Starvation - 5/25/12

[FlavorDave]

I'm a little late with this report, but I hit up Starvation with my dad and a couple of friends this past Friday. We'd been planning this trip for quite a while and I had high hopes since the moon was in our favor and I had some good advice from WiperHunter and TubeDude. We hit up Rabbit Gulch first. We launched at about 8:00, me in my tube and the others in a boat. I worked the south shoreline dragging a jig head with a crawler slowly on the bottom and tossing a HD Rainbow stick bait. After about twenty minutes of no bites I found a good spot and quickly got two bites and finally a fish on - decent 16-incher. The next fish I got on was a hog - I fought him for a while with him peeling my drag and swimming underneath my tube. I only had a small net - tried to get him in it but it wasn't happening. I finally managed to get him on my mesh skirt. I don't have the biggest hands, but I couldn't get my hands around him from top to bottom. I was contemplating how I was going to get the lure out of his mouth when he flopped away before I could measure him. Bad words. Going back through it in my head I am still trying to figure out what I could have done differently, besides get a bigger net that is.

The rest of my crew was fishing a little farther out from the shore trying to pick find the perch. It was a little slower for them - they managed good-sized bows, but it was pretty slow overall. I decided to kick over to the north side of the shore managing another 18 inch bow on my jig head and another similar sized one on my HD lure. I got to the north side and found a good pocket of smallies, getting 3 on my first 6 casts. We got out of the water and worked the shore for a while but the bite had pretty much shut off right after it started. We managed a couple more - all around 12 inches. There were two rattle snakes right on that shoreline - so watch your step when you're out there. Right about the time we were leaving the wind started really picking up, so I had them tow me back to the launch area on the south side. The wind and waves were getting brutal and I was completely soaked by the time we made it back. I pulled my tube up to the shore and went to see how another guy in our group was doing from shore when I discovered that my tube had been blown back into the water and was going quickly. Luckily I still had my life jacket on so I took off swimming after it. By the time I reached it I was exhausted and I still had to kick it back to shore with some waders full of water. Probably not my smartest momest, but I knew they'd come after me in the boat if I got in too much trouble. Live and learn.

From that point on the wind was nearly unbearable. We stayed in that area a couple more hours with everybody getting skunked except for my dad who managed a 19 inch bow and another smallie working the south shoreline. We head over to the bridge area after that and found a spot that was a little more protected from the wind managing a few more smallies, but by that time the wind had zapped our energy and motivation.

Overall a fun trip and a great reservoir. The wind started earlier than normal - it was going strong by 11am - I wish we had had a couple more hours of calm waters, but it wasn't to be. I'm off to spend the summer in Phoenix (glutton for punishment I guess) but I'm excited to hit up Starvy again this fall.


Sorry - no pictures. My cell phone took a bath with me when I went all David Hasselhoff and rescued my tube.
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[fish_or_die]

Ha! good story! that sounds like the kind of stupid thing I'd do in the spur of the moment....."it sounded like a good idea at the time"

Kind of disappointing about the fishies though, I've got a trip planned in two weeks down there and I'm hoping the water warms and the smallies come alive.

Any of you experienced Starvation anglers that can give me an overview of that pond's annual pattern?
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Starvation is just tuning up to sing pretty for the rest of the year. Walleye spawn is over and the fish are entering a post-spawn feeding frenzy. Smallmouth should be going shallow for their own spawn. Water temps have been bouncing around the 60 degree mark and will be hitting the magic 65 to 70 zone by mid June. That's when you can catcha ll species in one spot with one lure on an average day. And it will stay that way until at least the first of September.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Once ideal temps hit, you can fish shallow around the shorelines in water from 6 feet to 15 feet deep. A good pattern is to throw small grubs and tubes into shore and then hop them out into deeper water. White, chartreuse or crawdad colors all work for walleyes or smallies. Vertical jig the same colors over points and humps.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Perch will be in anywhere from 10 feet to 25 feet...depending on water temps, weedbeds, food movement, etc. Look for schools and vertical jig with small jigs tipped with crawler or perch meat.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Trout move all over the lake...at all depths. They will often be swirling on the surface early in the morning but may be caught at anywhere from the bottom to middepth in deeper water throughout the day. Flies...on fly rods or behind a bubble...will catch some bodacious bows. But the silly fish smack just about any lures or rigs meant for the other species. Try trolling spinners or crankbaits for both walleyes and trout.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Most walleye chasers start in the Knight Hollow area early in the summer season. They seem to really school up there in a couple of spots and you may have to play "bumper-boat" on a busy day. Going on weekdays cuts down the traffic.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]After about the first of July you will be able to get walleyes all over the lake...bottom bouncing with crawler rigs or trolling shorelines with diving crankbaits. Also good to find a good area (with sonar) and do some vertical jigging with a jig head and crawler. That will also get you perch, smallies and trout. Box of chocolates.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]When the water starts cooling in the fall the fish move deeper. They are often in the same areas but slide downhill to deeper spots. Until it gets really cold they are usually still active and some of the bigger fish of the year will be showing up.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]And then there is ice fishing...when it gets cold enough long enough to cap the lake. That usually happens...if it is going to happen...by January.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Ice out starts in February and the lake is usually open by March. Great ice out action for the big browns in the lake...and the rainbows always come out to play. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The biggest influencing factor for all fishing is water levels. You can have great fishing on a spot one week and come back two weeks later to find it high and dry. Water users can really suck the water out of the lake in a year like this one...where runoff ends early and irrigation requirements are greater. Most fish tend to pull off the shorelines and go deeper when the water is dropping. That takes more sonar work and luck to find the fish and to catch them in a feeding mood.[/#0000ff]
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[EvilTyeDyeTwin]

