Get your fishing in now...
It's already down about 10 feet and I watched it drop about 6-8"/day since Thursday. Rabbit Gulch is going to have boulders sticking up everywhere in a week or two. The big point across from the dam already is about to break the surface. That reservoir is going to be hurtin' in September. It was always fun trying to wrestle my Glastron off the beach every morning.
Anyway, the fishing was good all weekend. Our group caught every species in the drink (I think) over the past 6 days; walleye, smallies, perch, bows, browns and even a few chub. I guess we didn't catch a carp, so we didn't get the perfect sweep. The walleye and perch were almost all small. Out of the hundred or so eyes we caught, maybe 3 or 4 were in the upper teens and none were over 20. Maybe 1 in 20 perch were over 8". On the flip side, the trout are doing well in there and so are the smallies. Seems like we boated a couple hundred trout and almost all of them were in the fat 18"+ range. Smallies were on Thursday and Friday; a bass tournament on Saturday and Sunday took care of the bass action though. I only found one more dink smallmouth in all my favorite spots after that.
Does anyone have any theories as to why the trout are so damn big and the walleye are so damn small in there?
If you can stand extreme heat and even more extreme winds, they're biting at Starvvy...
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Trout are planted at 10"+ and grow faster then all the other fish in the lake but carp..
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Makes sense, I guess. They must be eating protein shakes every day because the trout in there are part quarterhorse. They're like little footballs and fight like a champ. Too bad they don't fry up well!
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[quote MichiganAngler]The walleye and perch were almost all small. Seems like we boated a couple hundred trout and almost all of them were in the fat 18"+ range.[/quote]
I'm glad you posted this, because I was wondering the same thing. I was up there Sunday and had a real similar experience. I caught dink perch and walleye, and some huge rainbows. I'm afraid the success of the trout in there are directly affecting the ability of the other species to flourish as they once did. As fat as those rainbows are, they have to be using a great deal of resources. I hope that's not the case.
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That is whfat I. Was wondering. From what I understand, trout are fairly new to that fishery.
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If you call being in there from the day the lake was formed fairly new then you are correct.
The trout were in there before walleye, perch, small mouth, and carp. There used to be one hell of a brown fishery there many years ago.
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[cool][#0000ff]Sounds like you guys managed to scratch out a good time...in spite of "conditions". I'm sure there was plenty of fun activity at base camp when you couldn't get on the lake.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Starvation has a pretty hefty drawdown most years. We got spoiled the last two or three years because of the heavy snowpack and extended rainy periods in the spring. But this year somebody shut off the faucet early and the water users opened the spigot on the dam to water the thirsty crops.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Over the years I have fished Starvy I have seen some in which late season water levels were scary low. One year Rabbit Gulch was just a big ugly dried out weedbed. See the attached picture of conditions before it got even worse.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The rapid drawdowns make for a good news and bad news situation. It does reduce the amount of surface water and concentrates the fish into more defined areas. But it also keeps the fish nervous and moving to deeper water. If you are a float tuber it creates a lot more launchable spots...if you don't get bogged down in the mud of the fast receding water. If you are a boater you are pretty much limited to launching at good ramps that are still launchable.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Trout have always been in Starvation. But the dynamics have changed a lot. In the 70s there was phenomenal fishing for BIG browns...and even a few cutts. Very few rainbows because they can't compete well with the chubs...and the chubs were so thick you could not fish with bait...or even lures at times. Forget trying to ice fish. You would cover the ice with chubs and they would not leave your offerings alone long enough for a trout to get to them.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Wallies and smallies took care of the chubs. In fact, they overdid it and the chubs almost disappeared. Stunted walleyes and smallies. There was a bounty put on walleyes to try to reduce their numbers. Yeah, right.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I hate bucket biologists but whoever dumped perch in Starvation probably saved the lake. Perch exploded and provided a food base for the predators...and fed themselves pretty well too. Since then Starvy has become well known for lots of big perch, walleyes and smallies.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]A few short years ago DWR determined that the lake was fertile enough to support rainbows...as a fishery to occupy another "layer" in the lake. Starvy has a good supply of zooplankton and other invertebrates that stratify at depths not normally used by the other species. With the chubs pretty much gone the rainbows stepped (swam) in and began dining royally...putting on weight and developing firm pink flesh. Their size, health and hard fighting characteristics earned them the name of "Starvation steelhead".[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It may be no coincidence that the proliferation of rainbows seems to go along with the seeming decline in the average sizes of the perch and walleyes. In addition to feeding on zooplankton...and baby perch...rainbows also raid the weed beds for crawdads and other invertebrates. Guess what? That is what small perch and walleyes eat too...and what they need to get them large enough to switch to a perch diet.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The last large hauls of big perch I show in my fishing logs were about 3 years ago...with some days of catching up to 100 jumbos...fish over 10 to 11 inches. That last "good" year I caught many 13 inchers and a few honest 14 inchers. The past two years I caught maybe a dozen perch over 12 inches. And the average has dropped from the former 9 inches to dinkster range...5" to 7"...with few perch exceeding 8". [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I am not a biologist but I do have a pretty good knowledge of perchkind...and specifically the ones in Starvation. If I were tortured and forced to make a statement about the ones in Starvation I would have to guess that there is a stunting situation going on because of reduced food supplies for the young perch and walleyes...at the stage when they need to put on more growth to ultimately reach the former large sizes. A lot fewer are getting bigger within their alloted life spans.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There are still some big perch and walleyes in Starvation. Some are able to forage successfully and get some size to them. But for the most part the lake is overrun with vast schools of smaller fish that are more of a nuisance than an attraction. Like many other Starvy fans I have come to enjoy the presence of the rainbows. Even if you go for the walleyes, perch or bass the rainbows almost always provide a pleasant pull on your line that make it easier to overlook the decline in your favorite species.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Most of Utah's lakes are cyclical. Cycles of good and bad come and go. Some are only a few years. Others involve decades of changes in water levels, food resources, angling pressure and other factors. I hope Starvation is simply in a down cycle for the sizes of perch and walleyes. But my rational side suggests that the rainbows have indeed proven the old law of physics: "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction."[/#0000ff]
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Thanks for the info TD. I've never been to Starvation but after your post I think I'd like to take the Toon out there this summer at some point. I have a copy of the map you recently posted. Where do you typically like to launch from?
