10-20-2014, 11:01 PM
[#0000FF]Woke up early and felt the fishin' itch. Weather was supposed to be good...then going bad. TubeBabe is out of town and no kitchen pass needed.
Spun the magic weatherometer dial to see if Willard might come up. Nope. Landed on Starvation. Hey, I haven't been there for a long time so I threw some Starvy gear together and boogied east.
27 degrees as I went by Strawberry. Kept going. It was a balmy 45 at Rabbit Gulch when I launched about 7. Water temp was 55...warming only a couple of degrees by 1 pm departure.
Can't recall ever covering so much water for so few fish. Oh yeah, I caught some fish but bites were few and far between. But I started at the point on the south side of the entrance to Bunny Gulch, fished the heck out of that, then worked in and out down the north side and finished way up in the west end of that long arm of Starvy.
Began by dragging a jig and fly combo fairly fast as I motored toward the south point. About halfway there my first "Starvation steelhead" (rainbow) said howdy and got some good exercise before being netted and released. Figured it would be a good day for bows and I could keep a couple later for my sis in law. Figured wrong. It was almost 3 hours before I hooked another one.
Water level was up from where it was last year. The high water mark at the south point was only about 10-12 feet above the current water level. The rains in August and September dumped a lot of new water into the lake. That's a good thing.
Worked from shallow to deep...12' to 60'...out around the point. Thought my sonar was out of order. Wasn't showing any fish. None showed up on my line either...except for one tiny overeager smallie from 48 feet of water. Silly smallie. Finally saw some marks on the bottom that looked a lot like good sized perch. But they were breezing through and not feeding. They were gone before they could tug on my line.
Tried trolling spinners across the channel to the north side of the gulch...over by the low islands. Saw very little on sonar and felt nothing on my spinners. Brought out the vertical jigs and worked my usual fave spots in that area...for nada, zip, zilch. Did occasionally see single fish go through at mid depth...or sometimes off the bottom. But nothing consistent enough to suggest a pattern. And none of them wanted to play.
Worked back and forth along the break line on the north side of the channel. Finally began to see some marks that gave me hope for some tugs. Changed up the rigging...with my "Pistol Pat" jig on one rod and a double Gulp Minnow rig on the second rod.
As I moved up from the deeper channel onto a 20 foot shelf I saw marks. Then I got a tap...followed by a munch...and a 14" walleye volunteered for dinner. Yee haww. A few minutes later I had a heavy pull down on the Gulp rig and set the hook into a nice 21" walleye. That one joined the first in my basket. But that was it for the walleyes. Those two must have been lost.
Howsomever, the water had warmed a couple of degrees since early AM and the rainbows were beginning to become more active. I saw a few roll or splash on top...including some of the footlong newbie planters. Then I started to get hits on the jigs I was using for walleye...only these fish had stripes and spots. In a hectic hour or so I got to play with several more 'bows...most right at 17 inches with a couple bigger and a couple of the little newbies. Had some pop and drop and some conservation releases. I did finally keep three for my sis in law.
Only saw one boat on the lake today. A lot different than when I was there just before the 4th of July. And there was only a light breeze until just before I got ready to go. And even the stronger breeze would not normally be enough to be problematic.
Yep. Covered a lot of water and worked hard for only a few fish. I have had worse days but I have also had much better days on Starvy. Use to be lots of perch in the lake and you could always count on a basket full of them when the other guys didn't show.
Went by Strawberry early afternoon and it was like glass. And nobody I could see on the whole lake. Wonder if the algae monster et all the anglers.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
Spun the magic weatherometer dial to see if Willard might come up. Nope. Landed on Starvation. Hey, I haven't been there for a long time so I threw some Starvy gear together and boogied east.
27 degrees as I went by Strawberry. Kept going. It was a balmy 45 at Rabbit Gulch when I launched about 7. Water temp was 55...warming only a couple of degrees by 1 pm departure.
Can't recall ever covering so much water for so few fish. Oh yeah, I caught some fish but bites were few and far between. But I started at the point on the south side of the entrance to Bunny Gulch, fished the heck out of that, then worked in and out down the north side and finished way up in the west end of that long arm of Starvy.
Began by dragging a jig and fly combo fairly fast as I motored toward the south point. About halfway there my first "Starvation steelhead" (rainbow) said howdy and got some good exercise before being netted and released. Figured it would be a good day for bows and I could keep a couple later for my sis in law. Figured wrong. It was almost 3 hours before I hooked another one.
Water level was up from where it was last year. The high water mark at the south point was only about 10-12 feet above the current water level. The rains in August and September dumped a lot of new water into the lake. That's a good thing.
Worked from shallow to deep...12' to 60'...out around the point. Thought my sonar was out of order. Wasn't showing any fish. None showed up on my line either...except for one tiny overeager smallie from 48 feet of water. Silly smallie. Finally saw some marks on the bottom that looked a lot like good sized perch. But they were breezing through and not feeding. They were gone before they could tug on my line.
Tried trolling spinners across the channel to the north side of the gulch...over by the low islands. Saw very little on sonar and felt nothing on my spinners. Brought out the vertical jigs and worked my usual fave spots in that area...for nada, zip, zilch. Did occasionally see single fish go through at mid depth...or sometimes off the bottom. But nothing consistent enough to suggest a pattern. And none of them wanted to play.
Worked back and forth along the break line on the north side of the channel. Finally began to see some marks that gave me hope for some tugs. Changed up the rigging...with my "Pistol Pat" jig on one rod and a double Gulp Minnow rig on the second rod.
As I moved up from the deeper channel onto a 20 foot shelf I saw marks. Then I got a tap...followed by a munch...and a 14" walleye volunteered for dinner. Yee haww. A few minutes later I had a heavy pull down on the Gulp rig and set the hook into a nice 21" walleye. That one joined the first in my basket. But that was it for the walleyes. Those two must have been lost.
Howsomever, the water had warmed a couple of degrees since early AM and the rainbows were beginning to become more active. I saw a few roll or splash on top...including some of the footlong newbie planters. Then I started to get hits on the jigs I was using for walleye...only these fish had stripes and spots. In a hectic hour or so I got to play with several more 'bows...most right at 17 inches with a couple bigger and a couple of the little newbies. Had some pop and drop and some conservation releases. I did finally keep three for my sis in law.
Only saw one boat on the lake today. A lot different than when I was there just before the 4th of July. And there was only a light breeze until just before I got ready to go. And even the stronger breeze would not normally be enough to be problematic.
Yep. Covered a lot of water and worked hard for only a few fish. I have had worse days but I have also had much better days on Starvy. Use to be lots of perch in the lake and you could always count on a basket full of them when the other guys didn't show.
Went by Strawberry early afternoon and it was like glass. And nobody I could see on the whole lake. Wonder if the algae monster et all the anglers.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
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