# Tribune package on fall fishing at Strawberry



## Buckskin (Sep 14, 2007)

Looks like the Tribune and DWR combined to make a video of fishing at Strawberry in the fall. There is also a story and a column on it. http://blogs.sltrib.com/fishing/


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## Yonni (Sep 7, 2007)

the trib and DWR have combined "forces" for a while now. My great friend Reed Sherman is the one doing the video and editing on the majority of these videos and has worked for the DWR for several years now. Check out their Youtube channel, some pretty neat stuff there http://www.youtube.com/user/UDWR#p/u


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## Grandpa D (Sep 7, 2007)

I'm at work and can't access youtube so I'll ask this question.
Are the DWR and Trib giving suggestions about how to fish at Strawberry in a way that isn't going to kill almost every fish that you catch?
What I mean is, when someone chucks out a big ball of power bait on a big old trebble hook and sits and waits for the fish to gulp the bait, that fish will probably get hooked too deep to safely remove the hook and release the fish.

There needs to be some education given that informs anglers about ways to catch and be able to release slot fish without knowingly killing them.

It makes me sick to be fishing at Strawberry and see and hear people complain about letting a Cutthroat go that they know won't live.
Why don't these people just change the way that they fish and use methods that are not as lethal as power bait and trebble hooks at Strawberry.

Why doesn't the DWR make it illigal to use this method of angling at Strawberry?

I know that the DWR wants Strawberry to be a family friendly place to fish but when they impose a slot and then allow power bait to be used, I put much of the blame on the DWR for the fish that will die after being released.

Am I alone in my thinking here?


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## Yonni (Sep 7, 2007)

the video showed how hot Lucky crafts and tube jigs are

Honestly a way to allow for people who only seem to use PB is to allow a keep limit of like 2 trout. We all know how many fish are in Strawberry, a ton, I think a low limit would actually be helpful. 

I do use PB on occasion, this year I caught a 25" rainbow with a worm tipped with PB at strawberry, but I hooked him on the lip. People need to be more responsible with PB, lazy fishing if you ask me.


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## Nor-tah (Dec 16, 2007)

Yonni said:


> the video showed how hot Lucky crafts and tube jigs are.


Those lucky crafts are nothing but marketing garbage. :wink:

I use PB ocasionaly at DC. When I do I use very small trebles, on light line. I get the fish in, take a pic, and then cut the line if its not right in the corner of the mouth. I dont think that kills fish but I dont do it more than once or twice a year so I dont really care... JMO


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

Very timely because I am headed out one more time to the berry for a 1/2 day trip. Should be cold as snot likely one of the last ones before the ice sets in unless we get a warm day. BRRR it's getting cold out there.


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## Grandpa D (Sep 7, 2007)

Nor-tah said:


> Yonni said:
> 
> 
> > the video showed how hot Lucky crafts and tube jigs are.
> ...


If a small single hook is used instead of a treble, I would think that it would be less invasive to the fish, when swallowed.
I can't help but think that a fish with even a small treble hook in it's throat will have a problem eating.

I like the idea of a 2 fish limit but I don't know how many people will go all the way to Strawberry, just to catch 2 fish and then go home.
I would bet that they would fish for several hours and cull the fish and keep the 2 largest of the day.
This would also be very harmful to the fish plus it's illigal to cull trout.

Strawberry will always be a hard place to manage as long as it fishes as well as it does.

In the end, fishing is a blood sport and some fish will die.


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

But even if there was only a two fish limit at Strawberry, that wouldn't change anything in relation to the number of fish that are caught on powerbait, killed (for all intents and purposes) and then turned back. A two fish limit is only going to require to put back more dead fish.

I would support Strawberry going to an artificial fly and lure only fishery. Families can fish at Deer Creek or Jordanelle. They are closer to the relevant populations anyway.

Or, as an alternative, maybe bait could be acceptable on free fishing day or each weekend during June or July.


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## DeadI (Sep 12, 2007)

Nice video but how about putting a mic on the other people in the video that are talking. you can barely here what they are saying.


