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Strawberry in the Fall
Fall is the best time to fish Strawberry Reservoir. The rainbows and cutthroat come out of their midsummer slump and aggressively begin to feed. More importantly, they move into the shallows where they are easy to find and fish for.
Look for the trout on the edges of large open bays where the shoreline plunges rapidly into deep water. Cast your lure or bait right up into the shallows and then slowly work it into deeper water. Fish down as deep as 20 or 25 feet but expect most of the fish to be between 15 and 20 feet down.
Lure fishermen should start with three inch singletail grubs or three-inch tubes. White or pearl are good colors to start with. Also try rootbeer, green and purple. The tubes with some sparkle in them work the best.
If you like to troll, pop-gear and a worm will take fish. If you don’t like dragging around all that hardware, use a downrigger and fish with some beads and a couple of small spinner blades in front of the worm. Make sure the worm is hooked so it moves through the water without bending or doubling over. A straight worm will catch more fish.
If you don’t have a boat, cast parallel to the shoreline and out about 15 feet. Let the lure sink near the top of the weeds before you begin your retrieve. Don’t get it down into the weeds or you’ll not have much fun and you will lose a lot of lures. A cast or two will tell you how long to wait before you begin your retrieve.
If you are fishing from a boat or tube, cast right in to the bank and then slowly work the lure back to the boat. Work the lure slowly, allowing it to sink to near the top of the weeds. Again, keep the lure just above the weeds or you will be in for a long day.
If you are fly fishing, use a fast sink line or a sinking tip to get the fly down to the fish. Standard flies will take a lot of fish. Try big woolly buggers or leach patterns (black with sparkle, rootbeer and chartreuse work well). Spruce streamers will also take fish.
