LOAH
06-26-2011, 11:34 AM
My family and I needed to get out of the house on Saturday, so we kept it relatively close and went to Strawberry Reservoir. We've been to Strawberry quite a bit together and typically fish the same old spots all the time. This week, we planned on exploring a different part of the lake that neither of us had seen before.
From looking at the maps, I knew that a road to the narrows existed, but had no idea what kind of condition it would be in or if it was even publicly accessible. It was a relief to see that it wasn't gated and we proceeded to give the Rodeo a nice workout.
Most of the road is fine, but putting it into 4Low was necessary in a few spots along the way. I'm pleased to say that the Rodeo handled it very well, being the toughest road I've taken it on so far. After mashing our way to the edge of the canyon, we were rewarded with a pretty good view.
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4234.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4242.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4251.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4247.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4252.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4253.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4249.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4286.jpg
We had a pretty mean hike in front of us, for kids at least. Considering the wind coming from the west, I chose the far corner at the mouth of a little bay as our fishing spot. Shown bottom-center of the photo below:
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4246.jpg
There were no real trails to follow and the bushes got pretty thick, so it ended up being quite the task to haul my daughter and a bunch of gear the whole way. Luckily, my boy James has turned into a real trooper and only needed to be helped in a few spots.
The hike also provided us with a lot of eye candy, which helped offset the scratches we were getting on our legs.
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4275.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4279.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4283.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4270.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4268.jpg
Finally arriving to our chosen spot, it was a relief to see that erosion had provided us with a mushroom shaped umbrella for shade.
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4255.jpg
There were schools of chub swimming around, just off the rocks, mostly in the 8-12 inch range and I hooked a couple of those before deciding to ignore them. At one point, I did spot a nice school of what looked like shiners, which I haven't seen at the berry for a few years.
Using a shiner, I was able to land my only trout of the day, a 23 inch cutthroat. It was amusing to catch this one because it took my minnow from under the rock I was standing on. Then it gave me a real fight, making several strong runs. It's nice to have a worthy battle from a berry cutt, which have a reputation of being lazy fighters.
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4259.jpg
Sonia, my wife, had more action than I did, but got broken off every time unfortunately. She still enjoyed the thrill of fighting some nice fish. We saw one of them and it was pretty big. Too bad.
She still had a good time though. The kids were surprisingly good, even without a lot of space to run around.
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4260.jpg
My slot buster ended up being the only fish brought to hand all day, but I was happy with that and it was a really neat experience to see a different side of Strawberry and take a fun drive through the mountains.
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4269.jpg
Happy Fishing, Humans.
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4297.jpg
From looking at the maps, I knew that a road to the narrows existed, but had no idea what kind of condition it would be in or if it was even publicly accessible. It was a relief to see that it wasn't gated and we proceeded to give the Rodeo a nice workout.
Most of the road is fine, but putting it into 4Low was necessary in a few spots along the way. I'm pleased to say that the Rodeo handled it very well, being the toughest road I've taken it on so far. After mashing our way to the edge of the canyon, we were rewarded with a pretty good view.
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4234.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4242.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4251.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4247.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4252.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4253.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4249.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4286.jpg
We had a pretty mean hike in front of us, for kids at least. Considering the wind coming from the west, I chose the far corner at the mouth of a little bay as our fishing spot. Shown bottom-center of the photo below:
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4246.jpg
There were no real trails to follow and the bushes got pretty thick, so it ended up being quite the task to haul my daughter and a bunch of gear the whole way. Luckily, my boy James has turned into a real trooper and only needed to be helped in a few spots.
The hike also provided us with a lot of eye candy, which helped offset the scratches we were getting on our legs.
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4275.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4279.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4283.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4270.jpg
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4268.jpg
Finally arriving to our chosen spot, it was a relief to see that erosion had provided us with a mushroom shaped umbrella for shade.
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4255.jpg
There were schools of chub swimming around, just off the rocks, mostly in the 8-12 inch range and I hooked a couple of those before deciding to ignore them. At one point, I did spot a nice school of what looked like shiners, which I haven't seen at the berry for a few years.
Using a shiner, I was able to land my only trout of the day, a 23 inch cutthroat. It was amusing to catch this one because it took my minnow from under the rock I was standing on. Then it gave me a real fight, making several strong runs. It's nice to have a worthy battle from a berry cutt, which have a reputation of being lazy fighters.
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4259.jpg
Sonia, my wife, had more action than I did, but got broken off every time unfortunately. She still enjoyed the thrill of fighting some nice fish. We saw one of them and it was pretty big. Too bad.
She still had a good time though. The kids were surprisingly good, even without a lot of space to run around.
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4260.jpg
My slot buster ended up being the only fish brought to hand all day, but I was happy with that and it was a really neat experience to see a different side of Strawberry and take a fun drive through the mountains.
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4269.jpg
Happy Fishing, Humans.
http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/justisaurus79/IMGP4297.jpg