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## sfy2004 (Jun 2, 2008)

for those of you complaining about the bait users, understand that they too get hit with the parking fees. they too must pay for their license,gas, snacks, and everything else related.
in fact, their money goes to some of the things that you use and enjoy up there. just like yours.

i use bait. until this past month i did not have access to a boat unless i rented one, so i was stuck like many, many others sitting on the shore, knowing that if i tried to use a lure in most available shore spots i would lose that lure to the notorious weeds. so bait was the best available option.

hate to tell ya, i have watched many boaters thru my binoc's catch a fish only to have it die when released. why? many people dont understand that if you bring up a fish from below a certain depth, 30 feet i believe, the fish will not survive no matter how carefully you handle it.
so are we going to enforce a rule prohibiting fishing below 30 feet because the fish die when brought up? sounds ridiculous, right? so is the thought of trying to take a VERY well known spot away from thousands of people simply because they are not able to get away from the weeds and use some lures, which are hardly death proof themselves.

how many of you have hooked a fish in the gills when using a larger Rapala or Lucky?
again, seen many do it while watching thru my binoc's or spotting scope

this seems like the "haves" trying to force their will on the "have nots". not cool.


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## Nor-tah (Dec 16, 2007)

orvis1 said:


> Very timely because I am headed out one more time to the berry for a 1/2 day trip. Should be cold as snot likely one of the last ones before the ice sets in unless we get a warm day. BRRR it's getting cold out there.


So how was it!!??


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

sfy2004 said:


> for those of you complaining about the bait users, understand that they too get hit with the parking fees. they too must pay for their license,gas, snacks, and everything else related.
> in fact, their money goes to some of the things that you use and enjoy up there. just like yours.
> 
> i use bait. until this past month i did not have access to a boat unless i rented one, so i was stuck like many, many others sitting on the shore, knowing that if i tried to use a lure in most available shore spots i would lose that lure to the notorious weeds. so bait was the best available option.
> ...


First of all, I was not complaining about bait users. I'm complaining about too many fish dying because of the combination of bait and the regulations already in place at Strawberry.

No one is begrudging any of the shorebound folks anything that they spend. But, your argument falls flat. There are many "artificial fly and lure only" waters around the state. You are not being prevented from fishing, you are being prevented from a method of fishing. You can catch fish from the shore with lures. If you are fishing your lure in weeds, move to another spot. You could also get a float tube for about the same amount of money you spent on a boat rental. There are other options.

As far as what you have seen through your binoculars, I am confused. How can you tell how deep a boater is fishing from the shore? Also, where is this "all fish die if caught deeper than 30 feet" idea from? That notion is patently untrue.. Even if that is too much for some fish, the mortality of those fish is certainly less than the 90-95% that die after being caught by bait.

This is not the "haves" vs. the "have-nots," and to be honest, I think you lose credibility by even suggesting it. As I said before, shore bound folks would not be banned from fishing at Strawberry. They would be banned from using bait. Look, say you go to Strawberry and catch 10 fish on bait. Let's assume that 2 are less than the slot, and 1 is above the slot. The remaining 7 are in the slot. Let's say you keep your 2 less than the slot and your 1 above the slot. That means you have a rainbow or a koke left to put on your limit.

So then you keep fishing and you catch 7 fish in the slot that ALL must be returned. Say you only deep hook 5 of them. Odds are that you kill 8 fish that day. That's a lot of pressure on a fishery.

Look, the bottom line is that bait fishing does not work well with a slot-limit regulation. I like bait fishing. I like fishing from shore. But fishing would only get better for everyone if Strawberry was an artificial fly and lure only fishery.


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## sfy2004 (Jun 2, 2008)

ok, the 30 foot rule? a guide up there told me about it. how do i know when the fish is caught deep, the length of the fight is a good indicator. as is the use of downriggers and trolling stuff. and it gets easier to tell when they are catching them during the hot months, when we all know the fish have gone deep anyway. and how can i tell its gill hooked? the amount of blood running down the side of the fish is a good indicator of that.

you suggest moving to a spot where there are no weeds....where exactly is that? strawberry is very well known to be snag city on the vast majority of the shoreline. look at the hillsides, and you will see the exact same bushes and shrubs that are below the water waiting to snag your stuff. losing a lure gets expensive when battling that stuff, but using bait at least you dont feel the pain in your wallet as bad. and you still have time to play with your sons,daughters,nieces and nephews, teach them about things like patience.

fishing would get better if it was restricted,for the boaters and tubers. 

and for the record, my bait complainers remark did not single out any one person. i have seen many threads in here with people complaining about the bait users, and i for one am real tired of seeing it.


