Salmon.)

Monday we started out on the Soldier Creek side of the lake. 1.4-1.5mph trolling speeds. We caught 6 Kokes, 2 Cutts and lost 3 Kokes between 06:30-10am. Then the winds kicked up and I am not going against them being battery power only so I went with the wind into the Narrows. Nice call. From the entrance into the Narrows for about a mile we lost 2 more Kokes and landed 8 Kokes. I went with the wind all the way in to the Renegade area with one other lost something in the middle. No other hits. I called it a day and came back in to hit the charger for +/- 8hrs before quiet hours (10pm) and I had to turn the generator off. 21 fish total or so (not all landed). Steller day to me compared to any of the days we had last year.

Tuesday I decided to hit the Strawberry side of the lake (+/- 10 mile run from camp). We didn't do that great over there last year but needed to give it a go to learn the lake more. Right off the bat 6 Cutthroats in a row several miles south of the Ladders working west. Not what we were there for but fun none the less. (No size to them.) Then 2 Kokes as we started working further south, 1 Cutt, 1 Koke, 1 maaaybe 5lb Koke lost 10 feet from the boat (it was biiiig to my eyes as I stood there with the net hoping she would get him all the way in)... Gave up as the winds started to kick up and headed back to the SC side were I caught one nice Rainbow in one of the coves near the marina on a Rapala Crank messing around. Not a steller day with only 12 fish (not all landed). Back in camp to hit the charger for +/- 8hrs before quiet hours.

Wednesday we started out on the SC side of the lake again. Right off the bat lost 3 Kokes, then landed 5 Kokes, lost one Koke, landed 6 Kokes and then... Decided to go to the Berry side again. Dunno why I kept trying since the Berry side is not good to me but... They are bigger in general on the Berry side compared to the SC side. But faaaar and few in-between. We caught 1 Koke (almost 11am), 1 Cutt, 1 RB, 2 more Cutts and called it and ran back to the SC side and camp to hit the charger for +/- 8hrs before quiet hours. Still a pretty good day with 20 fish (not all landed).

Thursday... She said she would get up for sure when I woke her this day (I had it on video the night before around the camp fire )... Up to now I had to spend 30+ minutes trying to get the Blonde one up out of the sleeping bag. Well I be darned if she didn't get up. I didn't know what to do with all the time I had since I wasn't wasting it trying to get Madison out of bed... On the water at 5:30am. Was so nice and IMO made a huge difference. By the time I got to where I wanted to start on the SC side and had the lines out it was fish after fish starting at 05:50. It was by far our most epic day. I was soooo busy netting/releasing, baiting, re-setting up, pulling in the planer boards to get more release clips back (I only had 14 release clips for the mast mounted planer board set-up)... It went like this. 1 Koke, 1 lost, 5 Kokes, 6 Kokes lost, 4 Kokes, 1 Koke lost, 2 Kokes, 2 Kokes lost, 4 Kokes, 1 Koke lost, 1 Koke, 1 Koke lost, 2 Kokes, 2 Kokes lost, 3 Kokes, 1 Koke lost and 2 Kokes... My batteries died (11:30am). Finally caught up with me only charging them 8hrs or so a night. I never got them fully charged the whole week there. 80 amps in or so per evening but using up well north of 125amps or so if not closer to 200amps per day eventually killed/drained my Sears Marine PM-1 Group 31 205RC batteries. A 39 fish day for us (not all landed). A big bang to our last day on the Berry and Utah.

The size is most certainly down compared to last year. I really had to work my tail off catching/releasing to get 8 good fish in the cooler for the trip back to Vegas (my wife only likes fish that has the word Salmon in it somewhere... So this is the only time I get to bring something home she likes). Madison got the biggest at 3lbs even. We did manage to bring home all 8 over 2lbs with the majority closer to 2 than 3. Last year it was 3 1/2 to 2 1/2lbrs that got brought home.

900 miles round trip put on the truck and the winds coming home friday was just so much fun [:/] We met several Utah BFT members on the water and got to share some "real" time info which is also extremely nice/helpful.

Back to the 100-115 degree temps [frown]

Some pictures...

Hitting the road last Sunday AM.



Over the last 30+ years I have driven the 15 through Utah I have wanted to stop here to see if they do tours... Again another year I haven't stopped. (Maybe not 30+... I am not sure how long Barnes Bullets has been in this exact spot but I know it has been a bunch!)