Great report....and great information there TD....
When's the exam?[url "http://utahwildlife.net/forum/posting.php?mode=smilies&f=2&start=50#"][/url][url "http://utahwildlife.net/forum/posting.php?mode=smilies&f=2&start=50#"][/url]

Looks like you had a great time out on the water. When the wind picked up I would have to beg the people I was with to hit the river...but with it being a holliday weekend...I am sure the banks were packed. Thanks for your post.
[url "http://utahwildlife.net/forum/posting.php?mode=smilies&f=2&start=50#"][/url]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]That was just "classroom". Now you gotta do the "lab work"...on the water. Final score will be heavily slanted on lab results.[/#0000ff]
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[LOAH]

Good report and quite entertaining.[laugh]

Hey, as far as dealing with large fish on the tube, you might find that the net is more in the way than anything. I'm not sure what kind of tube you have, so this might not be applicable:

My stripping apron is the floppy kind, not rigid like some makes. It attaches with Velcro on each side. What I do is connect it to the Velcro, leaving the apron dipping into the water. When a big fish is on, I'll fight it up to me and basically let it swim itself up onto my lap and then hold it there, wrapping my apron back over it while I dink with the hook.

This is usually good enough to keep them mostly in place, although a few have forced me to do the bear hug routine until they settle down. It also keeps them wet and allows water to flow over their gills, helping them recover from the battle (at least a little) while I'm messing with the hook or camera.

At that point, whether you keep or release them, you can move on to your next course of action.

Hope that helps a little.

If you're apron is the rigid kind, I guess a net might be the only way to effectively handle it unless you're quick to grab the gill plate (for keepers).

Either way, with a fish that big, you might be justified in losing a little blood and just grabbing them by the mouth.[]

I know you said you couldn't get a measurement, but do you have a good guess as to the size? What species?

Enjoy the summer in Phoenix. OUCH![pirate]
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[fish_or_die]

Thanks dude [] I'll be sure to report how I do in a couple weeks, sounds like I may hit it just right!
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[Lettsfish]

While the walleye are being stingy, the trout running around like crazy teens biting this and that, here and there, the perch are, in fact starting up in good numbers but not in great size.

About 2 weeks ago we ended up late morning in Rabbit Gulch catching on every drop for an hour and a half at the 18 foot depth.

Largest were one 12" and one 13". Other than those, it was mostly dinks, but a lot of them.
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[FlavorDave]

Thanks for the advice, and I agree about the net getting in the way. My apron is the flexible kind with velcro, so I can totally do it the way you described. I will definitely be giving it a try.

The big fish I had on was a rainbow. I would guess it was in the 24-26 inch range and FAT, and yes, it had teeth so I was hesitant to put my fingers in its mouth between the teeth and the double treble hooks.

Thanks for the well wishes in Phoenix. I doubt I'll get much fishing done down there - unless I head up to the high country.
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[pookiebar]

How deep were you guys fishing for perch? We were up there Monday 5-28 and caught a ton of perch. Almost every drop we got one on. The depth was 30 feet or so, and had to find the right structure for them to be real plentiful. Lots and lots of dinks too.

Also got this guy while I was at it. The trout were very few and far between.
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[CoyoteSpinner]

Jeepers - ask a simple question, get a freaking novel why dontcha!
Don't have a book on Starvy <yet> do you TD? I love the way you can paint it like there's fish everywhere, and they'll just bite everything. At least for the Fish-Whisperer eh! [:p]

Nice report there - the infamous Starvy W I N D - ugh.

There's the various jaw grabbers you might consider. Some even have scales built in.

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Got a pretty good collection of maps and writeups on Starvy that I plan to edit into one of my CD/book thingys...probably by early next year. But for now I am just handing out lotsa free samples. Glad to help when I can. Love that lake.[/#0000ff]
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[FlavorDave]

We don't have a sonar, so we were kind of hoping to luck into them somehow. I'm surprised we didn't run into any though. That's a beautiful brown, nice going.
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[PACKFAN]

You're a lucky man going swimming after that tube with waders on. We were down there from the 23rd to the 30th and the water temp on most of the lake was in the mid 50's. By Tues. afternoon I found some spots that were reaching 60. Didn't fish much the first couple days as we spent time looking for a Tom turkey for my son. When we did get on the water in our boat we did find some walleye but damn were they SM all. We did manage some good perch and found a spot we could catch them with very few little ones. The trout would hit pretty much any crank bait trolled at 2.0 to 2.5 MPH but we only picked up some dink eyes. We went out at dark and caught a few smallmouth and few trout tossing cranks and plastics but nothing big. I'm headed back down Weds. for 5 more days. Hopefully the walleye bite picks up with larger fish.
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[StickChick]

Spent Memorial weekend tent camping in Indian Bay. Tried every morning for the Smallies, Perch and Walleye but that wouldn't last long before the electric motor couldn't fight the wind anymore. Have a deep V aluminum 19 footer and we still got blown off the water every day. Ended up trolling with pop gear and wedding ring set ups for most of the weekend. Landed over 20 Bows between the 2 of us but we had to fight what felt like 10 foot waves to do it. Spent a lot more time in the tent than we were hoping to that weekend so hopefully we will make it back up in a couple of weeks to redeem ourselves with the bass and eyes. Good luck on your next outing!
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[gettingthereok]

been keeping up on your reports , have you caught a walleye yet this year i might have missed it, but some good maps and insight
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Been a slow start for me this year. Only been on the water 14 times. But yes, I have caught walleye...including the one below from a trip to Lindon in April.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]By the end of the year I will have caught walleyes from at least 5 different waters...just like last year.[/#0000ff]
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