Spur of the moment decided to make a late run to Willard. Sent out a quick invite to a friend but he couldn't get away. So I went solo. I was on the water around 5:45 and started trolling some cranks. Had a couple of whacks and misses and put the first fish in the boat at 6:40, a wiper. 10 minutes later I added a 17" eye to the cooler. The strikes came in spurts but ended up catching 5 eyes and 3 wipers. One of the wipers was only about 7" long. Had several long releases and lost a really nice eye at the boat, which would have been the biggest of the trip. All in all a good evening.
![[Image: 20200604-205618.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/d4r9DzC/20200604-205618.jpg)
(06-05-2020, 05:24 AM)Jig-fisher Wrote: [ -> ]All in all a good evening.
Yes indeed; good job. AND - good eats.
Very nice, that’s my kind of trip. Congrats. Jeff
Great report and pic, thanks for sharing it with us. Couple of questions, did one color of lure work better than another and what speed were you trolling the cranks? Thanks.
Thanks good to hear. Nice job, now is that trolling cranks?
How was the crowd?
(06-05-2020, 01:25 PM)wiperhunter2 Wrote: [ -> ]Great report and pic, thanks for sharing it with us. Couple of questions, did one color of lure work better than another and what speed were you trolling the cranks? Thanks.
I first tried at 3.3 to 3.5 and got no takers. I slowed it down to 1.9 to 2.3 and started catching fish. In the end 2.2 to 2.6 was what worked best. At first, fire tiger was getting all the love, but then the black and silver shad color came on at the end. It ended up being 50/50 in the boat between the fire tiger and the black and silver, with more strikes on the black and silver.
(06-05-2020, 01:33 PM)doitall5000 Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks good to hear. Nice job, now is that trolling cranks?
How was the crowd?
The crowd wasn't bad at all and the wind did not blow. It was a really nice evening. Still a lot of rocking due to the play boats that were on the water, but all were playing nice and keeping their distance.
Looks like a very good evening to me!
If we get a break in the weather this weekend I need to make a quick trip myself.
(06-05-2020, 05:24 AM)Jig-fisher Wrote: [ -> ]Spur of the moment decided to make a late run to Willard. Sent out a quick invite to a friend but he couldn't get away. So I went solo. I was on the water around 5:45 and started trolling some cranks. Had a couple of whacks and misses and put the first fish in the boat at 6:40, a wiper. 10 minutes later I added a 17" eye to the cooler. The strikes came in spurts but ended up catching 5 eyes and 3 wipers. One of the wipers was only about 7" long. Had several long releases and lost a really nice eye at the boat, which would have been the biggest of the trip. All in all a good evening.
My oldest son and I hit Willard yesterday morning and with a dental appointment I could only fish until noon. We bottom bounced and ended up with 9 eyes in the live wells one nice smallmouth and a 23 in. catfish. we lost several other eyes and missed some hits. Eyes ran from 15 to 19 inches. Heading to Anderson Ranch Tuesday to try for some kokes. Have I ever mentioned I love being retired?
That is a good trip too! Nice!
Awesome trip!!! Bite is turning on!
Nice write up, and catch! Hopefully next time I can join you, I did appreciate the play by play texts
(06-05-2020, 01:44 PM)Jig-fisher Wrote: [ -> ]I first tried at 3.3 to 3.5 and got no takers. I slowed it down to 1.9 to 2.3 and started catching fish. In the end 2.2 to 2.6 was what worked best. At first, fire tiger was getting all the love, but then the black and silver shad color came on at the end. It ended up being 50/50 in the boat between the fire tiger and the black and silver, with more strikes on the black and silver.
Thanks, I haven't caught one on black and silver all year, good to know it is finally starting to turn on. We started noticing shad showing up here are there, did you notice any bait balls where you were fishing?
(06-06-2020, 04:01 PM)wiperhunter2 Wrote: [ -> ] (06-05-2020, 01:44 PM)Jig-fisher Wrote: [ -> ]I first tried at 3.3 to 3.5 and got no takers. I slowed it down to 1.9 to 2.3 and started catching fish. In the end 2.2 to 2.6 was what worked best. At first, fire tiger was getting all the love, but then the black and silver shad color came on at the end. It ended up being 50/50 in the boat between the fire tiger and the black and silver, with more strikes on the black and silver.
Thanks, I haven't caught one on black and silver all year, good to know it is finally starting to turn on. We started noticing shad showing up here are there, did you notice any bait balls where you were fishing?
I did see some marks that looked like small bait balls here and there. I never tried fishing a deeper running crank or even the planer boards because they were hitting just pulling behind the boat in the rod holders. Saw lot of fish marks all through the water column so I didn't change up much. Only tried 4 different cranks.