Starvation Tuesday 04/10

[TopH2O]

The weather forecast looked promising and Tuesday was a day off from work so I headed over to Starvation to give it a try. Kudos to the weather folks, it was as predicted with clear skies and very light w**d. It was glassy smooth most of the day and temps went from the 40s to near 60 by the afternoon.

I fished in Knight Hollow hoping to find a walleye or two but that wasn't in the cards for today. I caught a very nice 18 inch rainbow on my first cast using a 3.5 inch tube jig tipped with a piece of nightcrawler. I'm planning to smoke some fish soon, so the first one went into the basket and two more were added during the day.

There were a few boaters out today and a couple of them were fishing in Knight Hollow. There was a pair of shore fishermen and I saw them catch a few trout, one just as I was leaving at 3:00 p.m..

Water temps were in the mid 40s and I believe the walleye are now spawning which is probably why none wanted to play today.

All three of the rainbows I kept were in excellent shape and will make great smoked fish. I checked the stomachs and they were full of skuds (gammarus probably). Things should pick up as the water warms and the walleye conclude their spawn.

I recently bought a Colorado XTS pontoon boat and rigged it with some TubeDude style rod holders, sonar mount, transducer pole and I set up the Minn Kota C2 electric motor with a remote switch and hands-free steering using cables to the back of my seat. The whole thing works great and it gives me another option when I don't want or need to tow the Lund over the hill.

Mike
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[WET1]

Great report buddy. Glad you were able to get a trip in before the arctic blast smacks us. I was scheduled to head to Powell tomorrow to chase some wallies but pushed it out a week due to this storm. Looking forward to getting up to Starvation in another month to chase some there.
Nice looking new rig you got there.
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Nice work. Good looking fish and the PVC mods on the new 'toon look purty good...fer a amateur.

You might wanna post a picture of the big walleye you caught last week...just for the folks back home. We all like fish porn.

Stay in touch and we will definitely gang up on those fishies afloat together. Probably be at least another month for the post spawn festivities.
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[canonbob]

I was in white boat that talked to you Tuesday we had about same luck as you bows no walleyes
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[obifishkenobi]

Thanks for the post. I am planning on going up there Saturday for the first time, can you tell be what depth you where marking and catching fish. I am bringing my boat and plan on trolling part of the day and fishing tubes the other. any tips would be appreciated, thanks.
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[canonbob]

we fished 5 ft to 40 ft marked fish at all depths
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[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Mike nice fish, and like your toon as well... I've been wondering about your motor idea there... Seen a couple motors on KSL that would have fit that bill for me as well, but didn't want to spend that much to replace my other motors, but someday I will, nice idea... Lot better than having to steer from behind and it will avoid the motor in front to cut off your toes if you move wrong... Thanks for the report... Later Jeff
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[TopH2O]

I was fishing off the end of a long rocky point. Most of the fish came from water between 15 and 21 feet. I just worked the jig along the bottom with a slow bouncing retrieve and all the fish picked up the jig near the bottom. I caught one of the rainbows directly under my 'toon when I saw it appear on my Garmin fishfinder and dropped straight down and it hit immediately.

Good luck
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[gofish435]

Thanks for the report,Mike.

I’m glad you had smooth sailing even though the fishing was a little slow.
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[cdbrc]

How does the steering cable on the back of the seat work? Need to know HOW it functions.
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[TopH2O]

I saw the idea on a YouTube video about rigging pontoons with electric motors. It's actually a simple idea. I removed the head of the Minn Kota and took out the switch that is normally controlled via the twist handle. I extended the wires so I could place the switch inside a plastic electrical control box and I got an old switch knob from an oven in the landfill. The control switch is mount just to the right of my leg and within easy reach while seated.
The steering arrangement uses two cables that are crossed over each other and they are attached to the back edge of my seat. If you click to enlarge my first two photos you can see how the cables are attached to the seat. I used a small gauge stranded wire from the hardware store and made loops on the ends. I then used a snap hook on one end and a screw together chain link on the other end. The cables attach to a 12 inch long piece of 3/4" Sch. 40 PVC that is attached to the electric motor shaft using a 1" PVC "T" fitting that I cut in half and then hose clamped to the shaft.

Because the cables cross over each other they allow me to steer the motor just by turning in my seat. The cables need to be tight and it takes a little practice to steer without over-steering the boat. I find it easy to turn too far and then have to correct. Subtle movements of the seat are all that is need to control the pontoon.

Check YouTube and search for Colorado pontoon boat modifications and you'll find several videos describing the set-up.

I could also send you some close up photos of my design if you want to send me a PM.

edit to add: As you can see in the first two photos, I used some clear plastic tubing to insulate the stranded steel wire. On my first version I shorted the wires on my battery and burned through one of the wires when I tilted the electric motor forward.

Mike
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