Fishing Forum

[cool][#0000ff]Last week I made a solo trip to Knight Hollow (Starvation) and scored pretty well on small walleyes...and a few nice perch. Figured maybe the perch might be moving into Rabbit Gulch by this week. Only partly right. Lots of perch but mostly dinks.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Fellow tubers "pa" and "Hnaf" joined me to look for whatever might wanna play. First trip to Starvy for Lee (pa) and second for Brian (Hnaf). Brian's first trip was in mid July last year and he scored a limit of nice perch and a couple of walleyes (his first).[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We were on the water by 7 AM. Calm and air temps in the mid 50's. Water temp 63 at launch, warming to 66 by the time we left at 2 PM. Water was very clear and you could see the bottom in over 15 feet of water. Lots of small smallies around the rock hump to the north of our launch spot.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Took a while for any of us to get fish. Tried shallow to deep. A few light bites in 15 feet of water but no hookups. Finally worked out into deeper water...24 to 30 feet and began seeing marks on sonar. Little marks. Dinkos. Went through about a dozen crawlers catching my first 20 dinksters...looking for something bigger but not succeeding. The other guys reported similar results on the walkie talkies.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Fellow BFTer and longtime friend Therapist cruised up in his boat and made some rude comment about "How do you keep that thing afloat with all that stuff on your tube?" I replied "Simple. A lot of hot air." He reported slow fishing too and decided to blast off to hit the Strawberry River inlet area. Later reported that a few smallies were the best he could do over there. Then he headed for Saleratus and I didn't hear back on how he did up there. Hope it was better than we did.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Also got a rude comment from TopH2O as he came up on me from behind while trolling bottom bouncers with a couple of other guys. "Hey, if you had a rear view mirror on some PVC you wouldn't have to worry about running over me." Rude. They also had caught nothing but dink perch but had lost one walleye. But, they later set up a long term stay up at the shallow end of Bunny Gulch. Didn't get a report on what they were doing...or how they finished up.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I finally found a couple of areas that held more than just the youngsters. Picked up a couple of keeper perch and eventually one small wallie...about a footlong. Also got one of Starvation's infamous chubosaurs...those giant holdover chubs. Released it gently to continue to add to the food chain with annual spawns until it too dies off.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I had been fishing in the upper end of the channel and decided to work a couple of humps back uplake. I have a few spots that have produced in the past when large fish are sparse. I kicked in my electric motor and threw up a roostertail. NOT. But I did cover the several hundred yards a lot faster than if I had to use fin power alone.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The first two "honey humps" were barren. The third was the charm. The magic depth was 28 feet. Deeper or shallower produced nothing. But, a small pale perch ultra minnow jig with a small piece of worm...fished straight down and with finesse...would get a few larger perch in among the dinksters. Still got a lot of bitty bites but some of them had weight when I set the hook. Added a few more keepers to the basket and called in the other guys to join me. But alas, the bite shut down and the afternoon breeze started coming up so it was hard to hold absolutely steady over the fish. And that was a requirement. Finesse fishing all the way.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I tried to make the best of things by throwing some crankbaits over the shallow rock hump. Had a few smallettes that wanted to play. Nothing over about 10 inches...except for the 16 incher in the picture. I ended up with 4 species for the day and a dozen eater sized perch. The other guys caught lots of dink perch but only a couple of keepers...other than a few we each kept to cut up for future bait.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I gave Hnaf a free ride back in by towing him behind my tube with my electric motor. Partial repayment for the ride he gave me on Willard with his pontoon in a windstorm. But the extra strain on his toon by rowing both of us caused his frame to come apart. Good we were close to the ramp when it happened. Thankfully we both made it in without mishap at Starvation.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We had all just beached our tubes when a bunch of bozos started backing a big boat trailer right down on top of us. They "politely" told us to move our tubes so they could bring in their noisy ski boat...one of which kept buzzing us and bouncing us around in the wakes. Insult to injury. Lee and Brian politely moved their tubes to accomodate them. But, once they had the boat on the trailer it took them almost a half hour to get the wheels up over the submerged rocks. We learned some new words and some new uses for old ones.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Those guys were part of a large group that had set up camp and pretty much taken over Bunny Gulch. A couple of them were running generators and between that, their loud yelling and their frequent noisy boat runs towing tubes and skiers it really added to the pristine experience. Usually it is calm and quiet during the week but I guess some folks take a few extra days before big holidays to take over a campground and let everybody else know how much fun they are having.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Still, a great day on the water. Good weather and good company. Fishing could have been better but there was no smell of skunk. It will be better next time. Eternal optimism is what keeps us fishing instead of staying home and griping about it.[/#0000ff]
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Brian sent me an email on Sunday and invited me to "ride share" with him to join your group. I really wanted to go and fish from my tube, but I had already promised a friend of mine that I would go fishing with him. He had never caught a walleye at Starvation, and he also wanted to go there. However, his trolling motor broke down and I had agreed to let him borrow mine and go with him. It looks like you, Lee, and Brian had a great time. I hope to join you again at "Bunny Gulch" soon. I love that place. However, I can see that you had a large crowd there yesterday. We fished at Saleratus Wash and there was hardly anyone there. I caught two walleye around 16 or 17 inches and three fat rainbow trout about the same length.

