04-09-2014, 04:09 AM
Incredible not for the fishing, which was very good, but for the W**D, which didn't rear it's ugly head until 3:35 p.m. today. It was one of the 7 days a year when all the stars align and the skies were clear, temperatures were around 75 by noon and the water was almost flat calm nearly all day.
I met my long time friend from Vernal who brought his trusty boat with him. We discussed how nice the weather was as we headed east from the boat ramp to the Saleratus area. It was hard to find our normal landmarks for reference since the lake is at full pool. The rocky point I normally use to identify my previous successful places was completely under water. We motored around for a few minutes and found a few fishy looking marks on the Garmin depth finder. We started fishing in about 22 feet of water. I was using a 3.5 inch greenish brown tube jig on a 1/4 oz. head. We tipped our jigs with a half of a "garden hackle".
On my second or third cast I set the hook on a strong hit. At first I thought I had connected with a walleye but it started to actually fight and I knew I had a trout of some variety. Within seconds a very nice brown came to the surface and jumped a few times. I knew I was going to release this fish so we didn't net it. I gently lifted it up and Kirk took a few photos. This is the 22 inch brown I caught a few minutes after we started fishing. The water in the background makes the point about the absolutely fantastic conditions. It just doesn't get any better at this lake.
![[Image: Mike22inchbrown_zpsdd52c2f7.jpg]](http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc127/topwater52/Mike22inchbrown_zpsdd52c2f7.jpg)
I ended up catching four nice browns today, the most ever for me on a single day at Starvation. The biggest brown of the day came later in the afternoon after the breeze picked up. We had a very good fishing day today. We ended up catching 11 very nice 18 to 20 inch rainbows and I caught one 20 inch walleye that went about 3 pounds. The eye is joining my wife and I for dinner tomorrow might. Kirk and I each took four of the RBT home for the smokers. All of my fish and most of Kirk's came on the tube jigs tipped with worm. We just cast out, let it sink to the bottom and then retrieved very slowly while bouncing the jig just enough to kick up a little silt. I think the silt cloud draws the attention of the predators because they probably think it's a crayfish making a hasty departure.
A truly memorable day at a tremendous fishery with one of my longest and best friends. We hadn't fished together for several years, so it was a special day and the weather just made it even better. It's definitely time to get those browns. We talked with some other anglers who told us they had been getting very nice browns for the last two weeks while trolling various lures in all areas of the lake. It's time to hit the soft water. Let the games begin!
This 24.5 inch brown took the same tube jig tipped with the crawler at the south point coming out of Rabbit Gulch.
![[Image: Mike24inchbrownbest_zpsf350085c.jpg]](http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc127/topwater52/Mike24inchbrownbest_zpsf350085c.jpg)
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I met my long time friend from Vernal who brought his trusty boat with him. We discussed how nice the weather was as we headed east from the boat ramp to the Saleratus area. It was hard to find our normal landmarks for reference since the lake is at full pool. The rocky point I normally use to identify my previous successful places was completely under water. We motored around for a few minutes and found a few fishy looking marks on the Garmin depth finder. We started fishing in about 22 feet of water. I was using a 3.5 inch greenish brown tube jig on a 1/4 oz. head. We tipped our jigs with a half of a "garden hackle".
On my second or third cast I set the hook on a strong hit. At first I thought I had connected with a walleye but it started to actually fight and I knew I had a trout of some variety. Within seconds a very nice brown came to the surface and jumped a few times. I knew I was going to release this fish so we didn't net it. I gently lifted it up and Kirk took a few photos. This is the 22 inch brown I caught a few minutes after we started fishing. The water in the background makes the point about the absolutely fantastic conditions. It just doesn't get any better at this lake.
I ended up catching four nice browns today, the most ever for me on a single day at Starvation. The biggest brown of the day came later in the afternoon after the breeze picked up. We had a very good fishing day today. We ended up catching 11 very nice 18 to 20 inch rainbows and I caught one 20 inch walleye that went about 3 pounds. The eye is joining my wife and I for dinner tomorrow might. Kirk and I each took four of the RBT home for the smokers. All of my fish and most of Kirk's came on the tube jigs tipped with worm. We just cast out, let it sink to the bottom and then retrieved very slowly while bouncing the jig just enough to kick up a little silt. I think the silt cloud draws the attention of the predators because they probably think it's a crayfish making a hasty departure.
A truly memorable day at a tremendous fishery with one of my longest and best friends. We hadn't fished together for several years, so it was a special day and the weather just made it even better. It's definitely time to get those browns. We talked with some other anglers who told us they had been getting very nice browns for the last two weeks while trolling various lures in all areas of the lake. It's time to hit the soft water. Let the games begin!
This 24.5 inch brown took the same tube jig tipped with the crawler at the south point coming out of Rabbit Gulch.
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