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[#0000ff]My first trip to Starvation this year. Met up with gofish435 at Rabbit Gulch about 7 am and we were both launched by 7:30. He headed off to the west, waving his flyrod for trout. I went north across the channel to try for walleyes...or perch...or smallies. After an hour of fishing I had caught a couple of perch and our only rainbow...a nice 19 incher. Tom had caught a 15 inch walleye and a similar length smallmouth. Go figure.
I ended up catching a half dozen perch today. None of them were over about 6 inches. Lost a walleye about 18 inches at the tube and had a long battle with a hefty brown...guessing over 24 inches and maybe 5 pounds. In the end the silly brown just forgot to hold on. Woulda released it anyway but always like to get a pic.
Tom caught a couple of rainbows before I left around noon. The freshening breeze and threatening clouds went away as I went away so Tom got in some more untroubled fishing. Hope he did well.
Water level was right up to the tippy top and water temps went from 62 at launch to 65 by noon. Overall a lovely day for fishing...if not catching. Always good to share some water with Tom.
Talked to guys in three different boats. None of them had caught anything either. One of those days. Still...better than being caught at home with a honeydo list.
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Glad to see a Starvation report, but wish it had been more about catching. Mike and I caught a few small perch thru the ice last winter, but nothing over 8 in. or so. There should be a lot of walleye if a guy can find them. Well a guy can't catch 'em at home, it was a nice day anyway.
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[#0000FF]Thanks Gary.
As a fellow fancier of that lake you know that it is really several lakes...each with different structure and temperament. And the fish flit from one to the other without bothering to notify anglers where they will be or what they will be wanting. On any given day you can get very lucky...or not so much.
I found several areas with a bunch of small fish and some bigger fish around and above them. Anytime I dropped down to areas with just the small ones I got "rattle rattle" hits from the micro perch. But if the big ones were around I only got a lot of middle fins upraised.
Encouraging to see there are at least some small ones. Hopefully in a couple of years they will be making it worthwhile to fish Starvy again.
PS...sorry about the quality of the screen pics. Note the differences in depth and temp. The first one was taken early in the day and the last one just before noon. What appeared to be a cloud of younguns surrounded by predators.
The guys in the boats indicated they had been hitting a lot of different spots and had not found much anywhere. I suppose the upsy downsy weather might be part of that. I usually do better after two or three days of stable weather. That means I wouldn't have gone fishing today if I had stuck with that...or probably no more than once or twice this whole spring.
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Glad to see you made it home OK Pat. It was a fun day sharing the water with you and enjoying some humorous radio conversations along the way. Thanks again for the smoked catfish, it was mighty tasty.
I stayed a couple more hours and picked up two more bows and one 16" brown. When I left the water temperature was up to 67 degrees. The fishing was great but the catching was slow. There were a half dozen vehicles near the Hiway bridge when I left and several boats in the main channel.
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[#0000FF]Glad to hear your remaining time produced at least a couple more fish. Not our finest hour(s) on that pond but always fun to fish it.
Also glad you liked the smokitty.
Did you have to ruin the thread with those pics of me?
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[#0000FF]Thanks...I think.
Now you have planted seeds of doubt in her mind and without pics in the future I might have some 'splainin' to do.
No worries. After being married as long as we have she knows the difference between Chanel #9 and Channel Cat #9.
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Did you guys make it into the shallows to see if any of the smallies were spawning yet? I was hoping to make it out to Starvy this weekend for some bed fishing, but maybe they haven't made it to that point yet.
It sounds like the water temp is right, though!
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I was just thinking about you and Starvation a few days ago. Glad you made a trip there. This weather is so crazy that it's hard to know whether or not to try Starvation. Thanks for your usual excellent report. I am going to try Starvation soon myself. I have missed fishing from my tube. Let me know the next time you go there. I would love to join you.
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I'm not sure if Pat fished the shallow areas but I fished in ten feet of water and cast back toward shore and stripped buggers and soft hackles without any hits. The smallmouth that I caught was out in 15' - 17' of water and near the bottom. I'm not sure what this latest weather change is going to do for fishing but good luck if you go.
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Thanks for the feedback...it may still be a bit early. I still might venture that way...love that place.
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[#0000FF]I worked cranks and plastics along some ideal rock shorelines...and around the still sunken islands on the north side of the Gulch. Nada, zip, zilch. Not even from a dink. The water temps have just started rising after the big inflow of cold rain water. Should be soon.
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[#0000FF]Hey Lloyd, I was thinking of you while at Starvy too. In fact, I told Tom how much you liked that lake...and the walleyes with which it usually rewards you. You didn't miss much on that trip.
Oh yeah. I also told Tom that in your excitement to go fishing you were known to forget things...like leaving your rods on shore until I hollered at you to come back and get them. That's okay my friend. When you no longer lose sleep or forget things because you are still excited about fishing it will be time to find a new hobby.
It will probably be sometime in July before I make another assault on Starvy. That is usually a good month for all species. Only problem is that the past couple of years there has been an increasing "hatch" of boats and PWC on the lake. Far too many of the power squadron ilk have discovered the charms of the lake...to the detriment of serious anglers. Last year I gave up after the 4th of July weekend. Even a few days before the official weekend there was not a camping spot or boat beaching site that was not already full. Tough to find a place to launch my tube. And the noisy nabobs were on the water at daybreak. It was ugly.
But starting a week or two after Labor Day it will be ours again.
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