Fishing Forum - Willard with the Slayer

We launched a little after 7 am this morning from the north marina. Water temp was 77 at launch time warming up to 79 by the time we got off the water around 12:30. We looked around out side the marina for some cat like marks, then headed over to Freeway bay, Baby shad were dead and dieing all over the place, from the ramp into Freeway bay, then later over by the Feedlot. We spent around 2 hours in Freeway bay, moving a couple of times but only picked up one cat. I mentioned to Ira that Pat(TubeDude) might be out there today but would be around the Feedlot area by then, so we went over there to see if he was there. Sure enough, as we rounded the point there he was, we slowly pulled up to him and ask how the fishing was, he was killing them, so we set up to slow trolled fligs in the area he was fishing after asking what he was using. Pat was kind enough to offer us a couple of his Fligs, thanks Pat, and we proceeded to start catching some of our own. We got two right at 24", the rest were between 21 and 23" but we ended up with 15 before we called it quits. This was our first trip to Willard since June 27. Other than the heat, it turned out to be a great day on the water, thanks to Pat.

Sunrise at Willard

TubeDude at Feedlot

Just curious Curt - is the island out from the South Marina exposed yet?

(09-08-2022, 12:40 PM)dubob Wrote: [ -> ]Just curious Curt - is the island out from the South Marina exposed yet?

Sorry Bob, never go close enough to see it. If it is out of the water, it's just bearly out or I think we would have seen it from where we were.

Glad you found the success you guys always seem to have... Do you think the dead shad will slow things up as the year progresses, or do you think the heat may have just accelerated the fall die off? What boat were you in? Was there plenty of water to launch and fish? If you were in Ira's big boat then things should be good for a while... thanks for the report and glad you got onto them... Later J

(09-08-2022, 01:24 PM)SkunkedAgain Wrote: [ -> ]Glad you found the success you guys always seem to have... Do you think the dead shad will slow things up as the year progresses, or do you think the heat may have just accelerated the fall die off? What boat were you in? Was there plenty of water to launch and fish? If you were in Ira's big boat then things should be good for a while... thanks for the report and glad you got onto them... Later J

As we were getting off the water we meet Chris Penne at the ramp, he thought it was the high temps causing the baby shad to die but he wasn't going to say for sure. We were in my boat, I think Pat took a pic of use in it, maybe he will post it. We had no issue launching or going out the channel or fishing. Going out the channel was 4.5 ft but a hump comes up right at the mouth of the channel that is 3.5', so you've got to be careful and trim your motor up, in case the water continues to drop. Where we fished yesterday we never go into water over 9 ft.

(09-08-2022, 01:40 PM)wiperhunter2 Wrote: [ -> ]
(09-08-2022, 01:24 PM)SkunkedAgain Wrote: [ -> ]Glad you found the success you guys always seem to have... Do you think the dead shad will slow things up as the year progresses, or do you think the heat may have just accelerated the fall die off? What boat were you in? Was there plenty of water to launch and fish? If you were in Ira's big boat then things should be good for a while... thanks for the report and glad you got onto them... Later J
As we were getting off the water we meet Chris Penne at the ramp, he thought it was the high temps causing the baby shad to die but he wasn't going to say for sure. We were in my boat, I think Pat took a pic of use in it, maybe he will post it. We had no issue launching or going out the channel or fishing. Going out the channel was 4.5 ft but a hump comes up right at the mouth of the channel that is 3.5', so you've got to be careful and trim your motor up, in case the water continues to drop. Where we fished yesterday we never go into water over 9 ft.

I'd like to say it was good seeing you guys again. I'd like to...but...

Glad you guys got some more fish. I got another 4 or 5 after we met up...but then I boogied. Trolled cranks all the way back without a tap. Hot water and stained water make for poor trolling right now. Here's a pic of you guys and your boat.

(09-08-2022, 02:25 PM)TubeDude Wrote: [ -> ]I'd like to say it was good seeing you guys again. I'd like to...but...

Glad you guys got some more fish. I got another 4 or 5 after we met up...but then I boogied. Trolled cranks all the way back without a tap. Hot water and stained water make for poor trolling right now. Here's a pic of you guys and your boat.

Thanks for the pic Pat. I'm glad we decided to move over in your direction, we were marking so many shad in the Freeway bay area that I commented to Ira that all the cats had to do was open their mouths and it would fill with those baby shad, seemed to be less of them where you were fishing. We caught several doubles and ended the morning at 12:20 with a double, right in the area where we meet you.

(09-08-2022, 04:27 PM)wiperhunter2 Wrote: [ -> ]Thanks for the pic Pat. I'm glad we decided to move over in your direction, we were marking so many shad in the Freeway bay area that I commented to Ira that all the cats had to do was open their mouths and it would fill with those baby shad, seemed to be less of them where you were fishing. We caught several doubles and ended the morning at 12:20 with a double, right in the area where we meet you.

I kept a half dozen kitties for a family fish fry. When I filleted them they had indeed been dining well...not only on shadlets but one of them had two pretty good sized crawdads inside. And all of the cats had lots of "visceral" fat...gobs of yellowish white fat deposited when times are good.

The past few years have been good for Willard cats. Predators like wipers and walleyes eat enough of the baby cats...when shad are scarce...to keep the cats from overpopulating. And the adults have been getting plenty of fine dining on all the extra shad not eaten by an overpopulation of wipers. And, as we know, the perch have been doing pretty well too. Looking forward to reducing their population a bit this fall and winter.

(09-08-2022, 12:40 PM)dubob Wrote: [ -> ]Just curious Curt - is the island out from the South Marina exposed yet?

Bob, when I went out on Monday the island was just under and breaking the surface if a wave lapped over the right spot. It’s not far off from being exposed.