Donation at Starvation 8-9-07

[TubeDude]

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[#0000ff]" [black][size 1][size 2][blue][b]TubeBabe and I made a speed run to Starvation this morning. Had to look to find a suitable spot to drive the car up to the water and launch. The water is dropping fast and what looks like dry ground in the half light of early morning is really dried water weeds...with mud underneath. The water is really down low, from last year. See the two comparative pics.

We found a spot where we could drive out on a rocky point and launch easily. Were on the water just after 6 AM. First perch smack within seconds on the first drop. Little guy. Lots more little guys. Couldn' find any larger perch for quite awhile.

Air temp was 55 and water temp 67 at launch. The water was also a bit murkier than my last trip a couple of weeks ago. More mud banks exposed by the dropping water and muddied by the winds.

Only light breezes all morning. Gradually changed around from NW flow to south to SE and then stronger and from the east about noon. In the interim we had easy fishing.

I worked down the shoreline to the west of our launch site. I worked in and out, from shallow to deep and back again. I finally banged a couple of "basket fish"...perch over 10 inches...and tossed over the marker buoy. I called TubeBabe over on the walkie talkie and we proceeded to whack the perchies pretty good for a while.

There were plenty of the six inch dinks, but also quite a few of the sub-basket 9 inchers. Many of them were porky and would have been welcome on most lakes. But, with a limit of 20 on Starvation, we were hopeful of filling up on bigger fish. We did get a few 12 inchers and I got one just over 13". I also lost a TOAD that would have been over 14". Powered down at the surface and tore off the hook.

We rounded out our Starvation slime/slam by each catching a few walleyes and smallies too. All the smallies were just bitty bass. The walleyes were also on the small side, but I did score one fat 18 incher on my pale perch color PBJ (painted body jig). As a matter of fact, that was what we both caught most of our bigger fish on. Same lure that scored so well for us at Jordanelle a few days ago.

Big downer of the day was when I lost one of my three packed lure boxes over the side. It was the one with all of my "heavy metal"...jigging spoons, plungers, big roadrunners, etc. I was rerigging, and had the box resting on my rigid apron. I got a sudden muscle spasm in my leg and raised it to stretch out the cramp. The lure box slid off the apron and KABLOOSH. No floating for that heavy bad boy. It plummeted to the bottom in over 20 feet of water. Gone forever. Oh well, I know the guy who makes those jigs. I think I can replace them. At least I did not do a Bassrods' swan dive.

Nice nature day. Lots of blue herons along the shoreline, and flights of ducks, geese and pelicans came over. Fortunately, no midair "downloads" in our direction. We also had three friendly brownish ducks come out to see what we were up to. First, they followed up the trail of sunflower seed husks that TubeBabe leaves on the water...to help her find her way back. After some close-up quacking, they started slowly in my direction. I called them in faster with my fluent "duck speak". They posed for a couple of pictures but blew me off pretty quick when I did not offer them any sunflower seeds.

Only a couple of boats on the water today, and they stayed clear across Rabbit Gulch. They were loud enough that you could hear everything they said though.

Oh yeah, I put my new "BIG BOY CHAIR" on the H3 today. I am spoiled. it was like riding in a recliner. Never a moment of discomfort all day. Stick a fork in me, I'm done. No more seat problems.

We got off the water about 1 PM, when the afternoon zephyr started strengthening. In fact, it got pretty airy in a couple of places after we drove off. I think we timed it right.
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[mactuna]

Nice report Pat. What depth were the Walleyes ?
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[Majja]

