Tubin' Starvy 9-22-21 (WITH VIDEO)

[TubeDude]

Haven’t fished Starvy for a while.  Reports have shown it to be stingy except on a few rare occasions this year.  And it’s a long drive for mediocre results.  So I have kept my trips closer to home.
 
Just hadda get in at least one trip before the end of the year.  And September is usually a good time to find “all the usual suspects” (walleye, smallies, perch and trout) active in the Rabbit Gulch area.  And I figured the current cooldown might help things.  So I contacted my fishing buddy Gofish435 in Price and we put together a meetup for Wednesday.
 
We had our tubes launched by about 8 am.  Tom went one way and I another.  Air temps were a cool 41 at launch…warming to 70 at 1 pm departure.  Water temps had been listed as 70 degrees on the State Parks website.  But the cooldown took them down to just above 62 at launch and warming to a bit over 63 by 1.  Glad I brung my waders.  65 is about my lower comfort level to fish without waders.

Those who know Tom know that he is a true professional fly flinger.  That is about his only form of fishing.  He ties his own flies and is usually able to put together the right combination of size and color flies and the right type line, strip cadence, etc.  He almost never smells skunk and is often top rod…as he was on our Starvy trip.  Tom is good enough that trout are not his only victims.  He probably catches more Starvy walleyes, smallies and perch…on flies…than many non-trouters.  Of course he exercises a lot of Starvation Steelies too.
 
Tom started at a spot in which he had done well on his previous trip to Starvy a couple of weeks ago.  My radio crackled and he informed me he had gotten things started with a small walleye and a couple of nice perch.  All before I had reached my intended first spot to fish.   When I got to the area I typically do well this time of year, I found only 5-6’ of water where there is usually 12 to 18 feet. 
 
The same was true of planned spots B & C.  So I had to go asearchin’.  Found very little on sonar to provide any optimism.  Kept dragging whirly fligs on one rod while pitching a variety of jigs on the other. 
 
Finally worked my way back up to where Tom had some success…while he started moving west…back towards where I had been fishing.  Several boats had moved in on the area Tom had been in, so I moved further east and saw a few marks on the screen.  One of those marks slurped my whirly, pulled my rod down and made my reel sing.  Turned out to be a nice 19” Starvation steelhead.  Skunk begone.

Shook off a small smallmouth and had a few perch pecks but no other hookups.  That’s when Tom radioed he had found a few decent walleye down in the area I had fished earlier.  So I fired up the big motor (40# thrust electric) and roostertailed down to refish that area.  Of course, by the time I got there, Tom had caught all the easy ones.  I finally caught one small “seegar” walleye.  That was my last fish of the day. 

Of all the boats we saw, I only witnessed one small walleye caught.  And most of the boats didn’t hang around long.  Doitall5000 was one of those.  He pretty much blanked in Bunny Gulch too…before going over to the bridge area and finding more fish.
 
We all gotta have excuses for bad days.  It was a full moon, fer sure, but I’ve done well before on Starvy during full moon periods.  I’m gonna blame the sudden cooldown this past week…along with the super low water conditions.  Fish are nervous and not schooling up and feeding up for the coming winter.  But what do I know?  Tom still got some.
 
Got lucky on the way home.  A normal 2 hour drive turned into a 3 hour drive.  There was a crime scene on the freeway in Park City and the whole freeway system was shut down.  3 lanes of vehicles backed up for miles between Jordanelle and Park City…and then finally working through the detours until getting back on the freeway.  Fun Fun.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URptcnKG7EE

[Kent]

Nice video Pat. What camera are you using?

[TubeDude]

Nice video Pat.  What camera are you using?

GoPro Hero8 Black.  I also got an accessories kit with a variety of different mounting options...helmet, chest, wrist, selfie stick, etc.  But mounting and shooting from a float tube presents some unique challenges.  Still experimenting.

[doitall5000]

Nice video Pat.  What camera are you using?

GoPro Hero8 Black.  I also got an accessories kit with a variety of different mounting options...helmet, chest, wrist, selfie stick, etc.  But mounting and shooting from a float tube presents some unique challenges.  Still experimenting.

Looks like Tom out fished all of us. Was he draging a fly or a streamer?  
I caught a nice perch and my son a small 12 inch Walleye right in front of your truck. In the little sandy bay, about 12 feet deep. On a curly tail chartreuse jig.

[TubeDude]

Looks like Tom out fished all of us. Was he draging a fly or a streamer?  
I caught a nice perch and my son a small 12 inch Walleye right in front of your truck. In the little sandy bay, about 12 feet deep. On a curly tail chartreuse jig.

Most of the day he was fishing a small #8 "green meanie" crawdad imitation...on a type 2 slow sink line.  He was making 40-50 foot casts, counting down and then stripping.  He can correct me if I disremember wrong.

He caught his first few fish in 18 - 20 feet of water but as the day progressed, some fish moved shallower...as you discovered.

