Fishing Forum

Got my first ice session of the season today at Starvation. I met Wyoguy and his nephew for some really cold ice time. We fished the area south of the Highway 40 bridge and we moved around several times until we finally found some perch in 51-52 feet of water.
We caught some rainbows by suspending one line at about 20 feet and we got the perch just off the bottom. I had my best success using a perch eye on a small perch pattern Forage Minnow (1/16 oz.) below a small glow in the dark spoon. I think I got 18 decent size perch and a few smaller ones. All of them came home with me since they don't do well when brought up from 52 feet. Small dudes will become bait for the next trip. The better perch were 9.5-10.5 inches and pretty fat. I got one rainbow that was 18.5 inches, my other two RBT were around 15 inches. The rainbows were caught on one of [#0000ff]TubeDude's[/#0000ff] patented wobble jigs tipped with a piece of crawler.

The ice was very clear and hard and was about 6 to 7 inches thick. We moved around the bay and the ice thickness was the same everywhere we drilled. There is a skiff of snow on the ice and walking is easy and there were no slick spots. I believe the ice is safe for a 4 wheeler or snowmobile if caution is used if you encounter a pressure ridge. My next trip will include an ATV because I don't want to walk up that hill again pulling my 85 pound sled. Going down the hill wasn't easy either because portions are very slick with all the foot traffic.

I don't know what the ice conditions are for the remainder of the lake. My next trip will be next week and the ice will just continue to get thicker with the temperatures staying where they are now.

FOD, give it a try and let me know if you can take a wheeler around from Rabbit Gulch or from Indian Bay.

Mike
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[cool][#0000FF]Good start to your season. Glad you found both perch and bows.

Not sorry I missed out on the "drillin' and CHILLIN'". Thats TDC for me. And also not sorry I missed the hill from hell. Us old guys don't do well on those.

Got my car fixed...much cheaper than I anticipated. But blew my good luck with a triple klutz on a patch of ice out by my mailbox. Dinged up my shoulder and retwisted my back. Pain. So much for going into the ice season without any physical problems this year.

Any word from your brother on conditions on the two perch spots from last year? Might hold up this year too.
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Had a great , although cold, time fishing with you Mike. I agree totally with Tube Dude tho, I am not going up that hill again, my mountain climbing days are behind me..
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Sorry to hear about your triple Klutz. I've been there and done that! My driveway should have a Black Diamond sign at the top due to the steep slope. I have to wear my ice fishing cleats when I shovel the driveway.

Your wobble jig worked well on the 'bows with one exception. I had a bigun pulling so hard that I straightened the gold hooks on the jig. Straight hooks don't hold well. I don't think the gold hook was on a wobble jig. It was on one of the horizontal minnow shaped jigs. It probably wasn't the hook's fault. I'm sure that rainbow was over 36 inches and at least 14 pounds. []

If your perch spot reference means Starvation, I haven't heard any reports of consistent perch fishing elsewhere on the lake. Next week we'll probably hit Bunny Hollow and search until we find the yellow demons.
If you mean the lakes down south, they were drained and treated so the fishing is probably pretty sloooooooooooooow.

Mike
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Nice report, thanks for the update. We are headed up there tomorrow and it doesn't sound like the route you guys took to get on the ice was too much fun.
How far do you think the hike/ride would be from Rabbit Gulch(RG) to deep water, say 50ft or so?
We are thinking about taking ATV's but would hate to get there and find poor ice at RG, anyone have any reports from that area? Thanks
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[#0000FF]Once you have 6" of ice you can make the run around the point at Rabbit Gulch and down to the bridge. Pikeman does it all the time. Not a bad run. Just watch for pressure ridges and be careful going under the bridge. Stay well in the middle between any two supports to avoid the thinner ice near the concrete.

Also, don't overlook the point at the end of the long arm coming out of the Gulch. Been some good fishing there in the past. A fast drop to deeper water. One of the best spots for winter walleyes...when they are in and active.
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[cool][#0000FF]The spots I was referring to were those that Pete found...both across from the main launch and a bit further uplake. Might be good later in the season.

Those Matzuos are a two-sided coin...errr hook. On one side they are super sharp and hook well. On the other side they are fine wire and may suffer at the jaws of large active fish...like 36" Starvation steelhead. I have never had one fail on a fish...unless I had previously applied too much twist with a pair of pliers while unhooking another fish. But I have landed 5# wipers and 10# cats on those hooks as small as size 4. No guarantees against angler misuse. Loose nut on the reel handle.
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At worst case, 1 mile to deep water in main lake (green line). Could be much shorter. The trip around the point over to south of the bridge is 2.3 miles (red line).

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Greetings WH2,
If you access the lake at Rabbit Gulch you can find 50 feet of water by heading out toward the center of the bay and toward the main area of the lake. About 400 yards toward the main lake you should find water that deep. It was hard to tell the lake level but it seems to be a little higher than it was in September when I took my boat for the last time. We have found the perch as deep as 60 feet in Rabbit Gulch and the access is much easier. The rainbows are always found in RG, so put one of your lines down 15 to 25 feet with a nightcrawler and get ready to rumble.

Good luck.....Mike
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Thanks for all the info guys, I know at least one of our group that plans to take the hill at the bridge route but if conditions are good, I think an ATV ride from rabbit would be easier. I guess we will see what tomorrow brings. I'm just wondering if it is worth the drive to the bridge, if we can fine some decent perch and maybe some eyes off the point at Rabbit, I guess we will find out tomorrow. One of us will post a report when we get back.
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It was good meeting up with you TopH2O. Hope to catch up again when its not so cold.
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