[cool][#0000ff]TubeBabe and I originally planned to hit Knight Hollow on Starvation on Thursday. Figured that would be long enough after the holiday hammering and the weather front to generate decent fishing potential. But...a fellow BFTer begged me to change it to Tuesday. He had never fished Starvation and just hadda do it on Tuesday. Made plans, loaded the car on Monday...and then he bailed out of the trip. But...we went anyway. Shoulda stuck with plan A. Maybe some day I will learn to rely on my plans and not change to accomodate somebody else.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Calm and clear when we launched at 7 AM. TubeBabe was first launched, with her newly registered trolling motor on her tube. I launched shortly afterward and we were enjoying the clear, calm morning. 53 degree air temp and 65 water temp. Looking good.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Took some searching before I finally found a few fish on sonar in 26 feet of water. Dinkster walleyes. Ten and eleven inchers. Got several as I moved around looking for bigger fish. No perch. Finally got into some 13 to 15 inch walleyes in about 18 feet of water. Got a few more under-footers too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]TubeBabe scored some dink walleyes too and finally got a couple of teen inchers for the fillet board. We both caught a couple of small smallmouth. Feisty little buggers. No trout caught today but when the lake went flat calm there were rainbows all over the surface slurping up buggy remnants from the night before. A bubble and fly might have got some attention.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Caught one ten inch perch and had several rattle rattle inquiries that I think were perch. But no schools or concentrations of toad perch.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]When the lake went calm the walleye shut down too. I searched all depths up to about 35 feet without any more hits. Then I came up with a brilliant idea. Over the walkie talkie I suggested to TubeBabe that if we could get a light breeze to riffle the water that the fish might start hitting again. Like magic, a breeze began sweeping over the lake. The surface rippled...then turned quickly to small whitecaps. HEY!...Too much of a good thing.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]By shortly after ten the "breeze" was too strong for us to hold with our tubes and we missed several bites because we lost "touch" with our lures. My policy is that once I can't maintain "finesse" I am done. So, I powered in to shore and wrestled my tube through the chop and the rocks to dry ground. Then I waded out to assist TubeBabe, who had never experienced setting up and taking down a motor on a float tube. Kinda tricky the first time.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As we finished getting our gear in the vehicle the wind picked up even more. Didn't look like much chance of sticking around and getting in some more fishing later. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]TubeBabe was glad just to avoid the skunk. She got enough to make her happy with her new toy. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I probably caught about a dozen walleyes...of which only about a half dozen were worthy of the fillet knife. Still, better than some trips. But four hours of driving for three hours of fishing....DOES NOT COMPUTE.[/#0000ff]
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I was anxious to try out the motor set-up. I really think it is one of the coolest improvements made to the system. I was a little intimidated at first, but got the hang of it really quick. Now I want to try it out on more of my favorite fishing holes.
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I've got mamatrouts FC4 rigged up with her motor. She will be out trying it out for the first time here in a couple of weeks. Glad to here you enjoy your motoring adventures.[cool]
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I need to get my Fat Cat set up with a motor mount. I know you have heard me say that before! However, I need to settle down and get it done....that is, when you have some time to help me.
It appears that most of the walleye are at Knight's Hollow and most of the perch on at Rabbit Gulch. Is that a fair observation?
I enjoyed your report and your pictures as usual. Since I know a lot about the lures you have created, the pictures are especially meaningful.
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Did you notice a water level change since you were there last?
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Well there is still Walleye in Yuba.
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"It appears that most of the walleye are at Knight's Hollow and most of the perch on at Rabbit Gulch. Is that a fair observation?"
[cool][#0000ff]Comparing my own experience with other reports I have read and received, I am of the opinion that it is easier to catch eyes at the NE part of the lake and perch wherever there are weedbeds next to deep water...like at Bunny Gulch. But, there are perch in Saleratus and walleyes at BG. Just gotta find 'em and tempt 'em.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]My tubeatorium awaits your visit.[/#0000ff]
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[quote albinotrout]Did you notice a water level change since you were there last?[/quote]
[cool][#0000ff]Definitely. It has dropped about two feet in the two weeks since I was at Knight Hollow last. Last year the water levels remained fairly high all summer. So far this summer it looks like another big draw down. Very little coming in the Strawberry River or the diversion and a lot going out to the water users downstream.[/#0000ff]
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[quote mactuna]Well there is still Walleye in Yuba.[/quote]
[cool][#0000ff]That may be true. But both of them are so busy outrunning the pike, outcompeting the carp and eating all of the little perch that they just don't have time to mess with fishermen.[/#0000ff]
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well dont sound like all that bad of a trip for ya dude and babe! at lest ya did hit some... would have been worse if ya drove 4 hours to fish 3 hours and came home with not-a.. [:p]..
BTW dont ya just love it when a plan comes together then falls apart? [crazy]..
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[quote TubeDude][#0000ff] But four hours of driving for three hours of fishing....DOES NOT COMPUTE.[/#0000ff][/quote]
[font "Courier New"][#0000bf][size 3]When you take me, I'll try to last at least 4 hours, so road and water time are equal![/size][/#0000bf][/font]
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Wind at Starvation? That's odd [
]. It usually doesn't get bad until 12 or so. At least you got into some fishies.
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Nice work for what mama nature delt ya. Sorry to bail on ya. Schools for fools... hopefully I get another chance to get after the scaled variety of pisces. [blush]
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TD, I was looking at the Google Earth pic of Starvation the other night and noticed that the channel in Saltarus is really long. The pic they have on the free view shows that the inlet channel is at least 100 yds long. Does that jive with your experience ? Sorry that you had a windy day out there today, it is a long way to drive for sure !!!
