Ice Fishing is Coming Soon

Ice fishing is just around the corner! If you are looking to fish at Strawberry Reservoir before the ice comes, you better hurry. With many day time high's below freezing temperatures, the ice has already started forming around most edges.  

I went fishing with Terry and Daniel. Fishing reports have been mixed at Strawberry lately. From my experience, fishing has slowed down quite a bit. If you fish long enough and move around, you can find fish. This fishing trip we only had a couple hours to fish. I started out catching a nice cutthroat on a Lucky Craft Pointer. 

Terry was reluctant to use a Lucky Craft Pointer until he watched me catch a fish with one. Then he caught a nice rainbow trout. After Terry and I each caught one, Daniel switched to a Lucky Craft Pointer and finally was able to catch a fish. Daniel caught a nice rainbow trout as well.

JOE'S TIP OF THE DAY

Lately I've been catching most my fish in shallow water, between 2-10 feet deep. The water at Strawberry Reservoir is super low this year so you can access areas that would normally be harder to get to. However, I have noticed lots of seaweed around the shorelines. As you reel in your lures, reel in a little quicker as you get closer to shore to avoid snags! 

Where have the cuts gone?

Cool temperature (24 degrees F), fresh snow, thick fog, perfectly calm water, few people on the lake, but no cutthroats. It was the perfect day for fishing but for whatever reason, I just couldn't catch any cuts! I'm not sure why, but the last few weeks at strawberry reservoir the cuts seem to have disappeared. All I've been catching are the recently stocked rainbow trout. 

I did have a monster cut follow my lure in one time, probably could have been my new record! 

I caught three rainbows using my favorite Lucky Craft pointer.

I caught five more rainbows with the Kastmaster lure above. This lure seems to be money when it is cloudy.

JOE'S TIP OF THE DAY

My favorite Lucky Craft Pointer lures are on sale right now at the Scheels in Sandy, UT. They usually cost $16 at every different fishing store, but I found them $9.99 at Scheels this week. An employee said they bought too many so they dropped the prices to sell them! I've never seen them at this price before!  They are leaving the shelves quickly!

Lure on Fire

I went to Strawberry Reservoir again last week with hopes of catching more big cutthroats and possibly a red kokanee Salmon. Fishing was really good, and often times my lure was on fire, but I didn't catch any cuts or kokanee.

I started off using a new lure from Cabelas but didn't have any luck. I had several fish follow my lure in each time so I decided to switch to my favorite Lucky Craft Pointer, 3" version. The photo above shows the 5" version. After I switched to the Lucky Craft, I went 3 for 3 catching three rainbows on my first three casts. Within, 30 minutes, I had reeled in 7 fish. One was a real nice fat rainbow. As the day went on, I caught more and more fish!

 I met fisherman Dan, his daughter Mikayla, and fisherman Wade while fishing. Fisherman Dan and Mikayla showed me one of their favorite ways to catch trout at Strawberry after catching a nice rainbow.

They rig their line up with an orange water bubble placed above a swivel. Above the bubble about 6" away they placed a sinker and finished it off by putting power bait on the hook. They cast out the line and let it sit until a fish finds the end of the line.

Fisherman Wade and fisherman Dan said sometimes they come to Strawberry and don't have any luck with lures but will catch tons of fish with the power bait method. 

Fisherman Dan introduced Power Bait trout attractant to me. Dan said they add this to the power bait and usually catch a lot more fish. I have never used trout attractant so this is something I'll have to try in the future!

JOE'S TIP OF THE DAY

It can be fun to try new lures. I recently discovered the Cabela's Fisherman Series brand. I have yet to catch a fish with this after one day of fishing, but am very optimistic about it after an extremely large cutthroat followed this in one time. The reason I bring this lure up is it has a 60 day 100% money back guarantee. If the lure doesn't swim straight or you don't catch fish with it, then you can get your money back!

Shore Fishing at the Berry

Last week I went to Strawberry Reservoir yet again. It is hard to go anywhere else when you catch plenty of large trout! This trip, my friend Jason, his 4 month old son Jimmer, and I had an awesome day of shore fishing. 

The day started off pretty cold at sunrise with a thick fog over the lake.

It didn't take long before the fish started biting. I caught the first fish using a method I've never used before.

