Evening Bite at Strawberry

Wednesday night Joe and LeeAnn, crazy to think it has been a couple years since we have been out. We pulled into Renegade launch ramp at 4:30 pm and were fishing by 5:00 pm. I started LeeAnn out with popgear and spoon and setup Joe with popgear and kastmaster. I threw out a husky jerk and ran it out about 200 feet.

LeeAnn was the first to hook up for the evening, low and behold I went to net it and got the hook in the net and the fish popped off. Sorry, LeeAnn!  However it wasn't but a couple minutes and she had the second fish hooked up, I landed this one.  A little cutthroat but it filled the quota with fins and gills.

Joe got on the board next with another little cutthroat trout. We found the nursery. LeeAnn landed a couple more small cutthroat on the spoon. Joe got a couple more and one decent cutthroat. I finally got on the board after I changed out to a ghost jerk bait. We arrived where I wanted to start throwing crankbaits. On the reel in I got another cutthroat on the ghost.

We started throwing cranks in about 60 feet of water. I put Joe on the White Bomber and LeeAnn on the Blue Shad that had been hot the week before. I put on the Bruiser Bandit I got a fish after a number of casts. Joe hooked up on the second cast. LeeAnn cast many times and didn't get a hit. I changed her out and I changed out as well. I put on a Bone Orange Bandit and got a couple more decent cutthroat.

 

We changed depths, colors, and styles of lures trying to get more hits. The hit wasn't as fast and furious as it was last week. The sun was dropping on the horizon the wind was whipping as it had been all evening, but we decided to head in. On the way in we trolled, Joe and LeeAnn landed a few more cutthroat on the way in. Joe landed the last nice sized cutthroat. We loaded as dusk set in and headed for home. We got 20-25 fish for the evening so it was good for a couple hours on the lake.

Cutthroats on Cranks - Strawberry

Shifty and I made our annual softwater trip to Strawberry Reservoir this week.  Funny thing it was almost the exact same date last year, nope we didn't plan it that way we just know the Cutthroat trout are getting hungry right now. We arrived at Renegade launch just before sunrise and the lake was covered in a layer of fog. We took notice of the temperature at 30 degrees, chilly for this time of the year but it was expected due to the fact we had snow in the mountains over the past couple days.

                                                       

 

We launched and I started trolling immediately with popgear and a spoon. Put out three colors and set the drag. Shifty was running a dodger and squid. It wasn't but a couple minutes and the first hit on the spoon happened. I grabbed the pole and started reeling, it didn't feel like I had a fish on until the fish saw the boat and started to fight. Landed that one got a quick pic and released it. Set the pole out to the same depth and set the drag and again in a couple minutes had my second fish to the boat. Another pic and reset and the third Cutthroat trout took the spoon. By this time Shifty was getting anxious and traded out to a lucky craft jerkbait. He was just setting his line with and I got my fourth Cutthroat online and he set his drag to help me land my fish and his pole got a hit, only out about 10 yards from the boat and ontop, we both took note of that. I lost mine to an LDR but Shifty got his fish to the boat for his first Cutthroat of the day.

Noting that his fish hit the bait shallow I traded out to one of my favorite jerkbait on light line. Light line trolling is a fun way to catch fish the battle is epic at times. Running shallow about 6 feet in depth I set the drag and put my pole in the holder. It didn't take long for the Cutthroat to start hitting the Purple Sunfire. I got three more Cutthroat in a short period of time. Shifty landed a couple as well.

I tried a lure that I painted to match the scheme of the tube jigs we use in the late fall bite. Trolling it behind the boat. This wasn't productive at all, but Shifty was getting hit either. Shifty wanted to go into the flats and try casting since trolling had cooled off. I agreed and we made our way into the bay and put the boat in anchor mode. We both put on crankbaits and started casting. It didn't take long for Shifty to hook up with his gilly pattern on a cutthroat. He was happy to see his Berkley bait catch a trout.

We continued to throw all sorts of crankbaits, catching numerous cutthroat on each bait we tied on. I had a blast catching the cutthroat on my Bandits and Bombers and Shifty on his lipless Berkleys as well. Shifty came up with an idea that I knew better to partake in but I did anyway since I was getting fish about every other cast.

 
 

The Rainbow challenge. I hooked up and lost what looked like two Rainbow trout on my crankbaits. Shifty decided we need to make things more interesting. He said the first to land a Rainbow trout would win $5 from the other. Again I knew better since I suck at betting on anything, but I went for it thinking I would have a chance. I did hook up with we thought was a Rainbow trout but then lost it at the boat and then I got another hit but it was a good-sized Cutthroat. Shifty put on a spoon that he found buried in the deep dark crevices of his tackle box. We fished for about a half-hour before he got a hit. A nice fighting, jumping RAINBOW! All I could think was S---! he caught the fish and I had to give him $5. It was a decent Rainbow trout.

                                                                     

We fished for a while longer moving to new areas and trying different lures after catching one or two Cutthroat on each one. It was an epic day on the Berry. Catching well over 75 fish combined our backs were tired, our hands were cramping and our forearms were blasted. We managed probably 20 decent sized Cutthroat and ONE rainbow. We headed for the dock happy with our results for the day. At the dock we talked to another fisher that hadn't had quite the day we did. We told him don't do what we did and I showed him what I used to catch them with, other than a couple spoons all the rest were crankbaits. We finished the day off with a late lunch at Chick's in Heber and relished in our accomplishments of the day.

