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.
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:
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.
Finally arriving to our chosen spot, it was a relief to see that erosion had provided us with a mushroom shaped umbrella for shade.
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.
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.
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.
Happy Fishing, Humans.
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Those are some beautiful shots of Strawberry in the Narrows. Never been to that part of the lake before either. Only fished Strawberry one time before and that was many years ago. Beautiful Cutthroat, my friend. Wish the wife could have landed some of hers.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's too bad. She's had some tough luck this year. We need to have someone watch the kids so we can get out and just go fish!
ReplyDeleteStrawberry looks like a really beautiful place. Glad you were able to get out and enjoy a good Saturday of family and fishing. Great fish...well done!
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this report, someone alerted me to the fact that land I was on is actually Tribal property. It wasn't posted and a brown gate was wide open, so it looked legit.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea or I wouldn't have even bothered going there. Just thought I'd make sure nobody goes out there because of my post.
My apologies to the Tribe.
That is beyond gorgeous up there. It sure beats the heck out of my urban river landscape!
ReplyDeleteMan those are some beautiful pics. That Cutty is awesome. Nicely Done. Good to hear the family is up for a sweet hiking/fishing adventure, even if they get some bumps or bruises. Better have the wifee switch to some heavier test:) The off road action with the Rodeo sounds like a blast. Tight Lines to ya.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
ReplyDeleteIt's my fault she lost all those fish really. Her line was rotten. The Cabela's 4lb test is some good stuff. I use it for leaders and tippet too.