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

I don't know of any evidence that corroborates the "30 ft. rule." I don't believe it though. But, like I said, even if half of them die, that's still less than are dying with bait.

I don't believe you can accurately judge the depth at which people are fishing either. Don't get me wrong, there are people that fish deep, but there are just as many that have all the gear you mentioned that are fishing about 15 feet down. A lot of them are using the riggers to get under the floating debris. They can also put a lot of line out behind the rigger that makes it look like they are fishing a lot deeper than they actually are. You must have some incredible binoculars to see bleeding fish on a boat from shore.

This website document provides a list of studies that shown that mortality for lure caught fish is 4%. Deep hooked fish caught with bait have a mortality of 74%. Just look at the math. http://tulsaflyfishers.org/files/Hookin ... Review.doc

There are plenty of places to fish without snagging weeds at Strawberry. I would look for where there is access to deeper water such as the north east corner of the lake near where highway 40 gets close to the lake. If you are concerned about losing your tackle, use braided line. And, if you want to play with kids, there are lots of better spots than the shore at Strawberry. Try the community ponds or Deer Creek, or Jordanelle, or Silver Lake at Brighton (which is nice and close to you).

Fishing at Strawberry would get better for everyone except bait fishermen, and that's the idea.

I didn't take it as you were attacking me. To be honest with you, I have no problem with bait fishing. I like bait fishing and I do it regularly, subject to some common sense.

If I am going to catch some dinner, I will bait fish. If I am going to catch and release, I will use lures. It's just common sense. Bait puts dinner on the table. If it is just for fun, lures provide a little more excitement anyway.

You have to see though, at a place like Strawberry, where you have a slot limit, and the majority of fish that you catch are in the slot limit and MUST be released, that it doesn't make sense to catch them with bait. There are plenty of places to fish that don't have a slot limit where bait fishing makes more sense. That's why I would not be opposed to Strawberry being an artificial fly and lure only fishery. You see what I'm saying?


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

I know that it is frustrating at times watching some inexperienced (or lazy) angler botch a release at Strawberry and see an occasional casualty from it. However, I would say that in spite of some mortality, the fishery is doing just fine. The numbers of fish continues to be high and it seems that there are more "over the slot" fish caught every year. The next time you are fishing the Berry, look closely at the snouts of the fish you catch. You will find that a majority of them show scars from being caught 1 or more times, some several times. In spite of a few casualties, most survive being caught just fine, and the current regs seem to be providing a fantastic fishery.

A couple more particular points.

1. Re the 2 fish limit (all sizes): It was basically already tried prior to the current slot. It failed, and the chubs weren't controlled. We have precedent to show us that it won't work. No need to repeat a mistake.

2. AFL only; Definitely would work for the fishery. However, it would shut out a significant portion of the users, and would decrease use and probably license sales to some extent. It would especially impact ice fishing, which often involves bait tipped jigs, yet is a "safe" way to fish that almost never results in the fish swallowing the hook. If a given fishery NEEDED AFL to maintain its quality, I would be all for it, but in this case I don't feel the fishery NEEDS it. 

There are common sense things that anglers can do to increase the odds of successful releases. Many have already been covered and don't warrant further discussion. If you can fish by means other than slinging a gob of powerbait out on a treble hook, do it! Also, it was discussed indirectly the effect of deep jigging fish. I have heard about very severe mortality in July and August, during a heat wave, of fish brought up from the deep, even in fish hooked in the lip. This makes sense. You are pulling up a fish from the thermocline and releasing them into bathwater warm water. Not good! even with flies. The DWR discusses this in the "catch and release tips" section of the proclamations if you want to read further. However, contrast that to Strawberry now where the water is uniformly cold. Jigging is very safe to do now, and the fish do fine being caught at all depths. C&R also is something that takes practice and the Berry right now will give you a lot of practice on a good day. :wink:


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

Nor-tah said:


> orvis1 said:
> 
> 
> > Very timely because I am headed out one more time to the berry for a 1/2 day trip. Should be cold as snot likely one of the last ones before the ice sets in unless we get a warm day. BRRR it's getting cold out there.
> ...


They call it slotberry for a reason. But the lucky's were the ticket today fished on lead core from 27-40 ft down.


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