By Dave Webb
August 27, 2021

Strawberry can be fickle during late summer. The water is still warm and fish are somewhat lethargic. Conventional wisdom says fishing is best at first and last light. At other times, you need to fish slow and deep. We enjoyed a great trip that defied those adages.

Recent reports say many kokanee have already started to color up and action for them has been spotty. As mature fish turn red their flesh softens and table quality diminishes. We did not target the koks and we recommend releasing red fish so they can spawn. (It is illegal to keep kokanee from Sept. 10

through Nov. 30.)

We launched at Renegade, trolled around the adjacent bay and then through the narrows. If I use a downrigger to pull a small lure at a depth of about 20-40 feet, I usually catch plenty of cutthroat. Today, action was a little slow. We caught several 12-15 inch fish but had to work for them.

We caught fish on Lil Jakes, needlefish, Rapalas and other lures. Many people do well in the summer by trolling a worm behind pop gear. That can be very effective but I don’t much enjoy it. The weight of the pop gear diminishes the fight, in my option. Other people work worms or powerbait near the bottom and also do well.

About 2 pm a stiff breeze developed and we decided to call it a day. We were about a mile out and decided to fast troll back to the ramp. My companion, Kevin Fox, noticed an old lure in the bottom of his tackle box and tied it on. It was a heavy spoon he called a sh-boom.

Boom, boom, boom, boom… He caught fish after fish, including the largest fish of the trip, as we trolled about 3.5 miles per hour, working that wobbler just under the surface. Very strange. Very fun.

By the time we got to the ramp we were pumped and decided to circle the bay a couple more times. Kevin’s sh-boom was chartreuse and that was the hot color. I found on that was pink, with yellow/black spots, and tied it on. It caught fish but the chartreuse color caught more.

Fast-trolling that heavy chartreuse wobbler turned a mediocre day into a very memorable trip.

Eventually Kevin lost his lure and then we did call it a day. I’ve done a google search and can’t find anything quite like it. Please let me know if you are familiar with the lure and know where they are sold.

Water temp was 64 degrees. Sky was clear and sun was bright. Smoke in the sky diminished the bright light a little. Moon phase waxing gibbous, so bright, 67%.

It was a fun trip.

People are saying the magic lure was a Strawberry wobbler.