# Starve Island



## bigrobby50 (May 26, 2012)

3 of us fished east of Starve Island and caught one 24” walleye. I have the rocks marked on Starve Island on my GPS. I had a first fishing experience of 35 years on Lake Erie. I was in 17 feet of water near Starve Island and turned the boat to troll East towards Kelley’s Island and with in 2/10 mile we were fishing in 17 feet of water and found a deep hole that said 57 feet of water. I primarily fish in Western Basin and I have never been in water that deep. Does anyone know why it’s so deep there in one small area? Glacial groves? Ended day fishing with 7 keepers. Caught most in 34 feet of water East of Perry’s monument halfway between PIB and Kelley’s. Dipsey size 1 at 1 setting at 40 feet and 57-72 feet on 3 setting. Monkey puke was the hot color yesterday for us. We caught 10 spikes and I rock bass which was cool to see it’s red eyes. We fished from 3-7pm. Nothing fast or furious. Took today off to do yard work but will be on the fishing grounds tomorrow at 8am. Good luck all!


----------



## PatSea (Oct 10, 2004)

I too have found that very small area near Starve island that runs mid 50's deep. I initially ran across it on an old chart that I found (not a NOAA chart) and questioned whether it was in fact that deep. I went looking for it one day and found it. It's a very small area, maybe a circle of 20 or 30 yard diameter. I suspect it is an anomaly from the glacier period. I've often wondered if it holds fish during warm water periods or at other times of the year.
Anyone have anything to add on this?


----------



## island troller (Nov 14, 2007)

Yes the hole was formed by the glacier. I never found it to be a special site to catch fish in the summer.


----------



## Redheads (Jun 9, 2008)

If I'm heading on the west side of the islands i will stop and try there more times than not, as long as its early and i believe no one has been in there.
Always seem to be good for a few fish really quick, sometimes it just big cats.


----------



## Bluewalleye (Jun 1, 2009)

I know that spot all to well. Back in 2001 ( I think it was anyway ) I was doing the PWT event and found that exact spot. It is actually a little longer then what you think. It goes from south to north for a little stretch. Anyway we were trolling thru that spot and we had a board go back and under the water. I only had 45' of line out so I knew it wasn't a snag. But my co-angler said he couldn't crank on the reel cause of how much weight was on it. So I told him to just hold the fish but don't crank. I was going to real in all the other lines and we were going to go back after the fish. I was on the 3rd line in when the fish came off. I have no idea how big of a fish it was, but we were catching 8 to 10 lb walleye during the tournament. And it was a lot bigger then those were. 
But that was the only fish that we ever had on in that area.


----------



## joekacz (Sep 11, 2013)

Bluewalleye said:


> I know that spot all to well. Back in 2001 ( I think it was anyway ) I was doing the PWT event and found that exact spot. It is actually a little longer then what you think. It goes from south to north for a little stretch. Anyway we were trolling thru that spot and we had a board go back and under the water. I only had 45' of line out so I knew it wasn't a snag. But my co-angler said he couldn't crank on the reel cause of how much weight was on it. So I told him to just hold the fish but don't crank. I was going to real in all the other lines and we were going to go back after the fish. I was on the 3rd line in when the fish came off. I have no idea how big of a fish it was, but we were catching 8 to 10 lb walleye during the tournament. And it was a lot bigger then those were.
> But that was the only fish that we ever had on in that area.


Sturgeon maybe....?? You never know.


----------



## Bluewalleye (Jun 1, 2009)

joekacz said:


> Sturgeon maybe....?? You never know.


Aren't they a bottom feeder? This fish was 8 feet down in 57' of water. Didn't catch one sheephead all week long, but you never know. In my mind it was a big walleye. lol 
The tournament was in mid April. And it didn't make any big runs to make me think it could have been a muskie. It just was constant weight then it shook its head a couple of times and it came off. Classic big walleye move.


----------



## juggerman (Jun 12, 2012)

Fished 5 days out of Edgewater this week.Was awesome.Biggest 9lb. 12 oz. 30.75"..... 41fow Was good for us..









Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk


----------



## Kenlow1 (Jul 14, 2012)

Nice fish Juggerman, we got a 30”er yesterday off Edgewater but was a tough day.


----------



## odell daniel (Nov 5, 2015)

bigrobby50 said:


> 3 of us fished east of Starve Island and caught one 24” walleye. I have the rocks marked on Starve Island on my GPS. I had a first fishing experience of 35 years on Lake Erie. I was in 17 feet of water near Starve Island and turned the boat to troll East towards Kelley’s Island and with in 2/10 mile we were fishing in 17 feet of water and found a deep hole that said 57 feet of water. I primarily fish in Western Basin and I have never been in water that deep. Does anyone know why it’s so deep there in one small area? Glacial groves? Ended day fishing with 7 keepers. Caught most in 34 feet of water East of Perry’s monument halfway between PIB and Kelley’s. Dipsey size 1 at 1 setting at 40 feet and 57-72 feet on 3 setting. Monkey puke was the hot color yesterday for us. We caught 10 spikes and I rock bass which was cool to see it’s red eyes. We fished from 3-7pm. Nothing fast or furious. Took today off to do yard work but will be on the fishing grounds tomorrow at 8am. Good luck all!


the screen is always full of fish over that hole, we've fished it a few times and never did any good.


----------



## rickerd (Jul 16, 2008)

Yes some people call the Hole the "Starve Island Deep." 
Wonder if anyone ice fishes it during cold winters?
Rickerd


----------



## Gottagofishn (Nov 18, 2009)

I rarely fish that area due to boat traffic however, I have a friend that is a cast only captain and I can say that is one of his goto spots... check the shallows nearby


----------



## Lake Erie (Jun 20, 2008)

There is a deep area there between the two buoys, the red and green. It gets down to about 60 feet with this higher water. The "hole" runs about a quarter mile SW to NE or W to E. Much shallower around it, especially towards Starve Island. That whole area is interesting as you have this deep area (deepest in the Western Basin) surrounded by much shallower reefs. Glaciers carved it out. Some day I'm going to scuba dive it, hopefully this season on a weekday. There is another deep "hole" in the Western Basin that's about the same depth. I'll leave that for you all to find on your own.


----------



## topwater (Dec 22, 2004)

Lake Erie said:


> There is a deep area there between the two buoys, the red and green. It gets down to about 60 feet with this higher water. The "hole" runs about a quarter mile SW to NE or W to E. Much shallower around it, especially towards Starve Island. That whole area is interesting as you have this deep area (deepest in the Western Basin) surrounded by much shallower reefs. Glaciers carved it out. Some day I'm going to scuba dive it, hopefully this season on a weekday. There is another deep "hole" in the Western Basin that's about the same depth. I'll leave that for you all to find on your own.


This is fascinating, @Lake Erie, I hope you report here on what you see during your scuba trip!


----------



## island troller (Nov 14, 2007)

By Gull Reef for the second one.


----------



## captainshotgun (Jul 8, 2009)

Ditto on Gull


----------



## slashbait (Jun 26, 2008)

North of ballast island


----------



## fishhogg (Apr 16, 2009)

I have been fishing that area for a long time and never have taken more than a fish or two there during the day. My theory is those fish lay out there during the day and move shallow at night. Spend the whole night chewing up shallow, then move back out there to rest or whatever Walleyes do.


----------



## rickerd (Jul 16, 2008)

During the heat of summer water temps, walleye cannot digest food in hot water, so they need the depths to digest. They go shallow at night, fill up, then go deep to digest and sleep. 
The 30 foot depths throughout the rest of WB are usually still too hot to digest food. I've heard the majic temp is 76 deg. F, but I'm no biologist. The biggest fish are affected the most so they follow the 60 deg. F temps all summer out east.

Rickerd


----------



## GlennD (Apr 29, 2011)

Didn’t a Ohio pro win a PWT trolling over that hole one year ? I think his first name was Gary ?


----------



## schrof (Dec 9, 2011)

GlennD said:


> Didn’t a Ohio pro win a PWT trolling over that hole one year ? I think his first name was Gary ?


I believe so, think they were pulling RR w/weights


----------

