06-01-2011, 12:12 AM
Took my granddaughter out fishing today. We arrived at Strawberry Marina at 7:30 a.m. We headed out east and fished the east bank & headed north towards the ladders for approx. 2 hours. We trolled various lures, spoons & squids. Caught two fish - one cutt 16-inches and another small fished appeared to be a tiger (??) about 8-inches.
The reservoir is extremely stained. I could only see my lures & down rigger balls about 2 feet before they would disappear out of site. There was a slight breeze & it was cold. Temps at 7:30 were 28 degrees F. Decided the water was too dirty & thought most of it was being carried in by the Strawberry river. So we decided to pull up stakes and motor over to the Soldier Creek side - I though the water would be clearer over there. The water over by the dam is just as muddy & with more debris floating on the surface. Saw full trees floating out in the reservoir on this side, in addition a lot of grass & other garbage.
Rigged up and started trolling again from the mouth of the Narrows, towards the dam and along the east bank. Had 4 lines out - two on down riggers and two long lines. We picked up another 3 cutts all about 20-inches. The cutts were all skinny. I thought they would be all bulked up for the spawn; however, these looked liked they had already spawned out.
The wind had increased and was on the verge of white caps & my granddaughter was cold so we decided to head back to the Marina. The trip across the reservoir east of the marina was exciting as we were in full white caps and waves were crashing over the bow.
Talked to the DWR tech at the marina taking a fish survey. We told him that we had caught a total of 5 for the morning & he stated that we had done the best so far for the day (by noon). He stated that most fishermen had been reporting poor success. Never did determine what the fish were biting. I caught just as many down deep as I did on the surface and never caught 2 fish on the same lure. Need to give the reservoir some time to clear up before I head back.
[signature]
The reservoir is extremely stained. I could only see my lures & down rigger balls about 2 feet before they would disappear out of site. There was a slight breeze & it was cold. Temps at 7:30 were 28 degrees F. Decided the water was too dirty & thought most of it was being carried in by the Strawberry river. So we decided to pull up stakes and motor over to the Soldier Creek side - I though the water would be clearer over there. The water over by the dam is just as muddy & with more debris floating on the surface. Saw full trees floating out in the reservoir on this side, in addition a lot of grass & other garbage.
Rigged up and started trolling again from the mouth of the Narrows, towards the dam and along the east bank. Had 4 lines out - two on down riggers and two long lines. We picked up another 3 cutts all about 20-inches. The cutts were all skinny. I thought they would be all bulked up for the spawn; however, these looked liked they had already spawned out.
The wind had increased and was on the verge of white caps & my granddaughter was cold so we decided to head back to the Marina. The trip across the reservoir east of the marina was exciting as we were in full white caps and waves were crashing over the bow.
Talked to the DWR tech at the marina taking a fish survey. We told him that we had caught a total of 5 for the morning & he stated that we had done the best so far for the day (by noon). He stated that most fishermen had been reporting poor success. Never did determine what the fish were biting. I caught just as many down deep as I did on the surface and never caught 2 fish on the same lure. Need to give the reservoir some time to clear up before I head back.
[signature]
]