Roy Ishida (Salt Lake City) reports that Strawberry fishing has really picked up. He said he likes to float tube near the mouth of Indian Creek and around the old Indian Creek dike. One of his favorite lures is a roostertail with an orange/green body with black dots and a green and yellow hackle (tail). He said that a dark brown scale body with the green and yellow hackle is also effective.

Ishida said that four pound test is the best and that clear line is better than florescent or colored. He will switch to six pound test if he is fishing in the weeds or sagebrush.

Ishida said that he never uses a swivel because he doesn't catch as many fish when he uses one. He did say that the spinner "twists the living heck out of his line!' and it gets all knotted up. He has to replace his line after every trip. Still, it is worth it because it increases his success.

Woolly buggers and woolly worms with brown bodies and gold tinsel in the tail are also very effective according to Ishida.

Ishida says that most fishers are in too big of a hurry when fishing Strawberry. His advice is to slow down. Cast out and then let your lure sink before you begin younr retrieve. Ishida experiments until he figures out just how long he has to wait to get the lure almost to the bottom. He will slowly count as the lure sinks and then will repeat the count on each cast to make sure the lure has time to get down toward the bottom (or just above the weeds on the bottom).

When beginning his retrieve, Ishida gives the line a hard jerk and then quickly takes up the slack. Then he begins to slowly reel in the lure. After reeling in a few feet of line he will stop and let the lure flutter toward the bottom and will then give the rod a quick snap and begin his retrieve again. He said that the trout really hit hard.

Ishida said that his son likes to fish with a nine foot fly rod. He uses a floating line with a slow sink tip. He fishes with woolly buggers and woolly worms and also catches a lot of fish. As he strips in the line he varys the speed of his retrieve, sometimes letting the fly sink and then stripping rapidly to really get the fly moving.

Copyright Dave Webb, 2005