05-30-2012, 02:50 PM
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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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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