By Dave Webb
July 13, 2024

We've had a week of record heat along the Wasatch Front, with temps pushing 105 F most days, and that has affected fishing at Strawberry. We launched at Renegade and started catching fish immediately but they were all deep - most around 40 feet down. We used downriggers to reach them. We caught a lot of fish but most were small - nothing even close to a slot buster. We caught an equal number of rainbows and cutthroats but did not connect with any kokanee, even though we fished using kokanee techniques.

We arrived at the marina at about 7:30 am and had to wait in line to launch. The parking lot was almost full and the lake was dotted with boats. I seldom fish on Saturdays because I don't like dealing with the crowds. Pressure has been intense this year, with most boat fishers targeting kokanee. I've heard reports that kokanee action is slow right now and our experience bore that out.

I was fishing with friends who are new to the sport. It was fun getting them into fish, even if the fish were small by Strawberry standards. They had fun while the morning air was relatively cool. As the sun rose high in the sky the fishing slowed and the air felt oppressively hot. We left at about 11 am. I'm sure we could have caught more fish but we would have had to work for them and the fun factor faded as temperatures increased.

Most of our fish were caught trolling various rigs down about 40 feet. I used a squid tipped with mealworms, hoping to catch kokanee, but just caught cutts. We also caught fish on various small lures. Those small fish didn't seem to be picky.

We saw a concentration of boats in the "Kokanee Triangle" between Strawberry Bay Marina and Haws Point. People were working hard trying to catch the salmon, and I'm sure a few did okay, but the people I talked to said action was slow.

We also boated through The Narrows, just showing my friends the lake, and saw a concentration of salmon fishers near the mouth of the narrows on the Soldier Creek side. 

I need to go back with more patient companions and really target the kokanee. The next few weeks will be prime time to catch the biggest kokanee of the year. (All Utah waters close to kokanee fishing from Sept 10 through Nov 30, to give the fish a chance to spawn.)

With hot summer temperatures, I choose to fish early or late in the day and go slow and deep. The big fish are still there, we just need to figure out how to get the right bait down to them.