The channel goes out a pretty good distance. I don't know exactly how far. It can be a good area to jig for perch and walleye...if they are there. During the summer months the bite in the channel is on or off for me. I either have a good day or head to another spot after an hour or so. After the channel planes out there are a lot of 'ups and downs' and I'll usually find the walleye there if they are not in the channel.
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[quote Therapist]TD, I was looking at the Google Earth pic of Starvation the other night and noticed that the channel in Saltarus is really long. The pic they have on the free view shows that the inlet channel is at least 100 yds long. Does that jive with your experience ? Sorry that you had a windy day out there today, it is a long way to drive for sure !!![/quote]
[cool][#0000ff]There is definitely a long "trench" that extends westward out into the lake almost to the "sandy beach" on the north shore of the Knight Hollow area. If you were to make S turns back and forth between shore and buoy line you would find that it is several feet deeper than the shelf on either side. Yesterday we found fish on the shelf in 22 to 26 feet of water. But when we dropped off to over 30 feet, in the channel, we saw a lot more fish at all depths. The only problem was that the active feeding fish were up on the shallower shelf. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There are other times when the fish all hug the bottom in the channel and that will be the only place you can get bit. Every day can be different.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]That channel is usually one of the best spots to fish earlier in the year...especially when they are dumping a lot of water out of the diversion channel. The flow creates current and wallies love current. There can also be a lot of big perch both up in the channel and along the entire length. However they seem to disperse to other parts of the lake once the flow is shut off and the weed beds start to grow in other parts of the lake.[/#0000ff]
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[quote TubeDude]
[#0000ff] Maybe some day I will learn to rely on my plans and not change to accomodate somebody else.[/#0000ff]
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I've heard that one from you before[
]. Hopefully, things work out better next time.
Here is the thing, I have gotten a couple different reports on Starvation this year producing consistent dink'ish Walleye. you read anything into it?
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"Here is the thing, I have gotten a couple different reports on Starvation this year producing consistent dink'ish Walleye. you read anything into it?"
[cool][#0000ff]I had an on-the-water conversation with a couple of guys in a boat at Knight Hollow when I was there two weeks ago. The abundance of dinks was a topic of discussion. I think we agreed that seeing a lot of small fish bodes well for the future, but can be a source of aggravation when you are trying for something bigger.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]In conversations with other wallieholics...personal and electronic...I have reinforced my belief that the older and larger a walleye becomes the less likely it is to succumb to "normal" walleye fishing techniques...at least in Starvation or other waters in which there is an abundant food supply. Bottom bouncers and crawler rigs, trolled hardbaits and vertical jigging with worms or minnows will always catch good numbers of "teen inchers". But, as the fish grow bigger they assume more characteristics usually associated with walleyes. They feed more at night and they feed less often. They eat big when they eat but not all day...unlike their small family members. Kinda like teenagers in the human race.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I have heard that big brown trout and walleyes have much in common. They stake out a food supply...like a school of perch...and then wait for cover of darkness. When it gets dark and the prey becomes dormant for the night they are easy pickings for big predators with good night vision. The walleyes chow down on several suitable sized perch and then lay up during the day to digest their big meal. They simply ignore all of the fancy crawler harness rigs that go by in front of their noses all day.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]In short, if you want to catch the abundant larger fish in Starvation, you have to know where they are going to be feeding and when...for the short feeding binge. Then you have to serve them something big enough to get their interest. Big walleye specialists around the country typically use big plastics or hardbaits...usually at night or during the transitional periods of early spring or late fall in the daylight.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]There are more than a few closed-mouthed walleye regulars who DO catch plenty of larger fish from Starvation. Most of them feel that there is a GOOD population of larger fish...including some potential state records. But it is very rare for any of the bigger fish to be caught on the stuff most anglers fish for them...and during the "bankers hours" fishing trips most of them put in.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The chubs may be history in the food chain, but there is a plethora of perch. And now there is a growing supply of nice tender rainbows. I can only guess how many big walleyes have learned to enjoy trout on their menus...no spines and they slide down easy.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The really big difference between Starvation and the chronically crashing Yuba is that the former is deeper and less prone to complete draining by downstream water users. In addition, it has perpetual weed beds and vast areas of fertile mud bottom that produce abundant invertebrate food items...from scuds to leeches to crawdads. The perch and young walleyes have a lot to eat without having to rely on perch fry alone. In fact, many of the porkiest perch and some good sized walleyes have nothing but invertebrates in their gut when filleted. Perchlets are more important to the larger walleyes.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I don't think the lake has any kind of production problem. All of the fish I have kept and filleted from Starvation this year have had internal fat deposits. That means they are getting enough to eat. Much better than the skinny fish from Yuba or Utah Lake during low food cycles.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]You should know better than to ask for my opinion on anything. You are likely to get it.[/#0000ff]
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I couldn't agree more Pat, those are my observations as well. I have been very excited this year about the 4 or 5 different year classes of walleye I'm catching from 7 to 17 inches. There is an abundance of them and for many of the reasons you stated I feel like the prey base of perch are finally ahead of the walleye curve and will stay that way for some time to come. The cover and forage base for the perch is phenomenal and I continue to see the size and quantity of them increasing year over year now as well as the condition of the walleyes, fat clear through the tail. Even throughout the winter, the perch we caught through the ice were stuffed with fresh water shrimp and not the young of the year perchlettes like we saw at Yuba. Only time will tell but I really think the upcoming walleye classes are strong enough to keep the perch in check and maintain a good balance.
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