# A tall cold glass of Winder-Berry



## TheGreenHornet (Nov 4, 2009)

We headed up to Strawberry on Satuday night for a quick overnighter. It looked like we got there just as the tail end of the storm passed. As we were setting up our QuickFish 6 tents, the full moon was shining through the light snow that was gently falling from the sky. All and all it had the makings of a great night. Little did we know that Mother Nature does this to lure us out into the wild. We settled into the fishing tent and began fishing. It started slow so we threw back a few cold ones to relax. While we were sitting there talking about the good-ol-times, it happened. There was a loud "POP" and before we could say holy smokes, we were sitting in a blizzard. Our sleeping tent flew into our fishing tent and with a "POP" the fishing tent lifted off like a rocket and the two tents began racing across the snow covered ice. We took off after the tents and about 200 yards later we caught up to our tents and we were wondering what the crap just happened. We drug the tents back and over an hour later we were finished getting camp back together. The only thing we lost was the snowmobile, but my buddy said he thinks that he saw a green lady with a big nose and a tall black hat flying around in the sky on it. Anyway, my brother had a 21 inch cut on his line for who knows how long and reeled it in. I think he caught it off of a green 3 inch tube and chub. Our other buddy made it through the storm and joined us for a good clean game of Hold-em. We only got three hours of sleep that night at began fishing at 8:00 a.m. The action was hot on the chub bait, but it is a new way of fishing for us and it was extremely difficult to set the hook. I had one fish take my lure at the hole while I was trying to land it. Later I caught a 22 inch cut and when I looked in his belly to see what he had for breakfast, I found my lure from earlier. Talk about lucky, I wish I had that same luck during our game of Hold-em. Anyway, 15 feet of water and hot action on the tube jig with chub bait. It was good time. Only landed 2 cuts and 1 crawfish. We saw some nice bull elk near Heber on that North side of the canyon.


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## huntnbum (Nov 8, 2007)

Sounds like quite the adventure.
nice fish too


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## manysteps (Sep 28, 2009)

Sounds like a wild night, at least you had fun... Come to think of it, chopper 5 mentioned something about a snowmobile being "oddly" abandoned near there.


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## brookieguy1 (Oct 14, 2008)

Good humor for sure. Gotta remember the wolfe's bane on the sled seat to ward off those pesky 'Berry witches!


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Holy Cow, beats anything I ever seen.


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

Fishing a hold em a winning combination in my book... That sounds like a trip you will remember for a while!


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## Grandpa D (Sep 7, 2007)

Good to hear that you got all your gear back.
I had my tent blow away at Mantua last year. It blew out to where the ice was thinner than I dared walk.
Another guy saw it blowing away and coming his way. He ran over and got it and then brought it back to me.
I was very happy that he did that.


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## Tigru (Oct 15, 2007)

Awesome trip. Thanks for the pics and posting!


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## Bhilly81 (Oct 18, 2009)

sounds like a great trip i would really love to get up there for an all nighter trip i have never been able to hook anything through the ice on the berry


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## wshiwsfshn (May 9, 2008)

We went out last night and ended up reeling in bites all night, couldn't get a single hookup. Was fun anyway.


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## TheGreenHornet (Nov 4, 2009)

wshiwsfshn, 

I know exactly what you mean. The action was fun. I don't know if you guys were using the chub/chum whatever bait, but I felt like the 3/4 inch slice of that 6-8 inch chum fish was keeping the fishes mouth away from the hook. It was cool to watch the fish just come up and sometimes bit at the chum sideways and other times it looked like the fish swallowed the whole setup. If there is anyone out there that has some good rigging or hook setting suggestions for us, your help would be greatly appreciated. My setup was a 4 inch total lead head jig with a green tube that had glitter in it. Then I cut a cross section of a little 8 inch fish and push it on the hook where the hook went through both side of the fish/skin. The action was very hot until most of the meat of the fish was gone and the skin was the only thing left.


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## wshiwsfshn (May 9, 2008)

Was doing exactly the same thing as you. I watched multiple times as the fish grabbed the jig from the side and shook it to knock the bait off.


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## Grandpa D (Sep 7, 2007)

In winter months, I size down my jigs at Strawberry.
A 1 1/2" Cutt'r Bug on a 1/32 oz. jig head is plenty.
Tube jigs in the same size are also good choices.
I even do well with the very small Gizzy Bug on a 1/64th oz. jig head.
I cut red side shiners into small pieces and tip the hook with a small piece.

Another thing that I discovered at Strawberry, is that some of my bites won't pull on the line but rather lift the line and loosen it. I watch for a slack in the line and usually, I have a bite and fish on.
A strike indicator will actually lift up when the fish takes the jig from underneath it.


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

If you have sonar or a camera and are getting either nibbles or refusals to bite, here is something you can do. Give the fish multiple "looks". What I mean by that is if the fish isn't hitting a stationary bait, give it a quick flick with the rod. A lot of times that elicits a reaction strike, especially with cutts. If jigging, stop when the fish arrives. Also experiment with your presentation. Sometimes they like it jigged heavily, sometimes not. Sometimes they will aggressively follow a moving offering but won't hit it until it stops. With your finder, you can not only see the fish, but see how they are reacting to your bait. The sonar info will help you get more hookups. It seems weird, but there are times that ice fishing requires a presentation almost as particular as fly angling. (almost  )



Grandpa D said:


> In winter months, I size down my jigs at Strawberry.
> A 1 1/2" Cutt'r Bug on a 1/32 oz. jig head is plenty.


+1. It seems that the longer the ice season goes at the Berry, the better medium to small offerings work.


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## TheGreenHornet (Nov 4, 2009)

Grandpa D and Catherder, 
Thanks a bunch for the input. I'm going to try those suggestions and I'll let you know how it goes. Hopefuly I will be able to get back to Strawberry soon.


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