[RockyRaab2]

Claudia and I got to Starvie about the time you were packing up. They had a 50th Anniversary celebration at the campsite for State employees. Huge tent and a bazillion white pickup trucks. I took Claudia for a boat ride and think we saw Tom still fishing there in the Gulch.

We fished all day Thursday. It was slow in the Gulch, but we both caught fish along cliffs near the bridge, and talked to people who got tired of catching big perch and crappie under the bridge. I boated a couple dozen "footer" smallies on Ned rig and drop shot plastics, and was dumbstruck that Claudia's bottom bouncer and crawlers got no attention at all. She managed to hook a couple, but since she's a pure novice I didn't "graduate" her to casting plastics. Letting a bouncer out and holding the pole was her skill limit.

The real action (and all the boats) turned out to be in the east end near all the bare and exposed sand flats. Saw several large fish landed, and I manged a solid 2+# smallie there - over flat bare bottom. Just nuts. Ended up with a couple meals worth of smallies and wallies, so the trip was worth it.

Oh...that crime scene was some idiot in a stolen car trying to outrun the police. They spike stripped him and he rolled it many times at 95 mph. Killed the woman passenger and probably him also, but they airlifted him out extremely critical, according to the radio. They had the highway blocked from about 9 am until after 4 pm. Fortunately, we went past it going the other way just after it happened, apparently because police were still racing to it from all directions. I took one glance and told Claudia, "That's a fatal." Car was absolutely mangled, parts strewn ll over the hillside.

[TubeDude]

Claudia and I got to Starvie about the time you were packing up. They had a 50th Anniversary celebration at the campsite for State employees. Huge tent and a bazillion white pickup trucks. I took Claudia for a boat ride and think we saw Tom still fishing there in the Gulch.

We fished all day Thursday. It was slow in the Gulch, but we both caught fish along cliffs near the bridge, and talked to people who got tired of catching big perch and crappie under the bridge. I boated a couple dozen "footer" smallies on Ned rig and drop shot plastics, and was dumbstruck that Claudia's bottom bouncer and crawlers got no attention at all. She managed to hook a couple, but since she's a pure novice I didn't "graduate" her to casting plastics. Letting a bouncer out and holding the pole was her skill limit.

The real action (and all the boats) turned out to be in the east end near all the bare and exposed sand flats. Saw several large fish landed, and I manged a solid 2+# smallie there - over flat bare bottom. Just nuts. Ended up with a couple meals worth of smallies and wallies, so the trip was worth it.

Oh...that crime scene was some idiot in a stolen car trying to outrun the police. They spike stripped him and he rolled it many times at 95 mph. Killed the woman passenger and probably him also, but they airlifted him out extremely critical, according to the radio. They had the highway blocked from about 9 am until after 4 pm. Fortunately, we went past it going the other way just after it happened, apparently because police were still racing to it from all directions. I took one glance and told Claudia, "That's a fatal." Car was absolutely mangled, parts strewn ll over the hillside.

Sorry to have missed you.  Glad to know you were able to scratch out a few fish.

[gofish435]

Hey, Pat
 
I would have chimed in sooner but my wife and I headed down to Cedar City to watch a grandson play some football.  

Thanks for the complimentary report and video.  It was nice to share the water with you again after a lot of failed attempts with bad weather and all.  Sorry you got hung up on the drive home.  That makes your drive time about the same as your fishing time for the day. 

You were the smart one, leaving when you did.  I fished another two hours with not so much as a bump.

You have had a big influence on how I fish Starvation since you provided the many write up's and maps of the place.  You have helped countless anglers, regardless of how they fish, catch more fish at Starvation and other locations with the sharing of your experiences.  Much appreciated!

I did see Rocky and his wife cruise by after you left in there nice shinny new Tracker.

[TubeDude]

Hey, Pat
 
I would have chimed in sooner but my wife and I headed down to Cedar City to watch a grandson play some football.  

Thanks for the complimentary report and video.  It was nice to share the water with you again after a lot of failed attempts with bad weather and all.  Sorry you got hung up on the drive home.  That makes your drive time about the same as your fishing time for the day. 

You were the smart one, leaving when you did.  I fished another two hours with not so much as a bump.

You have had a big influence on how I fish Starvation since you provided the many write up's and maps of the place.  You have helped countless anglers, regardless of how they fish, catch more fish at Starvation and other locations with the sharing of your experiences.  Much appreciated!

I did see Rocky and his wife cruise by after you left in there nice shinny new Tracker.

And thank you for your kindly words.  Always like to help where I can...especially on waters that can tolerate a few more anglers.

Sorry you weren't rewarded for your perseverance (masochism) in fishing longer.  Starvy can be that way.  I have had full days in which I caught a bunch early and then nothing...and days when the bite did not start until noon or after.  But from other reports it seems that the fish were mostly elsewhere.  And as I so often pontificate:  "Ya cain't ketch 'em where they ain't".  Although you scratched out a few and I'm sure you enjoyed the rewards on the table.  I oven-broiled my red meat trout fillets with some shrimp and seasonings...for a delish dish of "surf and surf".