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[cool][#0000ff]As water levels drop and temperatures warm my favorite area is Rabbit Gulch. See attached map for the better launching spots during lower water conditions. Also attaching one for Indian Bay...one of my other favorite tubing areas.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]PMing you a copy of a new writeup I just finished on Rabbit Gulch.[/#0000ff]
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Oh yes, we caught plenty of fish. It just was a little more work on the fillet board, that's all. I'm defiinitely not complaining
We did the best over near Knights Hollow, but the eyes are starting to move towards Rabbit Gulch as we caught a few in there as well.
Time will tell the truth. We'll see what happens in the next couple years with the perch/walleye population.
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I don't want to come off sounding like Cliff here, but Strawberry is less than an hour away from Starvation. I can go there and catch trout to my heart's content. I just wish they wouldn't have planted the rainbows in Starvation, especially when it was such a healthy fishery for "the others." Oh well I guess.[:/]
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[cool][#0000ff]Most of us "non-biologists" are not consulted when it comes to the DWR making decisions about managing a lake...or stocking new species. From what I have heard...after the fact...is that the decision was made to plant more rainbows to add a new level of fishing...not occupied by the "bottom dwellers". [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The decision has proven to be a good one, from the standpoint of drawing fishermen to the lake. There are now a lot of anglers who hit Starvy mostly for the trout. Angler hours and park fees are the driving force in most such decisions...not what individual groups of anglers may want or not want. And that was before the current improved level of fishing for rainbows in Strawberry. They have also come on much stronger in the past couple of years.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The upside...if you need one...is that the rainbows in Starvy are sterile and mostly non-reproducing. If DWR determines that they are not a good thing they can simply quit stocking them. Not likely but a possibility. It is almost nonexistent in Utah for DWR to make a decision in favor of "warm water" species to the detriment of hatchery pets.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]And don't fret about sounding like Cliff on this issue. Heck, he even made a post earlier in the year about all the fun he had fishing for the spawning rainbows at Starvation. Actually encouraged everybody to get over there and enjoy all the action. Maybe it was just a ploy to reduce the numbers of rainbows but it sounded like he was having REAL fun.[/#0000ff]
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+1, we first fished that lake on the hard deck in the late 70's. On the first trip we caught several nice browns and one cut that went 7 lbs. My buddy had that one mounted, it was a beautiful male. We usually fished Starvation on our return trips from Pelican.[fishin]
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Thanks, TD. I am at least one of the anglers who has gone to Starvation a few times this year in search of smallmouth and have instead hooked into some fine 'bows (with a few small smallies thrown into the mix).
Thanks for your perspective. I don't know if I would care for Starvy as deeply if it weren't for you. I fished it for the first time with you a number of years ago, hooking some decent perch and even a coveted wallie or two. And as I remember, they were all caught on your gifted jigs.
Once again, great input.
Many thanks.
Hope you and Mrs. Babe are well and happy.
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Oh, and thanks for the report MichiganAngler. Very enjoyable post and good questions.
While I have caught a decent number of big trout and even more small smallmouth, I wish I could experience the success you have.
Maybe we'll run into each other sometime down there. It'd be nice to improve some of my tactics.
One question: Were you trolling a lot?
Thanks.
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[cool][#0000ff]Thanks my friend. Glad you and the kids are able to get over there for some enjoys. The lake is likely to get a bit tricky before the end of the year this year. I plan to do my share of R & D on it.[/#0000ff]
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Excellent write-up and analysis Pat.
This thread reminded me that as a kid in the mid '70s we used to have some good Rainbow fishing out there...and then it went away. I thinks it is great to have it back in a controlled manner.
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No trolling for us. We caught almost all of the trout while targeting walleye. 1/4 oz jigs tipped with a full crawler hooked thru the head. Color didnt seem to matter, but almost all were caught within a few inches of the bottom.
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