By Dave Webb
June 4, 2024
We found fast fishing at Strawberry Reservoir, with nice, big, healthy, fish hitting every lure we tried. Fish were scattered. We did not see big groups of fish but 1-2-3 fish were showing on the graph almost everywhere we looked. We caught most fish trolling just below the surface but also saw many fish down 10 or more feet.
We launched at Renegade, coming in via the Sheep Creek Road from Spanish Fork Canyon. That road was dry and in great shape.
We started fishing immediately using a gas trolling motor plus an electric motor with a remote control that makes it easy to steer. Sometimes we boat rapidly to specific spots on the reservoir but this time we just started fishing right from the dock. We caught fish within five minutes out in the open bay.
We seldom went 15 minutes between hits and often had doubles. We seriously lost count of the number of fish caught.
This was one of our most productive trips in recent memory in terms of both the number and size of fish. We did not take time to measure fish, returning them to the water as quickly as possible, but some looked to be close to the slot buster (22-inch) length. Surprisingly, we caught four very nice rainbows. (We often catch nice cutts and rainbows are usually small. On this trip we caught fat rainbows pushing 20 inches.)
A gold-colored Kastmaster did surprisingly well and was very effective when trolled at faster speeds (3-3.5 mph). Kevin Fox had great success using a homemade lure patterned after the old Strawberry Wobbler lure (that is no longer available commercially).
One secret is to let out a lot of line. Fish move away from gas motors and hit better if there is a little time before the lure comes by.
The water surface temperature was about 47 F. That is still quite cool and it allows fish to move freely through the water column. As temps heat up trout will seek the coolest water possible. That often means they will be deeper but can also be found around inlet streams and springs.
The lake was full. This is the highest water level I’ve seen in recent memory.
We look forward to more excellent fishing at Strawberry Reservoir this summer.
