Seems like everyone was up at the berry this weekend… Well I didn’t catch any birthday kokanee or monster trout but it was amazing weather and decent fishing. Trolled most of the weekend trying to catch kokes with no success. By sunday afternoon we got tired of trolling. I got curious after passing a massive school of fish at the bottom around the opening of the narrows for the 4th time and decided to see what they were. Happened to be cutts 150ft down. Ended up pulling two of them up using a small 2inch white jig, that was kind of fun! Thought i had a big one on but it ended up only being 20" and about 2.5lbs. Soo Close… Overall another fun weekend at a great lake.
Stats:
8 bows
4 cutts
0 kokes
1 big pot full of crawdads in exchange for 2 bows
I got curious after passing a massive school of fish at the bottom around the opening of the narrows for the 4th time and decided to see what they were. Happened to be cutts 150ft down. Ended up pulling two of them up using a small 2inch white jig, that was kind of fun!
150 feet down? If that is accurate, good you only caught two of them, because no way a cutthroat is going to survive after being reeled up from a depth of 150 feet.
Thats what the fish finder said. I took my time and reeled them up very slowly. Both of them swam off when released back into the water. Was hoping they were kokanee. Are cutts not hearty enough to survive that?? I have experience deflating the swim bladder of large mouths when pulling them in from deeper water. Can the same be done with trout??
I believe mackinaws are the only local fish that can be brought up from the deeper depths and survive. Most fish species don’t have the ability to burp off the gases that build up when coming up from deep depths. Fizzing fish is a controversial topic. Only near the dam would I expect to find any depths approaching 150’ deep.
Anyone who catches some fish at the Berry is doing good in my book. 150 feet…I never thought that lake was that deep…good to know…no wonder that lake takes awhile to freeze over. Thanks for your report and congrats on the success up there.
I have been told that the berry’s deepest spots reach 80’. I’d be shocked if it got to 150’. Nonetheless, we were up there last Friday and caught a ton of rainbows and cuts. Didn’t count but took home our limit and returned a bunch for another day. We don’t have a trolling motor so we just drifted dropping black jigs tipped with worms down about 20’ to 25’. We also used a clear bubble and a worm dragging behind the boat. Our biggest was a 20" cut. It was a fun day.
was at the berry this weekend noted fish at over 180 feet deep on soldier creek side right out side the narrows,note caught lots of large fish on strawberry side 35 to 45 feet down three over slot,all returned to lake
I have been told that the berry’s deepest spots reach 80’. I’d be shocked if it got to 150’.
Prepare to be shocked. Right in front of the Soldier Creek dam (in the river channel) it is 230’ deep at full pool. A substantial portion of the south side of Soldier Creek is over 150’ deep. The deepest places that I can find on the Strawberry side is 95’.
OK good… Im glad my fish finder is not lying to me. It is old but im told it was top of the line during the 90’s (Lowrance LMS-350a). Thought i might need a new one for a min. I have found multiple spots on the soldier creek side deeper than 150ft. Don’t ever fish that deep, just was curious as to what was down there. I have never fished the strawberry side. What are some good locations on that side? As for the crawdads… There was a big oriental family that had buckets full of them when i pulled up to dock sat night. Told us they were feeding 20 people.
