Fishing Forum

I fished Starvation again today from my tube. The wind was supposed to come up before noon so I got an early start at 6:30 and fished until 3:00. I used the usual size 6 flies (olive leech & tan/green/pearl crystal bugger) and a medium (#3) sinking line. This time I caught more smallmouth than anything else, that's the first time that's happened.

I caught smallmouth from 12" to 18", two walleye, one 18" and one 23" (4 lbs. 4 oz.), five browns from 15" to 22", and three rainbows from 15" to 18". The water temperature is up to 52-55 degrees and the visibility in the water of about 6'. The visibility is down a little because of the runoff and the recent winds. The reservoir level is up to 87% full and rising.

I was going to weigh the 18" smallmouth but he jumped ship on me before I could get the scale out.[:/]

The winds did come up around 11:00 but it wasn't too bad where I was fishing. There were not many bugs on the water today so that might be why the fishing was better than it has been for awhile.

It was a fun day on a great place to fish, even with some wind.[]
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That is quite the variety you caught on your flies. About the only game fish missing was a perch.
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It has been awhile since I have caught perch at Starvation and when I have they have all been small.

There are Kokanee and soon to be Crappie in there too.

Starvation is getting to be quite the Buffet.[]
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Wow what a great day!!! Wish that pond was a little closer to me it sounds like a lot of fun. Thanks for a great report. J
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Thanks for the report., And congrats on the great day! I had not heard about them planting crappie in there...I love crappie but with everything else in there I would like to here the reasoning behind adding yet another species.
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Great day ...... I wonder why some smallmouths have the stripes and some don't?
That must be some special crystal bugger that you tie.
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[#0000FF]Variety, quality and quantity. Sounds like a good day to me.

Any green meanies harmed on that trip?
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Nice report and great catch! Nothing like getting a great combo and with those size too!
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[quote sliverslinger][/quote] Thanks for the report., And congrats on the great day! I had not heard about them planting crappie in there...I love crappie but with everything else in there I would like to here the reasoning behind adding yet another species.[/quote]


I believe they are adding the Crappie more for an additional food source for all the predators in there but it will be great if they manage to find a niche somewhere and offer another fine eating fish to the mix.
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[quote TubeDude][#0000ff]Variety, quality and quantity. Sounds like a good day to me.

Any green meanies harmed on that trip?
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You know Pat I didn't try your old reliable "Green Meanie". The leech and the crystal bugger were working and those were the only flies I tried.

I did break off one of the buggers so I guess I used three flies for the day.[]
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[quote gofish435][quote sliverslinger][/quote] Thanks for the report., And congrats on the great day! I had not heard about them planting crappie in there...I love crappie but with everything else in there I would like to here the reasoning behind adding yet another species.[/quote]


I believe they are adding the Crappie more for an additional food source for all the predators in there but it will be great if they manage to find a niche somewhere and offer another fine eating fish to the mix.[/quote]

I saw the Walleye fishing seminar for 2017 and I believe that is where I heard the state indicate the same thing, trying to increase the prey options. They are also planning on putting in Fathead minnows.

Perch are a great food base but they need deep weeds to survive Walleye. Perch go almost comatose at night when Walleye are feeding up so they are easy pickings if they don't have constant cover. Because Starvation goes up and down with water use, Perch will likely never be plentiful again.

Crayfish are planted in there but the State does not believe Walleye eat them unless there is nothing else. I completely disagree, and having fished Walleye in at least 6 states, and done very well, I will use Yoda's words, "my own counsel will I keep". I have post mortemed a lot of Walleye stuffed with crayfish and perch and shad all together in Colorado. The state "expert" has one lake she is basing her knowledge on. Still, Crayfish should not be the only option.

I have not heard of Red Sided Shiners in there, but being a Utah native, I would think that would be a great option. Chubs have been suggested, but a strong chub population destroys the rainbow growth. Tough to maintain a balance between prey/predator in Reservoirs. Lakes are easier to maintain, simply because of the more stable water depth, but the more the water goes up and down the harder it is to find that balance.

I don't always agree with the DWR in any State, but I respect the work they do and the challenges they have.

[#0000FF]For many years, Starvation was a chub factory. It was choked with them. Only browns could survive. The rainbows stocked could not make it with all the chubs.

Walleyes and smallmouth were planted to reduce the chubs...which they did all too well. Within a few years the only remaining chubs were 20 year old chubosaurs with fat bellies and lesions. Any young they produced were slurped up by the walleyes and smallies.

Then...somehow...yellow perch showed up. There was much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth when these invasive species were first detected. But they saved Starvation...exploding until they were almost a nuisance...but a good nuisance...growning fast and large...up to 15 inches.

