Made my almost (missed very few) trip to Strawberry on New Year’s Day today. It was my first trip with fishing4thehog and he hadn’t fished Strawberry since he was 19 (he has kids in their 20s so it had been awhile). He wanted to fish with someone who has had some experience ice fishing Strawberry and I certainly fit that definition (although experience only means I have fished it many times – it doesn’t guarantee lots of fish). Fortunately for Dave the fish gods were smiling on us today. It was one of my best outings on the ice at Strawberry and I have had some great ones (I have also been skunked as recently as last ice season). We fished south of The Strawberry Marina in 23 to about 24 1/2 feet of water. Ice was about 3 inches thick and solid. Hiking (if you go ice fishing with me you better plan on hiking at least 1/2 mile one way) was a breeze. We tipped with wax worms, meal worms and minnows. We also both caught several on whole minnows. The best colors of tubes were yellow (regular and glow) and white. Dave also caught several on chartreuse Paddle Bugs. All fish caught were cutts (no rainbows) with the average length about 20 inches and nothing under the slot and the largest went 24 inches. Interestingly, I probably caught more fish suspended at mid-depth than I did on the bottom. Without fish finders we likely would have caught less than one half as many fish. Fun day with Dave and hope to get out with him again sometime.
That’s a nice looking cutt. I have got to go fishing soon!
Thanks for the report.
Forgot to mention that there is a boat frozen in the ice right next to the campground south of The Strawberry Marina. It looks like it is a nice boat. I would be curious to hear the story behind how it ended up being frozen in the ice.
Nice cutt!
Love fishing Strawberry! Never had quite that much luck tho. I usually get one maybe two cutts and cant find the bows. Was thinkin i might get up there next week sometime.
You did much better than we did today. we went out just south of the marina and didnt have much luck at all. we tried to fish in the shallow weed beds with not much luck only a few missed hits. I believe that you and you buddy stopped and talked to me and my bro (messing around with the fish finder) as you guys were leaving.
We headed to where you guys came from and first drop down i caught a 21 in cutt but that was it. not much to much luck today but its always good to get out on the ice and i didnt get the skunked.
Good job on the cutts, Kent and Dave!
Great report Kent. Just what I wanted to hear.
Last weekend I thought I seen a boat beached and frozen in at the camp ground area, thanks for confirming what I thought I saw.
NoBites, my self and a couple others are planning on fishing the berry this Saturday, do you think the walk over to the point where I fished with you last would be safe?
Oh, you are welcome to join us if you wish.
I’ll just piggy back on your report. Fishing was GREAT !!!
Thanks for showing me your honey hole kent.. [;)] I have never caught so many cutties in my life 
.. Im looking forward to fishing with you again some day.
Thanks again..
I believe that you and you buddy stopped and talked to me and my bro (messing around with the fish finder) as you guys were leaving.
Not us.
The conditions were ideal yesterday (except for the lousy wind) for both walking and fishing. I have no doubt the walk over would be safe, but with snow in the forecast today it may not be as easy of a walk. I wish that I could join you guys, but unfortunately with my career change I have an important training meeting on Saturday morning, but who knows I might be tempted to head up after the meeting.
Glad you could make it up Kent. Sounds like you guys found a nice school to park on! We were back in Indian Creek, and did fair. That W really was a pain yesterday, I’m just glad it wasn’t as cold as it usually is up there. What time did you guys leave?
We started fishing about 7:30 AM and quit around 4:30 PM. It was a strange trip in that we had only caught about 4 or 5 fish by 9:00 AM.
Nice cutt Kent, I’ve yet to catch anything over the slot up there. I went up yesterday also. We went to Chicken Creek East and fished through the night, or most of the night. We started at around 9:30 pm and fished until 3:15 and then decided to come home. It was 36 when we arrived and 22 when we left. There was no wind and the fishing was real slow. I caught 7 and my partner caught 1. They started coming in fairly regularly around midnight. Not hungry, but came visiting anyway. Many were suspended at 5 feet. I think the light attracted them. I was using a ratfinky tipped with several things, but the wax worm worked the best. Green power bait, worm, wax worm, wadder cricket. I caught one on each of those baits. All mine were within the slot except 1 which could have been under, but I did not measure it as I wasn’t interested in taking anything home. The others were 20, 19, 19, 18, 171/2, 17, and 15. They are fairly skinny this year with large heads and they reel in like a log. The bite was so light that I had to put on a wire extender. Without the fish finder, I think we would have been skunked. The ice was around 9 to 10 inches thick on our side of the lake. I drove the atv onto the ice, but had trouble getting it through the snow down to the ice. Once on the ice, it moved around quite nicely. Perhaps we will run into you up there sometime this year. Not sure when I’ll get out again.
Kevin