Three of us hit Strawberry today! Was my first ever strawberry trip.
Wanted to hit up soldier creek but there seemed to be no clear roads so we headed back down to Chicken Creek East. It was nostril freezing cold—16 degrees at 645am. Loaded up and headed out on foot. There seemed to be a fresh layer of powder blown around from the day before. There was a good foot of fluffy snow with a little slush down below but not much an issue. I was sportin’ some snowshoes and had a hard enough time figuring out how to use them. They kept me dry so I guess they were on right.
We started east of the knoll, I guess it is, drilling holes a little after seven. Slush was less an issue further from shore, but even then, nothing to really mention. My one buddy, and our “veteran guide” started us off with a nice Cutt in 8ft of water…18inches but c’mon I’m new to this ice fishing thing…that sucker was FAT! K, now I’m pumped, there really are fish in here…Wham! His second! Bit smaller but still nice and healthy. We take pics, knuckle bump then my other buddy and I crawl back to our chairs in hopes of some action ourselves. Few minutes go by and the ole “guide” is hootin and hollerin yet again. Some guide…catching all the fish by himself. Shortly after, I landed my first Cutt! Nothing big..not out of the slot… but it was my first cutt so I was pumped! Our “guide” nailed the biggest of the day around 9am at 21inches…beautiful fish! We ended up catching 7 Cutts in 8-13 ft of water then around 10, the bite…..weant dead…completely. We packed up and headed south.
By now the sun was out and wow what a nice day. Had to take layers of clothes off. We set up on the point, both my buddies around 12ft and myself in 20ft. I was playing the fish finder video game for the first time…ha that was fun! I lost the first 4 fish 5 ft from the hole….I was bent! Finally iced a nice size bow. All my bites were right off the bottom and was having some great action but I just couldn’t seal the deal. At about 11:30 my skunked buddy landed his fish! We looked over and his rod was bent over and he was just hauling it in. Another nice Cutt. Breeze picked up and had to bundle up…got chilly. Had a few fish run through at 19ft but the bite weant dead again so we packed up and headed back at 12:45.
WOW…have you ever regretted moving further away from your truck in small increments throughout the day then realize when you’re done you have to hike it all at once?! FEEL the BURN. 30 mins later….we made it.
What a blast…just hangin out with friends, free pass from the spouses to fish on Valentines Day…fantastic. Ended up catching 8 Cutts and 1 Bow-all to be had another day. Tubes with Chub meat were the ticket!