Fishing Starvation with Shifty

Thursday morning came early for me, rising at 3:30 am to ready the boat and make sure I had the correct gear in the boat for the tenth time. I had the boat loaded and out of the garage by 4 and to the gas station for a fill up. Last week we ran it out of gas and only put in a few gallons. Gassed up and on the road to pick up Shifty at his place at 4:30 and then on the road to Starvation Reservoir. Starvation is a good hour and a half drive and we pulled into Duchesne at 6:00 am and got some supplies and a breakfast burrito. We were on the water before sunrise and at our first area as the sun was breaking the horizon. One of the reasons to fish is to see the sunrise on a beautiful lake.

Starvation is a mini Lake Powell in looks and structure with legs and arms going off the main body in every direction. We started trolling for trout in a pattern that served us well back in June. This time however the water level had dropped and the pattern was in shallow water of 29 feet and I like to troll in 60-80 feet of water so I changed the path a little and changed colors to a Rainbow Cowbell. I was also running a school of fish with gold diamond cowbells and trailing a chartreuse flasher. Shifty was running silver JoD with a squidring and worm. We fished for about an hour before we found our first hit, I got one on the rainbow and got to a visible length and then we watched it release. The school of fish got a hit but didn't hook up and got a free meal.

The next hit was the rainbow gear and we landed a nice fat Rainbow Trout to start of the morning. Shifty got his first fish in the boat next another nice rainbow trout with large shoulders. Then I got another and another which gave us 4 in the live well. By this time the wind was blowing stiff out of the west and white caps were forming so we decided to go for some Small Mouth Bass in the coves to get out of the wind and be protected.

We fished and changed colors and presentation multiple times in and out of coves and along the rocky shorelines. We nestled in against a set of boulders that were submerged and started casting in between them and running our lures deep. Shifty put on a perch pattern and was swimming it back to the boat when Bam! he got hit hard and fought the fish to the boat for a few minutes we landed it another nice rainbow trout that made five in the live well. We continued to fish for small mouth bass along the shore and boulder structures. We stopped for a sec. and ate a little lunch before mooring to the north end of the reservoir to see how it looked the wind had it all chopped up and not feeling good about the area we went back south and found another cove on the east side of the lake this time.

We started casting along the shore and Shifty got a fish to the boat quickly, well it resembled a small mouth bass but just a fingerling. Shifty caught a couple more of the smaller fish and I continued to change lures until I put on red eyed and red bellied crank bait. This lure proved to be successful for me I caught a bigger small mouth in a couple cast. After that I continued to catch larger sized smallies and one over a pound. We noticed the water had calmed down and we ready to finish the day off without limit of trout. We started to troll the center of the lake down the main body toward the bridge, and I told Shifty he was going to catch the next fish and sure enough he got a nice rainbow trout. I was running rainbow pop gear with a rapala chaser and got one hit so then I change to a lure we actually found floating in the water.

Shifty finished out the day with three more fish. He missed two more one of which he had at the boat and one last fight by the big bruiser and it quick released at about 10 feet from being landed, we both gasped. It was 3:00 pm by then and we had a full limit of trout which made the day great. We loaded and filleted the fish at the cleaning station and headed for town. Cowan's Cafe was the next stop a small diner in Duchesne which serves great food. After a late lunch or early dinner we headed for home and shared our favorite experiences of the day and there were many. It's always great getting out with Shifty and Shifty Outdoors. Till next time tightlines and keep smiling!

Welcome Home Jordan!

Tuesday evening I picked up Parker and Jordan and headed for Jordanelle. Jordan had just returned from his 2 year mission serving in Argentina. As we drove to the lake and stopping to get needed supplies for the evening Parker and Jordan shared stories of their experiences and plans for the future. Jordan working on his firefighter certifications and Parker starting his PhD at BYU this fall. Both with great ambition and enthusiasm, it was fun to listen and hear their thoughts and plans. We arrived at the lake unloaded the boat and I parked I returned to the dock and the boat wasn't running.

Strange Parker always has it ready to go, we tried to start it a couple times, and Parker said “I think we are out of gas!” I was thinking no way, but then he said "Yeah it was running then just sputtered out, I didn't turn it off." So he look in the tank and sure enough out of gas! I was frustrated because I didn't even think it possible we usually run a tank all summer, but this summer we have been to a couple different lakes and making runs to find the fish and hadn't checked the gauge.

