Striking Steel

[BoatBallast]

First, I want to say thank you to Doitall5000 and TubeDude for their very kind and helpful suggestions about my trip to Starvation this weekend. 

Today is my 43rd birthday.  For the last 22 years, I have caught a fish on my birthday.  Today's fish took the cake.

We ended up camping at Juniper, which was kind of a dump but it was adequate for our needs for a night.  I lost 2 boat trailer lights on the road.  One was fixable, the other had to come home for repair.  It's kind of a nasty road in there with the boat.  We (my wife and 3 kids) made grease burgers in the wind, made a small fire for s'mores, and sang campfire songs to a ukulele. 

The wind kept us from much sleep last night but my alarm went off at 0530 so we could be at the gate at 0600.  We didn't get everything ready to roll out until about 0630, so a later start than desired, but it turned out ok. 

We ran to just north of Rabbit Gulch and put our gear in the water.  For the next two hours we caught 15" cookie cutter rainbow after another.  At some length, my son hooked into a 2lb 18" brown trout at 25 feet on the downrigger.  It hit a gold Mepps Aglia spinner.   The fish on the screen thinned out a little bit so I decided to troll a little further south to the bridge.

We caught a fish every time we passed under the bridge.  We got blown a little out of our path by the power squadron and ended up a little farther from the bridge when it happened.  One of my rods went off.  I could see the line snap free from the release on its own.  The rod bent over as I picked it up.  Drag was pulled, prayers were offered, and waters were parted by a very unhappy Starvation steelhead. 

He made a run 3 times before I could get him close enough to the net.  My son (10) took a swipe with the net for a clean miss.  After collecting myself, we made another attempt and he nailed it.  A 4 pound 23.5 inch rainbow was in the boat.  He took a gold Mepps syclops at 11 feet down on the downrigger.  This fish ties my personal best rainbow for Utah and is third behind my all time best rainbows which were 24.5" and 24", respectively, in Estes Park Colorado.  It's a heck of a birthday fish. 

We ended up keeping 5 fish and letting a lot go.  I would bet we caught around 20 between 0700 and 1145 today.  It was terrific.  Everyone caught a fish and everyone was happy. 

We ended the day with a weird deformed walleye that looked like it had Whirling Disease.  I spoke with a park ranger, conservation officer, and some biologists who said it was a physical deformity, not Whirling Disease.

It was a great day.  Thank you, again, to those who responded to my request for help.

[TubeDude]

Glad Starvy welcomed you nicely and gave up some of her goodies.  I have always loved that lake.  But as I get older I am less inclined to drive that far if I can get good fishing closer to home.  Now you have to visit a lot more times...during different months, different weather conditions and different water levels...to build your working knowledge of that lake.  But, unlike school, the "lab work" and experimentation are the fun parts.  

Over the years I have fished Starvy every month of the year...and in water levels from really low to spilling.  Some trips have been more productive than others.  But I have never had a bad trip...unless you count the times that a sudden "zephyr" blew me to the other end of the lake in my float tube.  Here are a few of the hundreds of treasured images I have of my many trips to Starvy.
 

[BoatBallast]

Thanks TD.  Getting to know a new lake is always a fun challenge.  But it always helps to have some intel going in. 

I spent a lot of time at Flaming Gorge but it isn't as good as it used to be so Starvation might be a good base of operations for a while.  Are the browns in there very prevalent?  I was shocked to see one come up.  I didn't expect that at all.

[TubeDude]

Thanks TD.  Getting to know a new lake is always a fun challenge.  But it always helps to have some intel going in. 

I spent a lot of time at Flaming Gorge but it isn't as good as it used to be so Starvation might be a good base of operations for a while.  Are the browns in there very prevalent?  I was shocked to see one come up.  I didn't expect that at all.

There are always browns present in Starvation...replenished by spawning up in the Strawberry river.  But their habits are very different than the rainbows.  Not as many either.  Most browns I have caught have either been while casting cranks right after iceout...or fishing near the bottom during warmer months.  Then they get more active in the fall before they do their spawn thing.  They feed mostly on small perch but will also munch the numerous crawdads.  So casting around rocks with plastics will sometimes bag smallies, wallies and browns on the same day.  And almost always a few stray bows and perch in the mix.  Whatever food resource draws one species to an area usually attracts the other guys too.  

In short, the browns in a lot of our waters are like walleyes.  A high percentage of those caught are caught by anglers primarily fishing for other species.

[joshomaru]

Congrats on a great birthday trip! I am sure your boy will remember netting that fish for the rest of his life! What a cool memory to share.

[BoatBallast]

Congrats on a great birthday trip!  I am sure your boy will remember netting that fish for the rest of his life!  What a cool memory to share.

Thanks.  It was a good time. 

[wiperhunter2]

Congrats on a great birthday trip!  I am sure your boy will remember netting that fish for the rest of his life!  What a cool memory to share.

Thanks.  It was a good time. 

Nice spots on that brown and that's a decent bow.

[BoatBallast]

Congrats on a great birthday trip!  I am sure your boy will remember netting that fish for the rest of his life!  What a cool memory to share.

Thanks.  It was a good time. 

Nice spots on that brown and that's a decent bow.

Thank you!