We did manage to negotiate a Monday fishing trip and we made plans for Strawberry after looking over the weather reports for various options we were considering. Strawberry has not been a place we have focused on before due to the slot requirements (and dare I say some of the stereo types that seem to come with that place...). However it was the right pick in the end so we made it. No reason to pass up a good day of fishing just because the location has some extra rules... Plus this is my first trip on my new Outcast Prowler and I've been dying to give it a try (sitting on it at home does not satisfy....).
Well we headed up to the east portal area of the lake (no fee area) and got there as the sun was breaking the skyline. I'm not sure what the air temps were for sure but the water was in the mid 50's. Very little wind if any at all though the water surface had constant slight ripples moving across. I think both Jason and I were a bit unsure what to focus on but some reports talked about white colors and minnow imitating lures.
So I started the day with one pole out with a white tube jig and a bit of worm floating about 6' under a bobber. The other line I worked through various spinners, jigs and lures actively casting and retrieving. It didn't take long before the bobber started to dance a bit and I had my first fish on for the day.
Turned out to be a really nice Cutt about 18-19" long. Fought well enough and already the air smelled fresher so I was happy. This started a stretch from about 7:30am - 9:30am where I was doing most of my catching on the jigs under the bobber. All but one thus far had been Cutts in the slot so they posed and got sent home. The one was a 19" rainbow that didn't get a pic... I think the idea of not being able to keep so many nice fish added pressure to not loose the one you can keep so risking the time to take a pic didn't win out... ;)
About 9:30am or so the bite on the jigs under the bobber had stopped. Jason and I had moved out into deeper water seeing if things might change with location. Fish were still breaking the surface but none of our offerings (jig, spinner, fly behind bubble, etc) were picking things up near the top. Jason then radioed that he was having some luck with jigs just off the bottom. So I rigged up accordingly and the bite was back on. I managed one more rainbow that was going to get a photo, but proved my point by doing a flip and escape as I removed the hook.
Being good husbands and worried about impacting additional trips we hoped to get during this week we got off the water close to noon so we could be back to help with the kids before the kids were themselves for too much of the day... ;) In the end we took the one rainbow in my basket home for dinner and sent a couple dozen back between the two of us.
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