Strawberry was good to us

[elk_horn]

Fished Strawberry Friday the 15th and Saturday the 16th ... caught alot of cuts at 20" and did manage 2 at 22 3/4" Kept a few bows to eat! Fished Haws point in a boat drifting a wooley bugger! Black and Red ... Sometimes an Olive color.

[flydaddy834]

i was out that evening after the wind died down. trolling by the marina in a toon through lots of tubes with shiners didnt get a one. caught one on a wobbler in the coves they were in there after the sun went down. had a lot of fun. the mexican place in heber is pretty good also don pedros. i will eat there again. wish i caught a keeper i wanted fish for sure. i didnt see but 2 boats that whole evening. couple people in toons but not many. where was everyone?

[DallanC]

Hit it saturday as well with great results.

I've been mixing up my own bait and rig... trying to get something that works on rainbows only. So far its been VERY promising. Saturday, in just over an hour we limited out on 12 nice big fat 'bows. Didnt pick up a single cutt so I think I'm on the right track LOL!

I hate catch and release as I know even if you are careful there is a chance some die... i'd just rather not catch them to begin with. Last time up there we caught 25 rainbows straight in 3 hours! Now if i could just figure out how to avoid the hellacious line tangles I seem to be getting...

-DallanC

[Levy]

You hate catch and release? Because you might actually renew the resource? If you keep a fish it has a mortality rate of 100%. If you release a fish correctly it has a mortality rate 35%(It is a 1-5% mortality rate when fishing with artificial lures). As heavily pressured as Strawberry is, they ask that you to not feel compelled to harvest a fish everytime you go. There is a reason for that, look at Scofield. As far as catching only rainbows, I was up there Sat. and I guess I have invented a fly that only catches rainbows as I landed 20. I think it has more to do with where you are fishing on the reservoir than what you are using. There are more rainbows being caught that carried over from last fall due to an increase in the size of rainbows that were stocked.

[Grandpa D]

The fact that more rainbow trout were stocked in Strawberry, in the past 12 months than have been stocked for several years may also have something to do with why you are catching them.
Good on the DWR for the heavy stocking of rainbows at Strawberry!

[BerryNut]

I am not one to tell anyone to not keep fish, but with that being said, with the increase in the numbers of rainbows being caught, and the amount of people that fish there, if everyone were to keep thier limit, how soon would we all be complaining about the amount of slot cutts we were catching. I have fished strawberry my entire life. I'm one who loves the taste of fresh fish, but I dont see how not releasing fish after they're caught because they are going to die can justify keeping an entire limit every trip? Even if it does not live, it will be food source for other fish, birds otters, whatever. I just love catching fat football bows out of the berry again after years of just catching one or two every year. I think catching and keeping a couple for dinner every other trip, and letting the rest go and get bigger so we can post about catch 5 pounders in a couple more years. Just my 2 cents.

[UintaMan]

I am not one to tell anyone to not keep fish, but with that being said, with the increase in the numbers of rainbows being caught, and the amount of people that fish there, if everyone were to keep thier limit, how soon would we all be complaining about the amount of slot cutts we were catching. I have fished strawberry my entire life. I'm one who loves the taste of fresh fish, but I dont see how not releasing fish after they're caught because they are going to die can justify keeping an entire limit every trip? Even if it does not live, it will be food source for other fish, birds otters, whatever. I just love catching fat football bows out of the berry again after years of just catching one or two every year. I think catching and keeping a couple for dinner every other trip, and letting the rest go and get bigger so we can post about catch 5 pounders in a couple more years. Just my 2 cents.

I think that is exactly what you are saying! Who are you or anyone else for that matter to tell someone who has every right in the World to keep their limit of fish every single trip they got out, that they can't? Glad to see your trying to dictate that some people should be OK to keep a couple for dinner every other trip. If you do that than good on you, and for the people that feel the need to keep their limit every time they go out well now that is their right isn't it! With all this said, I practive catch and release 90% of the time but have NO problem with what anyone else does as long as they stay within the law / rules and regulations! Strawberry is not going to run out of fish and there is plenty up there to go around. With all the fish that are taken from the Berry every day, I've never seemed to have a problem finding the monster bows and that was before the DWR finally decided to try and get the Bow numbers up this last year or so. Should be another great year up at the Berry for all to enjoy!

[Levy]

Who are you or anyone else for that matter to tell someone who has every right in the World to keep their limit of fish every single trip they got out, that they can't?

Who are you to put words in his mouth? He just stated his opinion and didn't attack anyone. Do you honestly think that keeping the "family" limit of fish every single trip out is good conservation?

Strawberry is not going to run out of fish and there is plenty up there to go around. With all the fish that are taken from the Berry every day, I've never seemed to have a problem finding the monster bows and that was before the DWR finally decided to try and get the Bow numbers up this last year or so

Strawberry may not run out of fish, but the budget that is used to keep that reservoir full of fish will increase(it is huge already)and funds that could be used on other waters or projects will not be available. It is extremely expensive to stock 10-12inch fish. With that being said I have no problem with keeping a fish or two. I also feel as the DWR does that you shouldn't feel compelled to harvest fish every time you go out and a lot of that is determined on how often you fish. If you want different age classes of fish you have to put some back that is a fact.

[jahan]

Happy medium folks! I personally keep fish every now and again, nothing wrong with it, isn't that the original purpose of fishing, eating the fish? Not everyone is out to catch trophy fish, but at the same time not everyone is out to catch a meal. I think the slot limits/limits are set to take into account that many people are going to take their limit nearly every time they go out and there is nothing wrong with that if they are going to eat them.

[BROWN BAGGER]

My 2 cent's, I have no problem with keeping limits. Though ask yourself if I release a fish that has a high rate of survival, how much fun will it be to catch it later and much bigger. Down the road as you gather years of fishing under your belt, don't you start to desire that big fish. Doesn't watching you kid reel in a fish of a life time give you great joy and bragging rights. We need both type's of fishery's, and if you get caught taking more than the limit, I think you should have you license revoked for a year plus a fine. I almost see it as kids and cold cereal, they will eat the box if you let them.