08-17-2016, 11:54 PM
[#0000FF]Had a play date today with old friend TopH20. We met at the main ramp at Starvy about 7:15...fifteen minutes after our agreed meetup. Got worried when I tried to call him and got the message "not in service". As he pulled up to the dock to pick me up he was muttering something about dropping his $%#@& cell phone in the water while trying to launch his boat from in front of his camp on the beach. Not a good start for him.
Then he semi apologized in advance for the fishing. Said he and another guy had worked the lake over pretty good the previous evening and had not found any concentrations of fish. A few perch and small walleyes. But nothing we could count on to fill the live well. Full moon? Fish going back to school? Who knows.
We started in the Strawberry River arm...above the bridge. Saw several trouters either trolling or soaking bait in the channel. I have been amazed at the number of anglers who now visit Starvy mostly for the trout. Didn't used to be that way.
We bottom bounced and worked various jigs along a lot of the usually productive shoreline. I started things off with a couple of small smallies. Then Mike chipped in with some perch and so did I. But it was slow...and got slower.
We elected to hit Bunny Gulch and fish some of my fave spots for this time of year. Just as with the first area, we saw very few fish on sonar...and no real schools that would have justified tossing over a marker buoy...if we even had one. Sorry, Mike.
We finally found one small area that produced a few more perch and a teen-incher walleye for the captain. So far, only perch and smallies for me.
While working across the shallow end of the gulch I got smacked by a silly Starvy "steelhead" and had a couple of minutes of fun bendo. That turned out to be our only trout of the day.
Then, while working over a spot where I caught my last decent walleye...back in July...my Gulp Minnow got gulped by a 19 inch wallie. Yee haw. That completed my 4 species slam for the day. I actually caught another one a while later. But it was a sub seegar mini eye. Shouldn't even count.
Because I had been over-funning this week and had a long drive back I decided to call it a day around oneish. But Mama Nature backed it up by moving in some heavy black clouds to the west, huffing and puffing a lot and making some rumbling noises. Mike and I have experienced the Starvy squalls before and knew enough to boogie before it was too late. As it was, I got wind-blowed while filleting my meager catch...and my car got a couple of celestial car washes on the way home.
Thanks for the invite, Mike. Another fun trip with much levity and good company...and even a few fish. Hope you did better after I left.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
Then he semi apologized in advance for the fishing. Said he and another guy had worked the lake over pretty good the previous evening and had not found any concentrations of fish. A few perch and small walleyes. But nothing we could count on to fill the live well. Full moon? Fish going back to school? Who knows.
We started in the Strawberry River arm...above the bridge. Saw several trouters either trolling or soaking bait in the channel. I have been amazed at the number of anglers who now visit Starvy mostly for the trout. Didn't used to be that way.
We bottom bounced and worked various jigs along a lot of the usually productive shoreline. I started things off with a couple of small smallies. Then Mike chipped in with some perch and so did I. But it was slow...and got slower.
We elected to hit Bunny Gulch and fish some of my fave spots for this time of year. Just as with the first area, we saw very few fish on sonar...and no real schools that would have justified tossing over a marker buoy...if we even had one. Sorry, Mike.
We finally found one small area that produced a few more perch and a teen-incher walleye for the captain. So far, only perch and smallies for me.
While working across the shallow end of the gulch I got smacked by a silly Starvy "steelhead" and had a couple of minutes of fun bendo. That turned out to be our only trout of the day.
Then, while working over a spot where I caught my last decent walleye...back in July...my Gulp Minnow got gulped by a 19 inch wallie. Yee haw. That completed my 4 species slam for the day. I actually caught another one a while later. But it was a sub seegar mini eye. Shouldn't even count.
Because I had been over-funning this week and had a long drive back I decided to call it a day around oneish. But Mama Nature backed it up by moving in some heavy black clouds to the west, huffing and puffing a lot and making some rumbling noises. Mike and I have experienced the Starvy squalls before and knew enough to boogie before it was too late. As it was, I got wind-blowed while filleting my meager catch...and my car got a couple of celestial car washes on the way home.
Thanks for the invite, Mike. Another fun trip with much levity and good company...and even a few fish. Hope you did better after I left.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