                                                     

 

Jordanelle Morning Bite - Smallmouth Bass

Thursday Shifty and hit the road for Jordanelle. We took the Shifty Fisher and were looking for Brown and Rainbow Trout, Wipers, Smallmouth bass and if lucky maybe a Kokanee. We launched at sunrise and put lines out quickly after getting to the area we thought the trout would be hanging out.

"Thought" was the appropriate word. We trolled for over and hour through lanes we knew they hung out in, not one bite or hit. We were running light gear diving between 6 and 28 feet in depth. The trout weren't interested in our offerings.

We ventured onto the Wiper fishing. Shifty had a report from a very knowledgable person on where they hang out. We followed their directions and did what they told us to do. We fished for again over an hour hitting every spot and crevice on the bank and within 30 feet deep water. No takers, once again the Wipers finned us off!

We picked up and left for new waters. Shifty was still out for some trout filets. We pulled into another section that we had caught many Rainbow in and started trolling again. Covering the water column the best we could with every lure we could think of. The picky eaters weren't taking our offerings again. Frustrated we picked up again and went to another area.

Okay onto Smallmouth Bass. Now we know for a certainty where they hang out and how to catch them. We thought to ourselves, we are for sure catching some Smallmouth bass. We fished areas we knew harbored large numbers of the smallmouth bass in the lake. They didn't disappoint. Shifty put on his trusty gilly pattern and had the first fish of the day to the boat. We fished the rocky shorelines the rest of the day and caught quite a few smallmouth bass. We tried areas that we had never been able to get fish to hit but the finder screen was loaded. Today we broke through and landed a few smallmouth bass from those deep pockets.

We didn't reach our goal of a trifecta in species but we did manage two. I landed a nice sized Perch out of one of the deep holes we targeted. That was nice to see, a large Perch for Jordanelle. Great day on the water and lots of laughs had.

Deer Creek Evening Bite - Smallmouth and Largemouth Bass

Last week Jimmy and his friend Mike wanted to fish Deer Creek Wednesday night.  We got on the lake around 4:30 pm. The wind had the lake in a froth with white caps and swells.  We launched and went to Charleston Bay and went into the grass beds.

We were looking for the Largemouth bass that supposedly hang out in the weeds and grass beds.  Mike, being a native of Nebraska knew what he was doing and started with a Texas rig punching through the mats.  Jimmy and I tried various options, from topwater frogs to curly tail jigs.  None of us got even a sniff.  We fished the area and moved around for an hour and decided to go after the Smallmouth bass on the rocks.

Knowing where and how to catch them I went to shoreline and we started casting crankbaits. I tied a new lure and on the third cast had my fish online. Jimmy and Mike were still looking for their first bites. We fished the evening away running the rocky shoreline. Mike landed a Largemouth bass for his first of the night. Jimmy landed a smallmouth bass and we fished on.

Before total nightfall, Jimmy wanted to try the trout hit. We put on hard baits and started trolling. We trolled over to one of our lanes and changed lures and depths a couple times but got nothing. We ended the evening under total darkness, we had a great evening sharing laughs and catches.

Smallmouth Bass and Trout at Rockport!

Shifty and I fished Rockport Thursday and had a blast. We arrived at Rockport Reservoir at sunrise and got to fishing quickly, running the lane just outside the buoys. We used hard baits and light line for the troll. We covered the column from 6 feet to 20 feet and trolled the lane a couple of times changing lures quickly looking for the bite. We trolled the lane twice and got nothing so we moved onto the dam and trolled it a couple times and still nothing. Turned up roadside and I put on a lure that did well for me a couple years ago with "Fish Elevated" with Capt. Delana and sure enough about 30 seconds after getting set I had the first fish online.

Using the shallow diving jerkbait with a rooster tail was the ticket. A nice plump rainbow trout for the live well. I cast and got the line set and hooked up another nice fat rainbow trout and put it in the live well. Shifty followed suit putting on one my favorite jerk baits the Purple Sunfire and sure enough, he hooked up quickly. Another big rainbow trout. By the end of the first pass along the road, we had four rainbow trout in the live well. I turned the Fish Steeler around to get back in our lane only to find 3 boats had moved in. I wasn't pleasant and went right at them, they gave way and we caught fish as we passed by them.

Shifty and I ended the morning troll with 8 rainbows in the live well. Once we figured them out it literally took us an hour to fill our limit. It turned out to be a great troll.

After we limited we turned our focus to the smallmouth bass in the reservoir.  I have fished Rockport steadily since 1984 and had never targeted smallmouth. My father-in-law was a trout catching machine and he taught me so much about how to catch them and I try to remember all those lessons when I go out, but the late morning was given to smallmouth bass. I had been watching Joe Randall on "Shoot Fish Life" target the smallies in Rockport and decided since this was Shifty's first experience of fishing the lake it was time to try out what I picked up from Shoot Fish Life. Shifty being a bass fisher didn't take long to hook up the first of many. He put on his favorite crankbait, a Berkley Gilly pattern. That thing was on fire! He landed the most fish on the day for sure. We found what we figured was a nursery for the smallmouth bass because all Shifty was landing 6-8 inch smallies, but he landed 20+ in that little stretch.

We kept moving around the rocky shorelines and I finally got into a few of them. I landed a couple decent sized on a lipless firetiger and they were fun to fight on the light gear I was using. Shifty did the same and got a couple nice sized ones to the boat.

We fished into the early afternoon until the wind got so bad we called it a day. We boated well over 35 smallmouth bass and LDR'd a few more. We stopped on the way home in Kamas at the Hi Mtn Drug Store for a killer burger another first for Shifty. I think he will return with me.