Looks like it was still not to bad of a day. And look on the bright side by about early Oct you should be able to walk out and get your box back with the way the water is dropping. Just looking back at when I was out there a couple of weeks ago and it seams it has dropped like another 5-10 feet. glad that you at least were able to add a few fish for the table.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Both perch and walleyes were at all depths, from 10 feet to 25 feet. But, we caught the most and biggest at about 12 feet.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Our long session with the good fish lasted from about 7 to 9, in a very narrow zone from 11 - 13 feet. It was about a 20 yard circle. It was right next to a patch of still green aquatic vegetation being used by baby perch and crawdads for cover.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Once the sun got higher and the breezes changed direction, the fish seemed to move deeper. We got into another fairly good bite right off where we parked, near rocks, in 18 to 22 feet of water about 11 AM.[/#0000ff]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Yeah, that water is dropping fast. But, I doubt that it will drop another 20 feet before the water users slow down on their drainage of the lake. Hope not. I really don't want to see what those lures look like after a month in the water. Might break my little heart, after all the hours of work I put into makin' 'em purty.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We ended up with a nice big bowl of fillets. Those fish all had lots of body fat and thick fillets. They haven't been missing many meals. I was surprised that a couple of the perch had whole crawdads in them. That will pack on the pork. Not many bitty minnows in this batch though.[/#0000ff]
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[mactuna]

Thanks Pat, we are headed down there this weekend. Hope we do as good.
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[fishluvr]

Do you strap the chair in at all or just cut off the legs and set it in place? Would this work for the Fish Cats and does it help reduce leg cramping at all?
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]First answer...I DO run a hooked bungee cord around back, behind the tube seat, and attach it to each side of the bottom part of the chair. That keeps it secure against the seat back.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Since I photo document most of my experiments, I did take pictures of the process (see attached). For the most part, I just used a hacksaw to remove the legs as flush as possible to the bottom framework. Then, I used a big abrasive disc to grind down the uneven edges and corners. I finished with a rotating drum sanding disk to smooth it all out.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The only thing I found that I need to modify is the front edge. It is slightly higher than the rear and I need to remove about a half inch from there to level it out.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I am sure that you could easily add one to a Fish Cat. There are lots of different lawn chair models on the market. Take the measurements on the seat of your tube and just cut and fit the chair to that seat. Most of the seats are about 18" long. That is how long mine is on the H3 too. The difference might be in the width. But, I have space to spare on the width with my H3 so it should fit the Fish Cat.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The contour seat helps destribute your weight more evenly, and thus does not ADD to leg cramping. However, if you have the wrong fins or have physical conditioning problems, the seat itself will not correct those.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]My leg cramp was in the front of my lower leg...where I have never had them before. I attribute it to an aggressive workout on my elliptical machine the day before.[/#0000ff]
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[Majja]

Good point on all the hard work you have put into making all of those jigs. Since I have only fished Starvation a couple of times will the Walleye fish get better or worse in the gultch as it is lowered.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]There are several things about Rabbit Gulch that have always made it attractive to fish. First, it is a long arm of the lake that slopes gradually, rather than being a steep drop...at least in the upper to middle parts. It is also mostly mud bottom, which is conducive to underwater weed growth. That provides shelter for perch fry and that draws in the predators...large perch and walleyes...and smallies.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]One of the key factors in keeping the good fishing in RG is that the water level does not drop to the extent that all of the flats and weeds are left too shallow for the fish. Getting close to that right now. There do not seem to be any green weeds deeper than 12-15 feet. That depth was formerly 25 to 30 feet, which is about the lower limit of where weeds can grow with available sunlight. They will not start new growth in new water this late in the season.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]On the positive side, there are still spots along the outer edges of Rabbit Gulch that have rocks in the water...structure. Both perch and Wallies relate to rocky structure about as well as to weed beds...especially when there are no weeds.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I fished the Gulch up through the first part of October last year, and the water level NEVER dropped to even half of what it is now. And, the perch and walleye remained good targets at least through the end of September. But, once the water temps drop below about 60, the fish begin to slide deeper and they are harder to find and fool. The water warmed to 72 on Thursday, and with the typical temps of August and early September, we should have decent shallower water fishing for awhile yet.[/#0000ff]
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[Majja]

Thanks TD. I want to try and get the misses out tStarvation and just do not know when that is going to happen in the near near future.
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