Strawberry Ladders 3/12/22

[joatmon]

Went solo to Strawberry Ladders on Saturday.  Catchinon had some vehicle issues and couldn't join me.  Based on trips from previous years, I wanted to target a specific area and depth (around 30 feet).  I walked and drilled a few holes until I got "on target" at 31 fow.

There were a few pockets of slush around the inlet at the ladders as I walked out and back, but mostly no slush.  Ice was about 15 inches thick, with 3-4 inches of powder over 3-4 inches of crusty snow (frozen slush?) on top of the ice.  Weather was sunny and bright (and I have the sunburn to prove it).

Fishing was slow but steady all day.  I had to continuously change bait/rigs/tactics to keep catching fish.  I caught some on the fall, or with gentle jigging.  Vigorous jigging would bring fish in, especially mid water column.  No hits while dead sticking, but bites were VERY light so I may not have noticed.  I did use a spring bobber at times.  Probably about half the fish were caught on the bottom at 31 feet and the other half between 10 and 16 feet.

Some of my "go to" rigs just didn't produce (glow white and orange gizzillas).  I did catch a couple of cutthroat on a gold/brown trout pattern Kastmaster and a bronze Swedish Pimple, tipped with chub or shrimp.  I ultimately went with smaller plain jigs, tipped with half a meal worm or a whole wax worm.  Best color was a glow yellow (it may have technically been chartreuse, but more on the yellow side of the spectrum).

Rigs I tried included the following

White glow gizzilla - 0 fish
Orange glow gizzilla - 0 fish
Green glow head ratfinkee under a kastmaster gold/brown trout "flasher" - 0 fish (fish were hitting the flasher and had no interest in the ratfinkee)
Red/pink ratso - several fish, including a couple of rainbows
Green atomic teaser below a silver spoon "flasher" - 0 fish
Bronze Swedish Pimple - 1 fish
Gold/brown trout Kastmaster - 1 fish
White glow Cutt'r Bug - a couple of fish
White glow tungsten jig - a handful of fish
Gold tungsten jig - 0 fish
Green tungsten jig - 0 fish
Green shad dart - 0 fish
White glow tikka minno - 0 fish
White tube jig - 0 fish
Chartreuse (yellow) jig - most fish (including a lone kokanee)

Baits I tried

Chub - caught several fish, especially early in the day
Shrimp - caught a couple of fish throughout the day
Nightcrawler (nub) - caught several fish midday
Meal worm - caught quite a few fish, rigged either whole on the hook, whole wacky style, or just half a worm, better first half of the day
Wax worm - caught most on this, especially later in the day
Powerbait nibbles - 0 fish
Salmon eggs - 0 fish

Now for the tally

Cutthroat trout - 23 fish, largest were several at 19 inches, many in the 16-19 inch range, with a small handful below the slot
Rainbow trout - 4 fish, largest was 17 inches
Kokanee salmon - 1 fish, 13.5 inches (my first through the ice, and on the smoker now)


Based on ice conditions, we probably have a few more weeks of good ice fishing at Strawberry.  Get up there, and remember your sunscreen!

[obifishkenobi]

Went solo to Strawberry Ladders on Saturday.  Catchinon had some vehicle issues and couldn't join me.  Based on trips from previous years, I wanted to target a specific area and depth (around 30 feet).  I walked and drilled a few holes until I got "on target" at 31 fow.

There were a few pockets of slush around the inlet at the ladders as I walked out and back, but mostly no slush.  Ice was about 15 inches thick, with 3-4 inches of powder over 3-4 inches of crusty snow (frozen slush?) on top of the ice.  Weather was sunny and bright (and I have the sunburn to prove it).

Fishing was slow but steady all day.  I had to continuously change bait/rigs/tactics to keep catching fish.  I caught some on the fall, or with gentle jigging.  Vigorous jigging would bring fish in, especially mid water column.  No hits while dead sticking, but bites were VERY light so I may not have noticed.  I did use a spring bobber at times.  Probably about half the fish were caught on the bottom at 31 feet and the other half between 10 and 16 feet.

Some of my "go to" rigs just didn't produce (glow white and orange gizzillas).  I did catch a couple of cutthroat on a gold/brown trout pattern Kastmaster and a bronze Swedish Pimple, tipped with chub or shrimp.  I ultimately went with smaller plain jigs, tipped with half a meal worm or a whole wax worm.  Best color was a glow yellow (it may have technically been chartreuse, but more on the yellow side of the spectrum).

Rigs I tried included the following

White glow gizzilla - 0 fish
Orange glow gizzilla - 0 fish
Green glow head ratfinkee under a kastmaster gold/brown trout "flasher" - 0 fish (fish were hitting the flasher and had no interest in the ratfinkee)
Red/pink ratso - several fish, including a couple of rainbows
Green atomic teaser below a silver spoon "flasher" - 0 fish
Bronze Swedish Pimple - 1 fish
Gold/brown trout Kastmaster - 1 fish
White glow Cutt'r Bug - a couple of fish
White glow tungsten jig - a handful of fish
Gold tungsten jig - 0 fish
Green tungsten jig - 0 fish
Green shad dart - 0 fish
White glow tikka minno - 0 fish
White tube jig - 0 fish
Chartreuse (yellow) jig - most fish (including a lone kokanee)

Baits I tried

Chub - caught several fish, especially early in the day
Shrimp - caught a couple of fish throughout the day
Nightcrawler (nub) - caught several fish midday
Meal worm - caught quite a few fish, rigged either whole on the hook, whole wacky style, or just half a worm, better first half of the day
Wax worm - caught most on this, especially later in the day
Powerbait nibbles - 0 fish
Salmon eggs - 0 fish

Now for the tally

Cutthroat trout - 23 fish, largest were several at 19 inches, many in the 16-19 inch range, with a small handful below the slot
Rainbow trout - 4 fish, largest was 17 inches
Kokanee salmon - 1 fish, 13.5 inches (my first through the ice, and on the smoker now)


Based on ice conditions, we probably have a few more weeks of good ice fishing at Strawberry.  Get up there, and remember your sunscreen!

Thanks for the great detailed report.

[doitall5000]

That's the best report I ever read. Thank you for the details.
Some think they won't make a report it will some how make fishing bad for them, or there "special" spot will be taken over by the hoards of other fisherman. It's true on some locations, small streams. Unique places. This kind of a report is best to hold back.

But this kind of report can help lots of people improve there fishing knowledge and have a great day in the outdoors.
I have shown my locations before and been taken advantage of to. But most people do have some respect.
I don't want you to give your secrets, just tell of your good experiences and successes.
I would like to incourage you who just read, to join us and be a contributing member.
Hope you don't hate me for my opinion...

[joatmon]

That's the best report I ever read. Thank you for the details.
Some think they won't make a report it will some how make fishing bad for them, or there "special" spot will be taken over by the hoards of other fisherman.  It's true on some locations, small streams. Unique places. This kind of a report is best to hold back.

But this kind of report can help lots of people improve there fishing knowledge and have a great day in the outdoors.
I have shown my locations before and been taken advantage of to. But most people do have some respect.
I don't want you to give your secrets,  just tell of your good experiences and successes.
I would like to incourage you who just read, to join us and be a contributing member.
Hope you don't hate me for my opinion...

Thank you doitall5000.  I post to try and help others, but rarely give an exact spot.

And I second your invitation to the casual readers to join BFT and contribute.  Personally, I learn a lot from posts of unsuccessful trips too.   We've all had those days when nothing seems to work, or a location is off for some reason.