Fishing Forum

[cool][#0000ff]After everything bad that happened last Friday the 13th, we decided to give Starvation another chance today. Walked outside at Dark Thirty and saw a big chunk of cheese (full moon) in the sky. I thought "Oh great, a ready made excuse if we don't catch much." No worries. Went anyway.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]TubeBabe and I launched our tubes at Knights Hollow (Saleratus Wash) about 7 AM...after spraying away the pesky skeeters. Air temp 60 and water temp 61 at launch. Water level seems to have come up almost a foot in the four days since last Friday. Dirty water is pouring in from the pipe.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]TubeBabe headed to the rocky point just south of where we launched. I headed south, across the inlet channel. She scored a small smallmouth within minutes. I had a large walleye on a few minutes after that but it was inexperienced and did not know how to hang on. Those were our last inquiries for a couple of hours. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We kicked all over Saleratus wash...marking inactive fish and getting plenty of exercise in the STRONG 2 mph wind. The forecast misplaced the decimal point again. More like 20 mph. It would lay down for a few minutes, giving false hope and then whooosh. Tough kickin' again.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I did have a brief bit of excitement when I cruised in close to the trees along the north side of the wash. A large head came directly at me across the water and I just knew it was the aquatic equivalent of BIG FOOT. Nope. BIG TAIL. It was a curious beaver. Dove just before it got to me and didn't see it again. TubeBabe said she had seen it earlier down the shoreline.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I kept changing around, using all of my previously successful jiggies and jinglies. Banged a couple of smallmouth on the pale perch jigs, but no wallies. I finally picked up the rod I had rigged with my NEW offering...a diving crankbait I had painted in the "pale perch" pattern...but rigged Carolina style. I put on a pale perch colored 1/8 oz. spinner body, as a sliding sinker, above a swivel and 3 feet of line, to help take the med running crankbait deeper for walleye. (See pics). [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]TubeBabe and I were fishing fairly close together over an 8 foot hump, quite a ways offshore. I used the walkie talkie to tell her about my new experiment. A few seconds later, I was showing her a nice smallie that had voted for it. After two more smallies and a walleye, she got up close and personal to get me to rig a setup for her. She ain't bashful about gettin' in on my experiments, and heaven help me if I do not take enough to supply her too. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]After that, we were fighting both wind AND fish. We both ended up with a few walleyes and caught quite a few smallies. My biggest smallie might have been 15 inches and my biggest walleye was a pretty close copy of the 19" eye I caught last friday. The trick was to lob the "Carolina crank" rig downwind, let it settle to the bottom and then keep it working just enough to wiggle the rod tip. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Those fish in Starvation sure do like that pale perch color combo. That is where I first began playing with it a couple of years ago and since then I have been making it on quite a few different lures and even some flies. Works in almost every lake we have tried it...especially in Salmon Falls Creek Reservoir, in Idaho. Had a 7 species morning on it up there last fall.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Shortly after 1 PM, we agreed that we had all the fun we could stand with that wind. TubeBabe was toast. So, rather than kick all the way back to the vehicle, we just let the wind blow us into shore and I walked the half mile or so back to get the car and bring it around to rescue the fair fishin' maiden. I know, WHAT A GUY.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Water temperature when we got out was up to 64, but we did not find any active perch today. We fished from 12 feet to 35 feet. We saw "suspicious" schools near the bottom but they all had their little mouths closed and their middle fin upraised on the sonar.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Still, the day ended much better than our last trip. TubeBabe caught fish too, we didn't run over our cooler (cookies) and our car didn't blow up on the way home. Life is good and getting better. [/#0000ff]
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=37285"][#212126]7 AM LAUNCH.jpg[/#212126][/url] (225 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=37286"][#212126]SALERATUS MORNING.jpg[/#212126][/url] (188 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=37287"][#212126]SMALLETTE.jpg[/#212126][/url] (168 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=37288"][#212126]CRANKED SMALLIE.jpg[/#212126][/url] (143 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=37289"][#212126]CRANKED WALLIE.jpg[/#212126][/url] (222 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=37290"][#212126]PALE PERCH RULES.jpg[/#212126][/url] (218 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=37291"][#212126]CAROLINA CRANKBAIT.jpg[/#212126][/url] (145 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=37292"][#212126]SHORE - BLOWED.jpg[/#212126][/url] (281 KB)
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=37293"][#212126]DA BABE GOT EYES.jpg[/#212126][/url] (277 KB)
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Thanks for the report and nice to hear you saved the cookies this time.

I will be heading to Salmon probably Friday night and will give your setup a try with the color paterns I have in my box.

Eye's have been doing well but I am seriously struggling with the crappie, can't seem to give them what they want.
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[cool][#0000ff]When the crappies finish spawning, they usually move away from shore and often suspend at mid depth over deeper water. You need sonar to find them and then you need to fish SMALL jigs slowly...and to be able to detect the lightest taps. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Crappie are tough during the warm months. But, they will move shallow again in the fall and you can find schools off the points or over humps. They feed well before winter sets in.[/#0000ff]
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TubeDude I think I'm living in the wronge place! It's too dang hot here in San Antonio TX. And every place you go fishing looks so dang beautiful. Man I would give anything to live up there with all those pretty lakes in my backyard.
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[cool][#0000ff]You are too modest. There are plenty of great fishing holes within an easy drive of San Antone. Plenty of good Tex Mex eatin' too. I might just trade ya. It would be a lot closer to Corpus too. Love the specks and reds down there.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Actually, I just photoshop all the pics. Everybody knows that Utah is just a desert state and there are no fish here.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Hot? Yeah, you got heat...and plenty of humidity too. I have fished in that area. But, it ain't any worse than the Phoenix, AZ area, where I lived and fished for several years. Tough duty to hit the lake before daybreak and to be already breakin' a sweat at 100 degrees. Later on, it is 120 degrees in the shade...and there ain't no shade.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You are right though. We have some mountain lakes within an easy drive that still have snow around the edges and lotsa purty pine trees. I'll post up a few reports on those for you in a couple of weeks...just to cool you down. If that doesn't work, I'll PM you some snow. [/#0000ff]
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Love the report, TD.

You guys do have some beautiful country. You've also perfected your unique fishing methods to corresond to it to a "T."

Z~
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[cool][#0000ff]Thanks Z.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You have some purty waters in your part of the country too...and you seem to have them pretty well dialed in.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]How are the wrists and how is the fishing?[/#0000ff]
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One day I am going to get out there with you TD. I love that lake. I remember you talking about the slime in Rabbit Gulch, do you know what it was and will it go away. That crank is pretty, how are the pale perch spinners doing that you were workin on this spring.
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[cool][#0000ff]The green slime is a temporary algae bloom that will mostly disappear in warmer water. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have made and used a whole bunch of different lures in pale perch and they all seem to produce pretty well. [/#0000ff]
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Hi TD,

The wrists still hurt. I suspect the fishing is good but I'm still fairly out of commission. My insurance company and workman's comp are wrangling about who will pay for surgery. Between that and the regular work load which goes more slowly due to the first issue, I've been in drydock. Reading of your exploits is the sum total of my tubing right now.

z~
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