Thanks for the great report and pictures. They are so much fun to read.
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[cool][#0000ff]Glad you found some of the fish I left for you from last week.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There will be plenty of Bunny Gulch trips over the next few months.[/#0000ff]
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Looks like we will still fish the other side for now.
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[cool][#0000ff]Me too.[/#0000ff]
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Well done Pat,

Shawn
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great report td. Look forward to more reports on Starvation........

rich
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Hey TD,
My rude comment was made in jest. I trolled over to you from behind to say hello. We did pick up a few larger perch with the bottom bouncers but no eyes. We marked a spot at 22 feet that held lots of perch. We anchored and just starting fishing vertically with small jigs tipped with worm or perch meat. We caught a good number of 10 to 13 inch perch and I think we ended the day with about 45 keepers between the three of us. It was a nice day until the jerks with the ski boat and doughnuts decided to use us as a traffic cone. I needed my wrist rocket and marbles!
It was good to see you after all these years. My brother Peter was with me and a coworker from Price. I hope to see you again soon.
Mike
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[cool][#0000ff]It was good to meet you too Mike...after all these years. Relax. I was not offended by your "rude" comment. Thought it was funny. Might even install a PVC mount rear view.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Glad you guys found some decent perch. I suspected that you might have found something when you didn't move for a couple of hours.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Was it Peter who blew up the fish cleaning disposal? That guy is always good to have along for some kind of epic adventure. One night long ago we were night fishing at the south marina at Willard. We kicked back into the ramp for some snackies and a rest. He tossed out a line and propped his rod up in his tube. Next thing ya know it bounced once and then rocketed skyward and outward into the harbor. Now that was before wipers. I came back up with mask and fins the next day but could not find the rod...or even a trail plowed into the bottom mud. That fish was big and moved fast. Great fish story, huh?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Thinking of hitting Knight Hollow next Thursday.[/#0000ff]
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Good luck if you head to Knight Hollow next week. I won't be able to get over there for awhile. I might head over to Starvation again ASAP to try to locate those elusive 'eyes. Take care and have fun on the water.

Yes, it was the youngest of our clan who put an end to my best fillet knife. Hopefully the parks guys have fixed the problem at the cleaning station.

Mike
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I called and asked if it was working. They must have known about it because he said they looked for remenance of a knife but saw nothing and the disposal was up and running so that is good. I guess we know it will eat knives fine......[]
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I was not impressed with my performance on Tuesday at all. I was really thinking that I was going to hit em pretty good up the river, uhuh sure !!!! Water was down another 8-12 inches from when I was there on the 19th. TD gave me some spots in Bunny, but all I could get there were dinks, nothing over 4 inches. I was not impressed with the group that finally woke up at noon and began using the tubers as a slalom course. The insanity of some people. At least they went out to the front of the bay to really kick up their heals. Hope you all do better next week. Wish I could go, but work beckons !!!

[cool][#0000ff]It was good to see ya on the water. That's the closest we have come to fishing together for about 30 years. No excuse.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Life sure makes a lot of left turns, huh?[/#0000ff]
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Pat could you pm me the map on how to get there agin thanks a million I seemed to have lost [frown]mine
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[cool][#0000ff]It ain't like hot spottin'. Folks still gotta put in the time and find the fish. So I will just post a couple of maps for everybody to use.[/#0000ff]
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I am interested in getting into Knight Hollow. When I went to the state website they were a little vague on how to get there, even though they said that the road over the dam is closed permanantly.
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Haha sorry about all the rude comments while you were on the water! []

I would really like to go do that with ya sometime soon!
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[cool][#0000ff]The basic directions are simple...once you know where to go. Drive past the bridge and into Duchesne. Just as you enter town you will go across the Strawberry River and there is a turn to the left...marked for the Starvation State Park. It is at the big service station on the north side of the highway. Turn left there, but do not take the paved road to the state park. Instead, follow the gravel road up over the hill and stay on it for about 4 or 5 miles. When you see the lake on your left, that will be Knight Hollow. The turn is signed.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The gravel road is well maintained for local farmers and for the oil company vehicles. There are a couple of rough areas, with larger rocks in the road so be careful if you have poor tires.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Once you get down to the Knight Hollow area there is a network of dirt "roads" that take you to various potential launch sites. Some of those roads are deeply rutted so high clearance is good. But, almost any vehicle can make it if you drive with caution and pick your path. There are dumpsters for trash and pit toilets but no power or running water. It is a fee area and there is an iron ranger as you enter the camping area next to the diversion canal.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Here are some maps to help.[/#0000ff]
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Thanks, that is alot better than what the state gave me.
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[quote albinotrout]Thanks, that is alot better than what the state gave me.[/quote]

[cool][#0000ff]REALLY[/#0000ff][#0000ff]??????[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]That's why I make my own maps...and I am glad to pass them on to fellow BFTers.[/#0000ff]
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