The wife asked me if she was packing too much food for our three day trip, and luckily I didn't say yes or it could have been slim pickings about half way through. Weather was wonderful the two days prior to the holiday, and even though the fishing was slow for the warm water species we prefer, it was nice to get out.
Saw large schools of fish in all our usual perch spots around the lake, Bunny Gulch, Indian Bay, Bridge, etc, but ALL had lockjaw. Tried jigs in all sizes tipped with worms and perch meat (from one found flopping around on the surface of the water first morning), Ultra Minnows all sizes and colors, Tails all colors, Spinner Rigs trolled, etc, and not a single perch was brought to the surface in 2 1/2 days.
My wife who normally cleans up at starvation hooked several good size fish judging by the short fight they put on before self releasing, but landed none. She pretty much gave up on Monday morning after another hour of inactivity hovering over some huge schools by the inlet. In total, I managed a few small SM bass tossing cranks, one 20" trout, and one 18" walleye on a TubeDude Special Pale Perch Pony Jig which saved the day twice for me (Thanks Pat). Everything else I tried was shunned.
The other boat we came with did very well for trout in the mornings using a totally basic drop shot rig and a crawler.
Pretty darn humbling when the fish finder screen is loaded with fish, yet none could be coaxed to come play. [crazy]
[signature]
[cool][#0000FF]Wow. Sorry you guys did so poorly. Hate to say it but I just got a private report from another Starvy addict who absolutely creamed 'em this past weekend. He got all species but perch...over a hundred BIG trout, lots of spawning smallies and limits of walleyes to 5 pounds. Sent pics to prove it.
Your tale of a perch flopping on the water corresponds with the other guy's report of seeing lots of dead perch around the shoreline in some areas of the lake. Hope they didn't have a disease outbreak like there has been on a couple of other perch ponds in years past.
Sounds like the curse on the ice fishing trip carried over to open water.
I'm looking to hit it in the tube sometime next week. Wanna gang up on 'em?
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
My home renovation is finally done and I'm thinking of hitting Starvy next week, also. Thinking Tuesday, sleep in the truck, and then half of Wednesday.
Have never fished it, so would welcome idears and tellyawhats.
[signature]
[#0000FF]This is getting into the "magic" time for walleyes, smallmouth and potentially perch. Rainbows are on all the time. Once the water temps go over 60 and move toward 65 it can be game on.
Attaching a map of the lake, with the key angler access points indicated. Also PMing you a PDF file on Rabbit Gulch...one of my fave launch spots for tube fishing Starvy.
Early in the year...like right now...some of the best action is out of the north part of the lake...Knight Hollow and Saleratus Wash. But there can also be great fishing at the other end...around Rabbit Gulch.
Take an assortment of plastics and crankbaits for fishing shallow shorelines for smallmouths and slightly deeper for walleyes. Best walleye fishing is usually with crawler harness rigs...followed closely by vertical jigging with a jig and crawler setup. The latter will also catch perch, smallies and trout. But the trout will hit on almost anything. If you are a fly flinger you can work surface and shallow early in the morning. You will see them cruising and rising all around you. But they will also hit as deep as 30 feet or more.
I catch most of my walleyes bottom bouncing or dragging small jigs with a whole or half crawler. But often they will hit a wide range of offerings. Finding them is the hard part... but no guarantee of action.
Perch are still deep in the cool water but are starting to move shallower. Still not a good perch bite but after a warm weekend this week they may turn on.
I would offer to join you on Tuesday but if I can get away at all it will be later in the week.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
Water temps were hitting mid 60's in certain areas on Sunday, may have dropped some now with the cold front moving through. The furnace in our trailer kicked on Tuesday morning.
[signature]
Good on him. May very well have been the gentleman we met Sunday evening in our camping cove with his wife, daughter and another passenger. He apparently lives in the area as was very forthcoming with some suggestions for our last morning out. His daughter landed a real nice slimmer just before it got dark and they went to venture out for some late evening Walleye action. It was fun to watch her fight that fish on a light outfit with the drag set loose, and she received a well deserved standing ovation from us once it was landed. I'm pretty sure that fish she pulled in was the one I'd been watching go back and forth as I walked the bank casting before they arrived. I need to put a small float tube in my boat so once we are anchored in for the night I can get out away from the bank.
It's all good, and it was still a good trip, but as I said humbling. Wife corrected me about her not landing anything. One decent walleye on Sunday that slipped my mind.
I'm sure we could have done well on the trout had we focused on them because the small group with us limited out all three days which kept us fed.
Your right, the wife wasn't a real happy camper and the ice fishing day I'm sure echoed in her mind on more than one occasion during the three days out.
Thanks for the Starvy invite, but I'm going to wait a bit for some warmer water temps before heading that way again. Warmest water we found was about 62 degrees on Sunday. May try to take the boat to UL this weekend for some kitty action and so Thary can hopefully get some tugs to revive her confidence as well as mine. Any suggestions on a good UL location right now to try. PM fine. Was thinking of Bird Island Area.
[signature]