07-04-2014, 12:21 AM
[#0000FF]Yeah, I know. It ain't the fourth yet. Couldn't tell it in my neighborhood with all the early celebratin' though.
Met up with gofish435 from Price at Rabbit Gulch. We both got launched about 7ish...after having to search out a spot to park our vehicles. Never seen Bunny Gulch so filled up with camperites and power squadron folks with their noisy toys.
Shoulda stood in bed. Over an hour before my first bite. Pow,zing. A silly wainbow grabbed my jig off the bottom and shot up into the air. Then he turned loose. Silly fish didn't know how to hang on. Anyway, that rainbow rocket was the only shot we had at fireworks.
A little after 8 I got a slammin' whammin' on one of my perch painted tubes on a hanger shot rig. That 17 inch walleye fought bigger than he was. I invited him home to dinner. TubeBabe is out of town for a few days so that one fish would just about make a meal.
I rang up Tom on the walkie talkie to tell him of my minor triumph. He replied that he had just released a rainbow. Skunk be gone for both of us.
Now we could settled down for some serious fishin'. And it did get serious...seriously boring. Never seen the entire area of Rabbit Gulch so barren on sonar. Usually there are at lease some areas with a few fish. Neither Tom or I were seeing anything more than occasional "ghost bys".
I headed east toward the low rock piles across the channel. Tom worked up into shallower water, waving the buggy whip and trying to find more trout. I managed to lose another trout after battling it almost all the way in. But it went into the rainbow death roll and swam away untouched by me. But I did score a couple of dinky smallmouths by casting into shallower water near the rocks. The one in the attached picture took a Gulp minnow that was almost as big as the smallie.
Both Tom and I were surveyed by a DWR biologist. We were asked about our time on the water, our success, etc. Almost embarrassing to admit we had done so poorly. But the DWR guy said that we were doing better than anybody else he had surveyed. Oh yeah, Tom had to show off by landing a big ol' "buglemouth bass" just as the guy showed up.
My watch stopped at 9:45...but I kept fishing. In the next two hours I got one more smallie and one more walleye...a smalleye. Only 13", but just enough to assure a good meal for an old guy.
Just before noon the bell must have rung to release the noisy hordes. The water came alive with jet skis and water skiers. Couldn't tell which was worse, the waves from the power squadron or those from the increasing winds of the approaching storm. The former were definitely noisier.
Water temp at launch was 64. Dropped a degree in the clouds and persistent but changing breezes. Finally nosed up to just under 65 as we got off the water about 12:30.
We parted company and Tom was thinking about trying to find a more fisherman friendly part of Starvation. I wished him well.
I headed off down the road thinking I would beat a lot of the holiday traffic and have a quiet evening. That was until my right rear tire went suddenly flat as I was stuck in heavy traffic around Deer Creek, with a 1/4 mile until the next place I could get off the road. By then my tire was TOAST. Anybody care to guess how much fun it is to change a tire in 95 degree heat...after getting up at 3:30 in the morning...for a less than stellar day of fishing? At least my spare was fully aired up and I made it back home...only 45 minutes later than my original projected eta...and $138 poorer in my credit card account for the new tire.
Not sure I could have handled any more fireworks.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
Met up with gofish435 from Price at Rabbit Gulch. We both got launched about 7ish...after having to search out a spot to park our vehicles. Never seen Bunny Gulch so filled up with camperites and power squadron folks with their noisy toys.
Shoulda stood in bed. Over an hour before my first bite. Pow,zing. A silly wainbow grabbed my jig off the bottom and shot up into the air. Then he turned loose. Silly fish didn't know how to hang on. Anyway, that rainbow rocket was the only shot we had at fireworks.
A little after 8 I got a slammin' whammin' on one of my perch painted tubes on a hanger shot rig. That 17 inch walleye fought bigger than he was. I invited him home to dinner. TubeBabe is out of town for a few days so that one fish would just about make a meal.
I rang up Tom on the walkie talkie to tell him of my minor triumph. He replied that he had just released a rainbow. Skunk be gone for both of us.
Now we could settled down for some serious fishin'. And it did get serious...seriously boring. Never seen the entire area of Rabbit Gulch so barren on sonar. Usually there are at lease some areas with a few fish. Neither Tom or I were seeing anything more than occasional "ghost bys".
I headed east toward the low rock piles across the channel. Tom worked up into shallower water, waving the buggy whip and trying to find more trout. I managed to lose another trout after battling it almost all the way in. But it went into the rainbow death roll and swam away untouched by me. But I did score a couple of dinky smallmouths by casting into shallower water near the rocks. The one in the attached picture took a Gulp minnow that was almost as big as the smallie.
Both Tom and I were surveyed by a DWR biologist. We were asked about our time on the water, our success, etc. Almost embarrassing to admit we had done so poorly. But the DWR guy said that we were doing better than anybody else he had surveyed. Oh yeah, Tom had to show off by landing a big ol' "buglemouth bass" just as the guy showed up.
My watch stopped at 9:45...but I kept fishing. In the next two hours I got one more smallie and one more walleye...a smalleye. Only 13", but just enough to assure a good meal for an old guy.
Just before noon the bell must have rung to release the noisy hordes. The water came alive with jet skis and water skiers. Couldn't tell which was worse, the waves from the power squadron or those from the increasing winds of the approaching storm. The former were definitely noisier.
Water temp at launch was 64. Dropped a degree in the clouds and persistent but changing breezes. Finally nosed up to just under 65 as we got off the water about 12:30.
We parted company and Tom was thinking about trying to find a more fisherman friendly part of Starvation. I wished him well.
I headed off down the road thinking I would beat a lot of the holiday traffic and have a quiet evening. That was until my right rear tire went suddenly flat as I was stuck in heavy traffic around Deer Creek, with a 1/4 mile until the next place I could get off the road. By then my tire was TOAST. Anybody care to guess how much fun it is to change a tire in 95 degree heat...after getting up at 3:30 in the morning...for a less than stellar day of fishing? At least my spare was fully aired up and I made it back home...only 45 minutes later than my original projected eta...and $138 poorer in my credit card account for the new tire.
Not sure I could have handled any more fireworks.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
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. Starvation has been my "special treat" water for several years and now it is just a long drive for mediocre fishing.
![[Image: surprised.gif]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/images/gforum/surprised.gif)
Hell no , Thats the day he gets spoilage and gose fishing where ever ! Also if he ever left me, he have a brick load at him with lumps of coal to carry around !!!!! I wouldnt be nice ! !!!!! He also have a huge dept and kids too pay for !!!!! Just ask him I'm expensive !!!!!!