Dave Webb
Oct. 29, 2022

Strawberry was beautiful this afternoon and I enjoyed decent fishing. I arrived about 1 pm and fished until 5. Got 11 into the boat and had a few others flip off. I've had better days but also worse. Fall action can be very good and I was hoping for a little better success.

I suppose that is the nature of fishing. Strawberry in particular can be finicky. The quality of fish there makes it one of my favorite destinations, even when I have to work for the fish.

The water temperature was 48-49 F. The weather was partly cloudy and breezy. It was warm when the sun was out but a little chilly when it went behind clouds. I was careful to be off the water by sunset because I expect it got quite cold quickly.

I pulled my boat up the Sheep Creek Road, from Spanish Fork Canyon to Renegade, and launched there. The road had an icy spot on top of the mountain but was otherwise dry and fine. I expect the next good storm will make the Sheep Creek route impassable.

The Renegade ramp was dry and they still had docks in the water. There was still a lot of algae in the water and clarity was not great near shore.

I really wanted to catch a couple rainbows and so I spent an hour pulling flies behind a bubble up near the Indian Creek inlet but did not have any success. I saw shore fishermen catch one on bait.

I started trolling and hit a couple favorite spots but could not find fish. Then I fast-trolled looking for them and connected with scattered fish and found a couple new favorite spots.

I caught only cutts, no slot busters, but three were heavy fish that really fought. It was a fun afternoon.

I experimented, trying different lures and most worked. At Strawberry I almost always do well trolling Rapala-like fish imitators and Li’l Jakes lures. They are great when you are prospecting, trying to locate fish. When I find a concentration I often pull up and cast a tub jig tipped with a piece of nightcrawler. Cast out 40-50 feet or so and then let it sink, keeping slack out of the line. If you judge correctly it will swing through suspended fish near your boat. The jig/bait combination can be deadly.

Many of the biggest fish or the year during the fall. With the water temperature falling, the fish sense the approach of winter and so they often feed aggressively. They also range freely – they can be found anywhere – and so you do need to hunt them down.

Action stays good right up until the reservoir freezes but conditions become more and more difficult as snow accumulates and ice starts to form on the ramps. The road into Strawberry Bay is plowed and that launch stays open even after snow blocks access to Renegade and other ramps. Usually fishermen peter out before the Strawberry Bay ramp close.

As soon as there is safe ice, droves of anglers come to fish the hard deck. That usually begins in mid-to late December.