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I fished Starvy on friday from about 11am till 4pm and saturday from 6 am till a little after noon. I ended up with exactly 20 walleye, 4 rainbows., and one perch.I spent a little time looking for perch but only caught the one accidently while fishing for the walleye. All fish except two of the rainbows came from bb'ing with Kokanee Creek Tackle worm harnesses and homemade bb'ers. The 2 rainbows were on a jointed Rapala floating perch behind a planer board right up against the shore.
I am worried about the perch population (and the lake in general). In two days I never saw a school of perch on my sonar. In one bay I located what I thought was a small school of perch but all I caught was 2 smallies out of it.
That lake has a lot of mouths to feed, and out of the last three years I have yet to see a chub.
Even the rainbows were in a strange part of the water column. I was in less than 10' of water and the water temps were appx. 71*. Rainbows should have preferred cleaner, colder water if there was food there.
I lost one really good fish that spooled out about 100' of line but I assume it was a foul hooked carp.
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Ditto on the perch. Jeanine and I fished Sat from 8 till 1:30. We were searching strictly for perch and marked quite a few indications however wound up with 1 monster 3"" perch 1 rainbow by accident and a few smallies. We have fished walleyes all summer with a light. No minnows have come to the light and none of the walleyes 16" and up had any minnows in their guts. Very unusual for us and pretty much the same elsewhere. We have pulled a few nice ones from Deer Creek, a few small ones from Jordanelle, and a plethora of 3" from Rockport. We fished from 8' to 50'.
Beats me.
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We marked tons of baitfish in the north end where the water comes in today.
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[#0000FF]Another grim perch report. Sounds like the early reports about lots of dead perch around the shoreline...after iceout...were not just "sky is falling" stuff.
My personal experience this year has been dismal for perch too. I can usually count on catching between 50 and 100 when I fish for them...with plenty being big enough to keep for the fillet knife. This year I have blanked on perch a couple of times and have never caught more than a few on any trip. Like yourself, and quite a few other "regulars", I have not seen much on sonar to help the optimism. Areas where I have been able to count on lots of perch in the past have been "bare bottom" this year.
I have also observed the complete lack of chubs in the lake. Up until a couple of years ago it was common to catch at least a couple of the big ol' "chubosaurs"...20 year old fish left over from the days when chubs ruled Starvation. Smallies and wallies (and perch) pretty well cleaned up the chubs and even though the bigguns kept on spawning, none of the young ever lived long enough to spawn themselves. Now all the big chubs have reached the end of their lifespans and they are gone too.
Without an abundance of perch to feed the walleyes and smallmouth it is possible we will see Starvy revert back to the days of stunting before the perch were (illegally) introduced and began to provide a good food resource for the predators. Has the ring of the old Yuba cycle to it.
Since the trout rely heavily on the invertebrates in Starvy, they should continue to do just fine. But without perch...and maybe decent walleye...there is less incentive to make the drive to Duchesne when Deer Creek is so much closer...and has the same fishies...and more.
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[quote TubeDude][#0000ff]. But without perch...and maybe decent walleye...there is less incentive to make the drive to Duchesne when Deer Creek is so much closer...and has the same fishies...and more.
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So true, I hope that it does bounce back. Heres a pineview perch for ya though....
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[#0000FF]Pineview is always on my fall schedule...after they quit charging $20 to launch a float tube. It will be interesting to see how the fish concentrations settle in with the low water conditions. Sure wish they hadn't moved the buoy line so far up the channel. They cut off some of the best late season fishing spots. But that buoy line is sure gonna keep a boatload of terrorists from blowing up the dam if they want to.
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I was marking fish out in the 30 foot range. They were all over the chart from 12 feet to the bottom. Lots of them too.
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sept 29th is the last day they charge! TD the schools of crappie and perch are massive!!!
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[#0000FF]Thanks. Hope they both have some more size to them this year.
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Thanks Mike, you definitely know your walleye!
Congratulations to you and your buddy on the win. Those are some very impressive weights you guys turned in.
The tips you gave me sure helped, now I just need to hone my skills for those bigger fish.
I will think about the tourney next year but I might as well just write you a check and save my gas money!!!
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Every year is different. I can tell you with the fish you were catching you would have drawn a check this year. They pay down 10 places with pretty good payback.[fishin]
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]. Here's a pic of the two biggest fish on Sunday. 27" and 28". I caught both within 1/2 hr of each other. Also caught a 25" Sunday but had to turn it loose. My partner caught a 25" and a 26" on Saturday.