05-10-2015, 03:13 PM
[#0000FF]I really miss the "olden days" on Starvation...at least for the big browns if not the chubs. I used to fish it only in the late fall and at ice out for the browns. The rest of the year it was not very good unless you liked the chubs. On several of my ice out tubing trips I saw one of the "locals"...an old boy with a banged up tin boat...who launched his cartop at different places around the lake depending on where the ice was off. I saw him with a bent rod many times and also saw him bring in some browns that looked like big king salmon. But even in those days he was mostly a C & R guy and released most of the bigguns. Only saw him keep a couple of "small" 4 pounders.
Yeah, I miss the days when I was often one of the only two or three anglers on the lake...and hooking big league browns on every trip. But today I am just as happy with the variety...walleyes, perch, smallies and the "Starvation steelhead". The only problem is that the great multi-species angling and growing population has made the lake a dangerous place to be on a busy weekend...and even a lot of midweek days during the summer months. I have had to go back to fishing early and late in the year if I want any kind of peaceful angling session. The PWCs are especially bad. The kids on them seem to view float tubers as racing pylons for their slalom courses.
Just like the saying n Jurassic Park..."Nature will find a way". The newly planted browns will find enough food to survive and grow...up to a point. But without lots of larger food items (baby perch or chubs) their growth will slow down or stop if they can't ever graduate from the smaller invertebrates that everything else in the lake is eating.
I applaud DWR for their efforts on Starvation. By planting large numbers of rainbows they have really added a new dimension to the angling opportunities. I can't believe how many anglers show up there primarily for the trout fishing. It will be nice if the browns do find a niche and can add significantly to the mix.
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[#0000FF] [#000000][size 3]"I think we currently have a lot of stunted walleye," [/size][/#000000]
I might challenge that statement. The walleyes I have caught and observed the past year are not stunted. They are mostly pretty healthy. And there are plenty of double digits in poundage in that lake. It's just that the casual "average" angler doesn't fish for them at the right time with the right gear. Definitely not like some years in the past when we were overrun with "seegars" and "hammer handles".
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Yeah, I miss the days when I was often one of the only two or three anglers on the lake...and hooking big league browns on every trip. But today I am just as happy with the variety...walleyes, perch, smallies and the "Starvation steelhead". The only problem is that the great multi-species angling and growing population has made the lake a dangerous place to be on a busy weekend...and even a lot of midweek days during the summer months. I have had to go back to fishing early and late in the year if I want any kind of peaceful angling session. The PWCs are especially bad. The kids on them seem to view float tubers as racing pylons for their slalom courses.
Just like the saying n Jurassic Park..."Nature will find a way". The newly planted browns will find enough food to survive and grow...up to a point. But without lots of larger food items (baby perch or chubs) their growth will slow down or stop if they can't ever graduate from the smaller invertebrates that everything else in the lake is eating.
I applaud DWR for their efforts on Starvation. By planting large numbers of rainbows they have really added a new dimension to the angling opportunities. I can't believe how many anglers show up there primarily for the trout fishing. It will be nice if the browns do find a niche and can add significantly to the mix.
[/#0000FF]
[#0000FF] [#000000][size 3]"I think we currently have a lot of stunted walleye," [/size][/#000000]
I might challenge that statement. The walleyes I have caught and observed the past year are not stunted. They are mostly pretty healthy. And there are plenty of double digits in poundage in that lake. It's just that the casual "average" angler doesn't fish for them at the right time with the right gear. Definitely not like some years in the past when we were overrun with "seegars" and "hammer handles".
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