Fishing was tough at Strawberry on Saturday (May 17, 08). We managed to catch 4, all cutts, 17-20 inches, but we had to work for them. Others we talked to had similar reports.
We launched from Renegade and worked the shorelines out from Indian Creek without getting a bite. I thought fish might be moving up toward the mouths of tributaries and so we worked shallow until stopped by weeds, but didn't find the fish.
We marked a few fish as we cruised past the mouth of The Narrows and so we went in. We used the electric motor to crawl up the channel, casting in toward shore, and we had a couple hits but no hookups.
Finally we entered a couple small bays inside The Narrows and that's where we caught our four. All were caught within 2 feet of shore. We had a couple hits out in deeper water but they didn't stick. Two of the fish were caught on a yellow Panther Martin and two were caught on a black Rooster Tail.
We tried many other lures without any luck.
The guys we talked to who had troll caught very few fish.
The fly guys out in tubes caught a few - also working close to shore.
Water was cold and there was still snow down along the shoreline in many areas. The road to Renegade was clear except in one spot where we had to drive through snow. It was no problem pulling the boat through. The launch ramp was fine but there were no docks in the water.
My guess is that fishing will improve within 2 weeks, as the water warms a bit.
