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My boat is in the shop so I hit Strawberry (Solder Creek side) with a fishing buddy in personal flotation craft....
My craft of choice... Motorized Tube.
I launched just before 6:30AM. I started slow trolling a fly and a tube jig to find the fishies. I didn't have to hunt long before WHAM! The fly line started singing.
About halfway in, the tube jig pole starts dancing. The tube pole was fine in the holder, so I decided to play out the fly and then turn attention to the jig pole.... which was bending HARD into the water.
About 10 minutes later, I had landed both fish. A 18" Bow and a 20" Cutt.
[inline 20150502_065100.jpg]
It was a great start to a great day. By the time I was finished at 11, I'd landed 22 fish. Six Rainbows and 16 Cutts. Three Cutts were right at the upper slot limit.
I had a repeat of my morning doubles about 10:30.
The Rainbows were all spunky Saturday. I had a 15minute bout with a 19" brute that just didn't want to come home for dinner. But after some serious negotiations, the appointment with marinade has been kept!
And the Cutts were all nice sized also. I didn't catch anything under 16" all day and most were between 19" and 20".
Another nice Cutt:
[inline 20150502_074540.jpeg]
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Sounds like a great day at the Berry.
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Nice day for sure!
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Nice! I got out today before the front, not as good as you but I caught a few before the weather pushed me off.
Here's my ride if you ever see me out
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For someone unfamiliar with the Soldier Creek side of things, would you be willing to point me toward a launch or 2 that I could easily launch a tube from?
On the strawberry side I know of multiple choices such as mud creek, the marina, east portal, haws point, etc... but I've never fished the soldier creek side and some of the maps leave me a bit uncertain if I'm on public land or if I can get a vehicle close enough to the water to launch a tube. Thanks and nice report!
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I always launch from the marina on that side. My fishing buddy launched his Kayaks a time or two right by the highway exit to the Dam.
I'm not exactly sure how that works though.
Here's my ride Remo:
[inline "Strawberry April 25 (1).JPG"]
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On the SC side, drive around and over the dam. You can drive right down to the water for an easy launch. Also, just off the highway when you turn off to the dam, there is a place you can get down to the water and launch. One other is to take the road to the SC marina. Along the road, there are places to pull off and park. You can walk a short distance to the water there. Good luck.
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Great report and pics. It's days like these that overshadow the crappy days.
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I just noticed that you guys have UT boat registrations on your float tubes. Is that because you have a motor attached, or do all tubes/toons need to be registered?
Just got a toon myself and was planning to row... hadn't considered the registration part.
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It's because we have motors, no motor=no registration.
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I built a pedal pontoon to get around the registration part but in the end it wasn't as fun to fish from as the motorized toon.
It is more than a little insane that an inflatable tube with an eco-friendly electric motor costs the same to register as a large wake boat.
But it does.
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That looks like a much better time than I had at Jordanelle trying out a new fly rod. Only netted 1 planter bow in Rock Cliff on the toon. Next time I'll just drive by and head to the Berry. Nice fish!
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[quote remo_5_0]
It's because we have motors, no motor=no registration.
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Thank you for that... made my day.
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Sounds like you had a fun day on the water. I fished strawberry last Thursday and it was fun also (Ten fish 3 of which were kokanee). I was wondering if you were marking many fish on your fish finder?
I was fishing out of strawberry bay and marked few fish on my sonar. Which tells me they were very high in the water column. Similar?
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Have any pictures of your pedal pontoon? I've been wanting to build one for years, but haven't bitten the bullet yet on it. Love the idea though.
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. Maybe next week.
