Had a couple of nice trips to the Berry recently from the tube. Getting there early and getting off FAST as the wind comes up after lunch has been the plan. Doing real well on 17-20 inch Cutt’s with a smattering of Rainbows mixed in… 1 slot-buster (24-in Cutt).
Chironomids have been hatching well… some true “buzzers” in the (hook) size 10-12 range! Callibaetis started showing up last weekend and I suspect damselflies as well seeing boils tight against the weedy shorelines.
Doing most of our damage casting to pods of porpoises with #14 Rickard’s Callibaetis Nymph and/or A.P. Emerger. Creeping along the littoral zone after the shallow bite fades using combinations of Boobies, Estaz Buggers, and nymph patterns paying off as well.
Water temp had gotten up to 60* F, but probably dropped off a bit over these past few days.
Nice fish and report! I’ve never nymphed strawberry, but need to try. Just curious, are you nymphing under an indicator (vertical) or using washing line set up and fishing horizontal? Or maybe using a midge tip? Fishing over weed beds near the shore? How is the water over at East Portal? Every time I fished over there it seemed like there was a lot of moss in the water.
Strong bite continues at Strawberry… water temps still in the mid-50s and the Cutt’s are hunting shallow and fired up! Got into my backing 4 times this morning before calling it quits at 11:30.
Kicked off of shore at 5:40a and it was on right off the bat casting Denny’s Stillwater Bug on a floating line. Moving flies a bit faster now to turn the trick… (quickly) strip-2-3-4, strip-2-3-4, etc.
Trolling a 2-fly combo of Carey’s Special and Tequila Booby between locations ended up accounting for most of the fish - including all of the Rainbows.
Chironomid hatch wasn’t super heavy this morning, but egg-laying adults and hatching pupae still driving the activity along with what appeared to be some kind of micro-caddis.
Around 10:30-11:00 the Callibaetis nymphs started bobbing to the surface and duns were on the water. Fairly concentrated activity but didn’t seem to ignite the fish which surprised me. Maybe the dawn bite was so intense that the fish burned themselves out by the time the mayflies showed up?
11:30a I was tired of fighting wind and the bite faded so I packed it in.
Sounds like a great time, and glad they are still making things interesting! Curious whether either of the patterns you listed are sold locally (Sportsman’s, Cabelas, etc). I used to tie flies, but got out of it a while back. Always nice to have a couple go-to patterns, no doubt
Flirted with the idea of going to the Uintas today, but the pull of big fish and screaming drags was too powerful to ignore, so back to The Berry I went…
Had to work a little more for the fish today, but was able to put an even dozen in the net. Water temp in early afternoon was only 56* F. With cooler weather in the forecast, its looking like this action will hold up into July.
Mixed collection of chironomids kept the fish on top under mostly cloudy skies all morning. Once it really brightens up they seem to move out over the edge of deeper water, but are still feeding shallow. Everything I caught was within 2ft of the surface.
Stillwater Bug was working first half of the morning. First Cutt to hit the net was a thick 20-incher that coughed up a 5-inch chub. Quick twitch-pause retrieve was getting them to strike.
Trolling the Tequila Booby between spots ended up accounting for most of the fish - including all the Rainbows. Even had one fish slam it on the surface just as I started to retrieve it.
Surface of the water was just littered with chironomid shucks and callibaetis nymphs around lunch time, but couldn’t get anything going on various mayfly nymph or emerger patterns. Strange.
Thanks for the report. I was up a few days ago and had tied some callibaetis emergers on your recommendation. I arrived about 6:00 but besides one early take, they seemed to be going better after about an hour and half. Even after the sun was up, a slight breeze would create a little disturbance in the water and everyone would hook up at about the same time. (There were a couple of other tubes around.)
I’m in the office now but obviously thinking about fishing. I might try the evening tonight – just to see.
Fished yesterday from 5:30a to 12:30p under clear skies and light breezes. Water temp was 53* F when I launched and 58* F when I left. Looks like the sustained heat has finally arrived though, so not sure how long these perfect temps will last.
Pretty much a repeat of previous trip… noses appeared around 7:00a and the fishing got hot after that. Strong chironomid hatch fueled the frenzy and pods of fish ignited the action between 8:00-9:30. Lots of tiny caddis hatching as well.
Stillwater Bug was getting them early… late morning started hitting nice Rainbows on the Carey Special. It was on/off the rest of the way until I packed it in shortly after lunch. Callibaetis nymphs started popping up around 11:30-12:00 but again, this fish didn’t really jump onto them like I would expect (Little Dell boils when the mayflies come off).
One of the bullet-shaped Rainbows that tore into my backing:
I feel like what I was using just wasn’t what they were going after in my first location. I saw people catching. What works one day may not work another. I do feel like I got all my fish at the tail end of the morning bite. I don’t wanna sound like a donkey because I’m not super familiar with Willard but it seems there is a lul in the bite usually in mid afternoon.
Launched by 730 am today. Headed to the area that produced for me last time by the island and tried out my new planer boards ( gonna have to work on that setup) and nothing for two hours. Decided it was a day that I needed to move around and headed towards the light pole changed to #7 jointed and within two minutes had my first walleye. Hung around there for a while and then headed a little South and had some more success. Cleaning fish and tunes by 1145. Super fun day!
3 walleye 21”,19,18
2 sm bass (didn’t know Willard had em)
1 perch (swallowed the #7 flicker shad)
2 cats
And the elusive one that got away