I just put the trolling motor out and we left the dock. Fishing was on the agenda and we were going to fish. Parker asked if the dock had a gas pump, I didn't know of one and we couldn't see one, so we continued to fish. We fished the marina bay for a couple passes and then cut across to the docks and started looking hard for a gas pump and finally hidden back in the very back of the docks we seen a pump. We went over asked how much a gallon, knowing it was going to be highway robbery but found out it was even worse $4.95/gallon I swallowed hard and gave them a $20 and just smiled. We got 4 gallons and left. We went around the point to our small boat launch pattern and within seconds Jordan caught the first fish of the evening.

We fish the pattern for about an hour fighting the wind and wakes, oh yeah it was blowing hard! Not getting any more hits we ventured down the west bank and found them. We had 5 in the boat within minutes all nice Rainbow trout. Jordan had 3 to the boat and lost them but he was happy to get the chance. We all had a great evening and caught some nice rainbow trout. We loaded up at night fall, cleaned the fish and headed for town. We stopped in Heber at the local hot spot the Dairy Keen and ate dinner. Hope you have a great adventure this week. Headed to the Uinta's this weekend and hope to have a fish tale or two to share.

Fishing Jordanelle with the Boys

Last week we went out to Jordanelle on Tuesday evening. Jim and Parker joined me on the Fish Steeler for some rainbow fishing. We got to the lake and as usual the wind was moving the water from the Southwest with white caps. We decided to move into our pattern and give it a shot.

Fighting the wind and recreators for about an hour, we ended catching a couple but grew tired of the battle and moved into the narrows. We pulled up along the steep banks of the south side and got our lines in the water and within just a couple minutes I landed a nice Rainbow trout. The wind up against the bank was blocked and made for decent trolling and I didn't have to fight to keep the boat on track. We continued east along the bank for a distance and got a couple more hits and turned around went back through the stretch again, Jimmy and Parker landed one but then it shut off after a couple more passes we decided the wind had shut down enough to return to our favorite route. After returning we got a few hits and and Jimmy landed a nice Rainbow trout.

The bite turned off about sundown that is when we decided to pack it in for the evening. Great evening with the boys lots of fun stories and memories were relived. Got back to the dock and loaded up went to the cleaning station where we were watched by a youngster that couldn't make up his mind if it was okay or not that we were filleting the fish out. I think he understood after we showed him how to do it. We came home with a nice batch of fillets for the smoker and grill. No picks of the fish on this trip fighting the wind and wakes we forgot to take any.

Evening on Jordanelle

Wednesday night Parker and I went to Jordanelle Reservoir and fished the small boat ramp pattern. The last time we did any good on this stretch was a few years ago, but we had a good feeling. We got on the water by 7 pm and had gear running by 7:15. It wasn't too long after that, when Parker yelp out DAD!

I turned to see my pole in the holder was dancing its way out and I had my other pole in my hand. I quickly grabbed the other pole and then attempted to put the pole in its holder, attempted, yep just as I was putting it in the holder my grip slacked and in the lake it went!!! I was quite distraught over the whole thing and lost focus for about 15 minutes, I hate it when I do stupid things especially expensive stupid things. The lake now has a very nice rig in 122 feet of water. After I regained composure I reeled in the fish on the other pole, a nice Rainbow Trout. About that time Parker caught one, while reeling it in his other pole was hit and a fish was on it.

I was still messing around with mine and he had to net his first one then I got to the back of the boat and helped with his second. The fishing stayed steady all evening with one pole getting hits or hooking up every 15 minutes or so. The wind was pretty strong which made navigation a little tough but I managed to keep us in the lane for the most part. We fished and talked and I cussed myself all evening for losing the rig but had a great time with Parker catching fish. We didn't think the fish were that big as we reeled them in and put them in the live well. However when we put them on the stringer board we noticed they were all 18-23 inches and had good firth on them. We hadn't had a fish like this on Jordanelle for some time and were grateful for line to produce again. We got off the water as the sun was setting and stopped at the cleaning station to filet them and get a couple pictures on the stringer board.