07-02-2009, 12:51 AM
[cool][#0000ff]Weather report for Starvation was iffy today, but LloydE and I decided to hit Rabbit Gulch for the first time this year...weather or not. We got plenty of weather...of all kinds. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Water temp 64 at launch (7:30 AM) and 67 when we got flushed off the lake about 1:30. Air temp 60 at launch, with mostly cloudy skies. Had light breezes from all directions through the day, with occasional pesky zephyrs. Nothing major. Sun peeked in and out of the clouds, between little rain cells going through. No major soakers but nice little spritzers. But, it kept the fish off balance. No smallmouth bass and only one small walleye...a "wall-ette".[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Thankfully, the perch have started to move into Bunny Gulch and they were plentiful and playful. We didn't find any large schools but caught onesies and twosies from 14 feet deep to over 30 feet deep. Could have easily kept a limit of 20, but threw back anything under about 9 - 10 inches. Didn't catch any perch under about 8 inches but none over 11.5 inches. I brought in about 18 and Lloyd kept a dozen plus or minus. All nice and fat. Good fillets.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We also got some humongous chubs. We each caught about 4 of those poor old Starvation dinosaurs...about 13" to 15" each. It seemed strange to treat them gently, pat them on the behind and send them back unharmed to contribute to the lake's ecology. Wouldn't happen in most other lakes.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Amazingly, the power squadron started early, for a midweek day. Had a ski boat with a very poor and inexperienced skier plowing the water we wanted to fish starting about 7 AM. The skier kept falling off and the crew were all yelling loudly in some foreign language. We could hear them quite well. They didn't have to shout.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]One other fishing boat. A couple of older gents who said this was their first trip on the lake this year. They were feeding a lot of worms to the perch and chubs with their bottom bouncer rigs too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Just after noon, the sky got darker and there were lots of clouds with virga (rain that falls but evaporates before it hits the ground). To the south and west there were some that looked like they held some serious moisture. When they began to grumble at us, we took them serious and started toward shore. But, I reached shore first, just as a loud KEERACK sounded right overhead. A big blast of wind came up and started to take Lloyd toward the dam. But, fortunately he tucked in behind some trees and made it to shore...not too far from the vehicle. As you can see in the picture, we exited the lake in driving rain. We were wetter on top than on the bottom by the time we got our gear loaded for the trip home.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Water temp 64 at launch (7:30 AM) and 67 when we got flushed off the lake about 1:30. Air temp 60 at launch, with mostly cloudy skies. Had light breezes from all directions through the day, with occasional pesky zephyrs. Nothing major. Sun peeked in and out of the clouds, between little rain cells going through. No major soakers but nice little spritzers. But, it kept the fish off balance. No smallmouth bass and only one small walleye...a "wall-ette".[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Thankfully, the perch have started to move into Bunny Gulch and they were plentiful and playful. We didn't find any large schools but caught onesies and twosies from 14 feet deep to over 30 feet deep. Could have easily kept a limit of 20, but threw back anything under about 9 - 10 inches. Didn't catch any perch under about 8 inches but none over 11.5 inches. I brought in about 18 and Lloyd kept a dozen plus or minus. All nice and fat. Good fillets.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]We also got some humongous chubs. We each caught about 4 of those poor old Starvation dinosaurs...about 13" to 15" each. It seemed strange to treat them gently, pat them on the behind and send them back unharmed to contribute to the lake's ecology. Wouldn't happen in most other lakes.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Amazingly, the power squadron started early, for a midweek day. Had a ski boat with a very poor and inexperienced skier plowing the water we wanted to fish starting about 7 AM. The skier kept falling off and the crew were all yelling loudly in some foreign language. We could hear them quite well. They didn't have to shout.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]One other fishing boat. A couple of older gents who said this was their first trip on the lake this year. They were feeding a lot of worms to the perch and chubs with their bottom bouncer rigs too.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Just after noon, the sky got darker and there were lots of clouds with virga (rain that falls but evaporates before it hits the ground). To the south and west there were some that looked like they held some serious moisture. When they began to grumble at us, we took them serious and started toward shore. But, I reached shore first, just as a loud KEERACK sounded right overhead. A big blast of wind came up and started to take Lloyd toward the dam. But, fortunately he tucked in behind some trees and made it to shore...not too far from the vehicle. As you can see in the picture, we exited the lake in driving rain. We were wetter on top than on the bottom by the time we got our gear loaded for the trip home.[/#0000ff]
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]Thanks for thw nice report TubeDude! Good job on the nice fish[
]. So were those your homemade jigs, or what?