Same camp site as last year in the SC A loop... A friend dug a hole right next to where I wanted to be. We shared the space. lol



Sunday at 4pm it was HOT out. What the heck it is supposed to be cool up in the mountains. Still better than the 109 temp we had Saturday in Vegas... Had to take a break before the tent was all the way up



Cocktails followed shortly there after



Day one on the water... The only 3lbr of the trip.



Day one back in camp... Maybe the ground squirrels didn't want to share the camp site. Glad I had a roll of duct tape. Nothing inside touched. I had it all off the ground.



Natures umbrella for the generator. The only day we really got much for rain in camp this year.







I think the only picture of me with one (I only got to land a small handful of fish... Madison was on it the entire trip). Close to a 3lbr but never weighed. It made it home with us.



I used Riviera dual boards/mast mounted for the Planers this trip verse the clip on/inline Off Shore planers that we used last year (I learned really quickly what a pain in the arse they are to bring in reallllly quickly last year).







Big Jon manual planer reel.







I didn't feel there was a need whatsoever for pullies. These work just fine...



One of the set-ups I was running on the inner rods.



Hmmmm, fillet knifes are sharp.



Madison to the rescue.



One has to eat some Kokanee shoreside while camping Nothing better than on a Cedar Plank! (Madisons favorite meal of the trip...)








Camp company...



They sure can do one heck of a job cleaning the dishes





The best ever for tent camping even though I never got to drink much hot before the catching started...



The way to end every evening camping!



Everyday on the water I colored different. Red was Thursday.







I think I was running a 6oz weight when I took this picture. Sure puts a bend in a UL Kokanee rod.



Kids never seem to wander far from electricity these days... lol



Our camp for the week.



Evening entertainment.



Finished off the trip with Baby Back Ribs



The beer was mine!



And of course cocktails around the fire.



All packaged up and ready for the wife whenever she wants something with "Salmon" in the name.



Tom and Madison
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[wolfs4evr]

Planners verse snap weights... No calls there. All caught equally. I didn't keep track so can't say one was x% better than the other. I will say having planers, in particular a mast mounted planer system, with downrigger clips is 100% worth the time/investment.

Madison launched the boat all week. It was SOOOO nice not having to walk a rope off the trailer/dock it, etc in the mornings. She was in the boat as we left camp and in the water waiting for me to walk to the dock after parking the truck. It litterally took minutes every morning after leaving camp to have the boat in the water and ready to go. She wasn't pleased with having to give up the "warm" seat though when I got to the boat

Remote controlled trolling motor... What a gift when it is windy and one has to dock the boat. Last year I put a healthy dent in the boat trying to get tied up since essentially I am a one person crew. She can drive a little, etc but all by commands when it comes to dealing with anything other than open water, especially winds. Forward, reverse, now neutral, turn right, etc. Anyways I thought about it after that dent and this year I decided to put the Terrova in when it was windy. Which it is every afternoon... I docked the boat like a grand master every single day in the winds. It was soooo nice to be on the bow running the Terrova with Madison at the wheel. I ran the front of the boat and gave some commands to her to keep the rear of the boat in check. It is the way to go!!!

(I haven't been brave enough to ask/see if she wants to try putting the boat on the trailer... I'm thinking I will continue to dock the boat in the evenings and do that part myself. She is close to being able to get a drivers license. I'd feel a whole heck of a lot better teaching her how to back up a trailer verse trying to put a boat on a trailer in the winds.)

We had more doubles than I could keep track of, quite a few triples and several times all 4 rods were on the deck since it got so busy I couldn't get one out... She'd get one to the boat and hand off the rod to grab another. I'd deal with landing it as fast as possible to be ready for the next one. Sometimes another rod would take off about that same time... It was interesting at times. Suppppper fun nonetheless being that chaotic at times [cool]

Tom
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[StarsnStripers]

WOW!!!!
Awesome trip and a great report! Im glad you had a great trip and caught lots of fish.
Any time spent with family is a great time.
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[wolfs4evr]

Certainly loving the trips to the Berry over say Panguitch. Super fun chasing the Kokes. Never broke out the flyrods again this year... Certainly meant to in the afternoons to chase the Bows and Cutts. About the time we were done with Koke chasing I was too concerned about batteries thus no flyrod action again.

I forgot about this guy... Saw him in camp on Friday as we were packing. Sure are pretty in person. He hanged around camp for 15 minutes or so and bailed. (Long Tailed Weasel). Now thinking about it maybe this is who got in our tent on Monday... The ground squirrels didn't seem to care too much about the tent.



Tom
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[iamthesmf]

Great report, makes my want to go for some Salmon sashimi right now.
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