**Started out with gofish435 and myself…planning a Friday fishing date at Starvy. ‘Fore ya knowed it, there was another 4 old geezers comin’ along. Can’t tell ya what the combined ages added up to. Ain’t so good at math no more. Ain’t good at a lot of things no more.
We were all launched and fishing by a little after 8. We launched at Rabbit Gulch and pretty much covered the whole thing before we wheezed in a little after noon. No stamina.
Air temp a chilly 32 at launch. No ice in the guides but frosty finger tips. Water temp was 56…warming to 58 by departure. Just ideal for some species. But trout seemed to be the most numerous and the most active. No walleyes were harmed during this outing.
We all agreed that there were few fish showing on sonar. And about the only thing showing on the surface were some big “bugle-mouth browns”. Some real tanks, too.
Took a while but some of the fly flingers started sticking the occasional rainbow. I was working the bottom for walleyes…and maybe perch. But nobody told the rainbows to leave me alone. They thought my tandem jig rig was just dandy. Beat me up pretty good a few times. Some of those big “Starvation steelheads” love to fly…and run…and do death rolls. As a result, most of the bigger ones I hooked were released for bad behavior.
I did land several 'bows and kept a couple about 16 inches for “surf and surf”…oven broiled fillets with shrimp. Also kept a couple of 9" perch from the half dozen or so I managed to catch. Never did see any of them on sonar…much less any schools. Just a single here and there.
All the rest of the floatin’ fudds were fly flingers. And all are skilled at at. Thus, everybody scored enough action to make the grins on our faces real…and not just gas.
Only a handful of boats wandered back into “Geezer Gulch” today. And they were all fishing boats that came in quiet and respectful like. I cruised by one of them that was anchored on my way back in and got to see a lady tangler bring in a nice trout on a fly. Waytogo girl.
Hoping that gofish435 chimes in and does a better job of identifying our other anglers. I knew Jim Carter from past associations…and his brother. But sorry I do not know the others well.
Couldn’t have asked for nicer weather. Nippy early but sunny, calm and toasty by midday…if you consider 56 toasty…after 32 earlier. But that wasn’t as cool as the 17 degrees my thermometer read as I drove by Strawberry this morning. No thanks. Too early for that stuff.
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