There was a big perch dieoff over the winter of 2012 and the numbers dropped below the sustainability point. The predators ate whatever young were produced and they never got a good toehold again. There have been a couple of glimmers of hope but seemingly never will be as it once was.

The walleyes in Starvation do indeed eat crawdads. I have caught plenty with "mudbugs" in their bellies. And green flies and plastics account for lots of those toothy critters.


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Thanks for the report! That is a good day.
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[quote WaveWolf]Great day ...... I wonder why some smallmouths have the stripes and some don't?
That must be some special crystal bugger that you tie.[/quote]

I'm not sure why the smallmouths look different in some waters. Maybe they try to blend in with their environment.

It's no special crystal bugger just tan/green/pearl chenille, green grizzly hackle, light olive marabou tail, green bead head, and green wire counter wrapped to protect the hackle on a size 6 4xl hook.

Here's a sample of it.
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[quote TubeDude][#0000ff]......................[/#0000ff][#0000ff]

Then...somehow...yellow perch showed up. There was much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth when these invasive species were first detected. But they saved Starvation...exploding until they were almost a nuisance...but a good nuisance...growning fast and large...up to 15 inches.

There was a big perch dieoff over the winter of 2012 and the numbers dropped below the sustainability point. The predators ate whatever young were produced and they never got a good toehold again. There have been a couple of glimmers of hope but seemingly never will be as it once was.

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I noticed that the state is trying a token planting of yellow perch in Starvation again. Not sure that 530 6.3" are going to do much, but they were planted in April. Maybe, with rising water, with a good water year, if they spawned after planting, maybe ............

[url "http://www.utahfishinginfo.com/dwr/fishstockingreport.php"]http://www.utahfishinginfo.com/dwr/fishstockingreport.php[/url]

[#0000FF]DWR took what they could get. Supposedly the fish were mostly pregnant females...ready to spawn. But I suspect that a lot of them will merely contribute to the walleye feeding program. Any walleye over about 20 inches just loooooooves six inch perch.

At my age I despair of never seeing another good perch fishery...virtually anywhere in Utah. There have been some great ones in the past. But the radical changes in water levels as well as lake ecologies have all acted against perchkind.

Like many aging Utah perch jerkers I fondly recall the heydays of Yuba, Deer Creek, Jordanelle and Starvation. Heck, let's go all the way back to Gunnison Reservoir in the 70s. Used to be some two pound perch and some dandy largemouths in there...before it become an annually drained carp hatchery.
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[#008000]Management is a tough game.[/#008000]

I too remember the perch of DC in the late 70's, early 80's. You could fill a 5 gallon bucket of them and all good sized.

That is a problem with all reservoirs. They age and as they age the cover changes. They suffer drastic water level changes so the weeds never get well established.

Worse yet is that perch, in the wrong water, can and do overpopulate, then they are as much of a problem as no perch.

[#0000bf]Right conditions, PERFECT FISHING[/#0000bf]. [#ff0000]Wrong conditions, they stunt everything in the lake.[/#ff0000]
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[#000000]The best "lake" we have for them is Utah Lake, and the carp and resulting lack of cover and resulting carp and wind driven silt results in almost no perch. I have seen lakes like UL without carp, not even as deep, with weeds, that were full of some awesome perch and Bass and ......... Sorry, about to cry.[/#000000]

So, how is it that we kill out the carp and they find there way back into the lakes in a few years? Sure, sometimes it is carp coming from down stream, but often it is our illegal brethren and sisters using them as live bait.

Sometimes I feel the fight against Eurasian milfoil is counterproductive. It can choke a lake out, but more often then not it outgrows even the carp, the cover is maintained and so is the clarity, ..... but, it is also invasive and therefore illegal, so do not consider this a suggestion. Still, many great lakes in the Eastern US have been saved or rehabilitated by that invasive devil that "evolved" alongside carp.

The picture you see with my name is one of those lakes. It is full of carp, full of large perch, full of massive LMB and SMB, lots of huge pike, Walleye, Brown Trout, crappie (my best 19 1/8"), gills, and Rainbow trout. It is loaded with Northern Pikeminnow (squawfish), suckers, and yes, that nasty invasive weed that seems to hold the whole lake together.

But, did I mention that management is tough? It is hard to see the future, hard to predict the outcome, hard to plan for the unpredictable.

Our managers really need crystal balls, and I would give them mine, but mine is broken, cracked, damaged when I dropped it. LOL

But, back to the first report.

Man you had a great day. If my knee would allow it right now I would have my old Bucks Bag shipped to me and I would join you Saturday....... but, my wife and Doctor remind me that after only 5 weeks from a total knee replacement that I should probably skip it. So , so very .



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Good looking fly for Starvy. []Big Fly=Big Fish
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What a bunch of beautiful fish! Thanks for the report.
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Nice update. Maybe I should get out to starvation myself.
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