I rigged up a water bubble with a small prince nymph fly on the end of the line. I filled the water bubble up half full with water, then I cast it out. While I worked on putting a lure on my other fishing pole, my pole with the fly on it went crazy with the first fish of the day!

Jason and Jimmer got in on the action as well!

Jason caught most of his fish using a gold Joe's Flies and Lure.

Jason even landed this large cutthroat on the same gold Joe's Flies and Lure. 

I caught some fish on a Lucky Craft Pointer, rainbow colored lure. 

 Most of the fish I caught were with the Kastmaster lure in the photo above. My wife picked this lure out and it has turned out to be an excellent lure for trout!  I've now caught fish ranging from 10" to 22" with the lure!

I caught one fish using this Cabela's Fisherman spinner. 

Even with the cold weather early on, Jason, Jimmer, and I had a good time fishing. We caught a combined total of 23 fish from shore. 

JOE'S TIP OF THE DAY

After catching a fish, it is good to check your lure/bait, as well as the knot you tied on before casting it out again. I lost two lures this fishing trip because I didn't realize my knots came loose after catching a few fish! Don't be afraid to try new knots if you need!

Weather is changing

I made it up to Strawberry one time each of the last two weeks.  The weather was completely opposite last week then it was the previous week. However, both weeks resulted in excellent fishing!

 

Although I prefer fishing on days with beautiful blue skies and moderate temperatures, I actually caught more fish when I fished during the snow storm last week! 

Both weeks I started off using the classic tube jig but did not catch a fish. Once I put on a lucky craft pointer, I started getting hits quite frequently. 

 For those of you who still aren't sold on the lucky craft pointer, don't give up! Last week I caught three rainbows, and eight cutthroat trout using the three inch lure. Ten out of the eleven fish were eighteen inches or larger! 

I fished for about four hours and had well over thirty hits on the lure. If you have not tried lure fishing, then you are missing out on the joy of feeling a fish slam your lure while you are reeling it in! 

Two weeks ago when I fished, I caught four on the lucky craft pointer, and three on a gold "Jake" lure. I've mentioned Jake lures before and that's because they seem to always be consistent in bringing in fish at many different waters!

JOE'S TIP OF THE DAY

Stormy weather scares many fisherman away. The fishing however can be quite good. Often times fish will start feeding before or after a storm!

September is Fishing Month

For those of you who don't know, fall can be one of the best times of year to fish for trout in Utah. I call September the best month to fish. In the fall, something special happens to the lakes. As the water surface cools, the lake begins to turn over. I'm not a scientist, but in a nutshell, the cold surface water drops down and the water that was deep comes up to the surface. 

When this happens, you start to see a ton of algae and seaweed near the surface. The algae becomes a food source for bugs. In return, the fish rise near the surface to take advantage of an all you can eat buffet! Although visibility can be low, somehow there still seems to be plenty of fish that will find your lure! 

Last week, I went fishing at Strawberry with my friend Mike, his family (Laura, Luxie, and Quinlin), his mother Sheri,  Matt and his daughter Cierra.  It was the perfect day for fishing up at Strawberry Reservoir. 

It didn't take long before we started catching fish. I caught a couple fairly quickly on a pink tube jig.

I have never used pink colored tube jigs before and wanted to give it a try. I tipped the jig with a worm. 

I got Laura and Matt rigged up with a pink tube jig. The next thing you know, Matt caught a nice cutthroat!

Matt and his daughter Cierra pose for a quick photo.

Mike got in on the action by catching a nice cutthroat on a pink colored lure. 

Fishing slowed down a little bit but we continued to have fun on the boat.

Luxie got in on the fishing action and reeled in some fish!

We didn't catch a record amount, but we seemed to catch enough fish to have an awesome day on the lake!

One of the cutthroat trout I caught was on a Lucky Craft Pointer. I have caught plenty on the 3 inch version, but this was a first catching one on a 5 inch pointer!

Laura finally got her number called, and she caught two nice fish back to back with a gold Jake lure!

Now the fishing day was complete!

JOE'S TIP OF THE DAY

In the fall, the fish start feeding like crazy to get ready for the long Utah winters. As a result, fishing success often greatly increases! I've found most of my fall trout fishing success when I use 3 inch tube jigs. I've had success with salt and pepper, blue, bright yellow, green, white, and now pink tube jigs! If you've never given one a try, now's the time!