October15, 2022 – Wrap-up 43rd Day Fishing 8/14, 51st Day Fishing 9/25, 52nd Day Fishing 10/2
Strawberry Reservoir which sits between Heber and Duschene in Utah, right off of Highway 40. This fishery is a Utah gem which features the Bear Lake Cutthroat trout, 60% of which reproduce naturally. Also present is a healthy rainbow trout population and Kokanee salmon. However it is the way the Cutthroat population is managed here that is truly special. The bag limit on Cutthroat is 2 fish under 15″ and one over 22″. This “Slot” approach means the vast majority of Cutthroats you catch are 16-22″, which is really great actually. The Bear Lake Cutthroat is not the best fighting fish around, nothing close to the Snake River Cutthroats in Idaho for instance. But I suppose I’m not making a really fair comparison either because lake fish in general don’t have the same fight as river raised fish. A fish swimming against a current 24 hours a day is just a stronger fish. Period!
Fishing this past summer in Idaho was tough. From mid-July to the end of August the waters became really warm except on the tail-waters like the South Fork. And the flows on the South Fork are extremely high during this period which is not ideal for dry fly fishing. Strawberry has given me welcome relief, but it is not always a slam dunk.
Summer at the reservoir is characterized by fishing from a boat, kayak or float tube and the fish are often found deeper meaning dragging streamers at depth. The welcome exceptions can be found during a chironomid or calibaetis hatch but they can be difficult to predict. June and July are the best months and although the hatches are unpredictable, the winds are not. Once the winds pick-up, usually around 11am, the topwater action disappears. The best time to fish is at dawn when the winds are calm. But dawn in June is 6am. Subtract the hour and a half drive from that and realistically you are getting up at 3:30 in the morning.
So much for the set-up. September and October are absolutely my favorite months to fly fish Strawberry, for two compelling reasons. First, as the water cools, the fish begin to work the shoreline for food. They come into the range of a 50′ cast. The second reason is that they are looking up, and this translates to excellent dry fly action fishing from shore. Even better, they will eat practically anything, the bigger the better. Morrish mouse patterns, giant sofa pillows and big foam bugs all work. Particularly with the mouse patterns, this can lead to really violent eats! The porpoise eat and the toilet flush are my favorite. Sometimes, I’m so fascinated by watching the eat that I forget to set!
In writing this post, I’m consolidating learnings from four fall trips. Actually, my first was mid-August, which it turns out was too early. August this year was extremely warm and it is the cooling of the water that IMHO is the trigger for these fish to move in closer to shore. Both of my following trips were productive, late September and a week later in early October. A couple of my favorite spots weren’t however. Leading to a new learning. The big flies constantly work, so take fly selection out of the equation. The variables are, the fish are either in or out, or they are in somewhere that you are not. The fish are typically in during the early morning hours, so if you fish 100 yards of shoreline in the early morning and you are not getting eats, it behooves you to change locations.
September 25, 2022
My fishing partner Jayne wanted to get out to scout Strawberry a few weeks ahead of a club outing on the October 15th. Per my statement above, if the fish are not showing themselves where you are, move! The first couple of spots we tried were on the far side of the lake and had a reputation as solid producers on past outings. This time, no dice. Jayne got one, but I was skunked and I tend to work a lot of shoreline. We decided to try a spot she was introduced to earlier in the month, way back on the other side of the lake, right off the main highway. Well, this spot was great. What was odd this time is I went right to the water caught one fish, then another. Jayne fished above me and got nothing, then began working her way around the shoreline to the east. While she was away, I got two more and she got one, but that was it. So I invited her to take my spot and she got three. The video below is her landing one of those.
October 2, 2022 – A Mousey Day
On this time out, sunrise was at 7:30am and fishing was great between 8am when I arrived to 9:30am when it totally shut down. I don’t think the bite was off, rather the fished moved to deeper water. But, it was fun and very mousey while it lasted.
October 15, 2022
Well today came and my morning started early. 4:45am wakeup call and out the door at 5:30 and fishing by 7:30. It was dark and cold. In fact, 22 degrees and ice in the guides. I arrived at the same spot where I found fish on October 2nd. On the 2nd the bite came off around 9:30, so getting there earlier seemed like the right thing to do. However. on this day that was not the case. I worked the area over three times and nada, no eats at all. The fish had moved, but where? I did see a few rises out of casting range. But, one of the benefits of having fishing buddies around is checking in to see if there spots are doing any better. Today, Jayne had the fly fishing club at another spot, and it turns out they were doing a lot better. I moved down a couple hundred yards away to a spot that had not been fished yet and immediately tied into several rising fish. The first fish came up to pound my fly and I was so delighted to see its head and open mouth, I forgot to set. Oh well!
October 15th
Jayne had shared her “secret spot” with a few of us after we snuck away from the larger crowd, who had gathered for the fly fishing club outing. The video below, still makes me chuckle when I see it. I was getting ready to leave the lake and stopped by to chat with Jayne prior to leaving. She had stripped her fly in and it was lying motionless on the water, 15′ from the bank. As we were chatting, I looked over at her fly and saw a giant cutthroat come up from below and eat. I yelled, “Set” and she was startled but raised her rod tip and hooked the fish. The end result was her biggest fish of the day at 22″.
