Fishing Forum

Ira and I got out to Willard this morning, launching around 6:30 am from the South marina. Talked to TubeDude as we were launching and got some samples, thanks Pat. Looks pretty windy from the ramp and it was indeed as we got on the water. We headed toward the North dike to get out of the worse of it and were marking a lot of fish but no takers, finally after a while I picked up a nice 24" male cat, with battle scars, likely from the spawn. Finally after a hour or two we headed over to the West side and picked up 3 more cat but that was it for the day. No eyes, no perch, no wipers. Wind laid down after 4 hrs or so then the bugs came out. Talked to Farm Boat when we came in around 1 pm and he had similar success. I think we are ready to try somewhere else next week. Water temp was 66 degrees at launch and got up to 70 by the time we got off. 
Strange catch for the day.



1st lane covered


Full pool



sign is the normal full point

I was out there yesterday and we fished from 7:30 until 1:00.  One eye total.  Had one other hit but couldn't get the rod quick enough.  Started by trolling cranks & harnesses of the downriggers.  Harnesses at 20 feet and cranks at 10 & 15 feet deep.  Speed set to about 1.8.  Nada.

 Switched to all harnesses one the bottom with 2 oz bouncers and speed at 0.7.  Had about 40 feet of line out on all 4 lines.  One eye and a hit.  Man, that's slow fishing.

Hoping to put a few more fish in the boat next week at the Gorge Tuesday through Friday.

There were no walleye at WB today.  I got lines in at 0945, fished almost 5 hours without a bite from anything.  Absolutely nothing.  I tried almost a dozen crankbaits, on planer boards, off a downrigger, nothing.  Wally Divers at 14', Thunderstick Jr at 13', Hot N Tot at 12', SR5s, 7s.  I ran an SR5 and a Hot N Tot back 150' feet and down a variety of depths off the downrigger, etc.

Then, at 1435, I got a double on 23" wipers, one on a 1/5 ounce Thin Fin running 6.5' down, 70' off the board, the other on an SR7 in walleye running 70' back, so maybe 9' down.  Picked up another 19" wiper, released about a 16"er, and got one perch.  Really weird. 

I saw 64F water, it got as high as 67F+, but I'm not sure my transducer is reliable.

Okay, now I don't feel so bad.  I powered out in the sloppy chop and headed for the area that treated me well last week.  But was not seeing the fish like I had before.  Oh well, might as well wash some lures while I looked.  So I put on a couple of my new experimental chatter bait crawler rigs and started bouncing around in the waves as I watched the rod tips vibrating with the chatter baits. 


Within only about 10 minutes, the rod with the fire tiger chatter went bendo and I had killed the skunk early.  But it was not a walleye.  Only a cat.  Still, it was a fish...the only one for the day. 



When I tried to turn my electric motor back on to resume fishing I got nothing.  Several minutes of messing around and checking what connections I could reach while in my tube on the water didn't provide a fix.  I was literally dead in the water...well over a half mile out from the marina entrance.   And I was faced with having to kick my way back in with fin power alone.  It\s been a long time since I had to operate my tube for any distance with just the fins.  And I ain't getting any younger.  But the "zephyr" was blowing in to the shore at a westerly angle so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.  Took me well over an hour to get back to the ramp, but I made it.  I think.  Back in my garage, I checked all the wiring and connections...hoping I didn't have to buy a new motor...or get a replacement on my new lithium battery.  The good news/bad news is that one of the connections to the battery had been broken in the bouncy twisty motions on the rough water.  But it made for a short day.

Since you posted a couple of pics that include my craft, I'll return the favor.

(06-23-2023, 12:10 PM)TubeDude Wrote: [ -> ]Okay, now I don't feel so bad.  I powered out in the sloppy chop and headed for the area that treated me well last week.  But was not seeing the fish like I had before.  Oh well, might as well wash some lures while I looked.  So I put on a couple of my new experimental chatter bait crawler rigs and started bouncing around in the waves as I watched the rod tips vibrating with the chatter baits. 


Within only about 10 minutes, the rod with the fire tiger chatter went bendo and I had killed the skunk early.  But it was not a walleye.  Only a cat.  Still, it was a fish...the only one for the day. 



When I tried to turn my electric motor back on to resume fishing I got nothing.  Several minutes of messing around and checking what connections I could reach while in my tube on the water didn't provide a fix.  I was literally dead in the water...well over a half mile out from the marina entrance.   And I was faced with having to kick my way back in with fin power alone.  It\s been a long time since I had to operate my tube for any distance with just the fins.  And I ain't getting any younger.  But the "zephyr" was blowing in to the shore at a westerly angle so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.  Took me well over an hour to get back to the ramp, but I made it.  I think.  Back in my garage, I checked all the wiring and connections...hoping I didn't have to buy a new motor...or get a replacement on my new lithium battery.  The good news/bad news is that one of the connections to the battery had been broken in the bouncy twisty motions on the rough water.  But it made for a short day.

Since you posted a couple of pics that include my craft, I'll return the favor.

I am sure glad the wind was in your favor or that could have turned out to be a very ugly experience.

(06-23-2023, 01:17 PM)Cowboypirate Wrote: [ -> ]I am sure glad the wind was in your favor or that could have turned out to be a very ugly experience.

Me too.  Before I got motorized I had some nasty wind moments.  A few times...like on Starvation...having to get out on the bank and hike a long ways back to get my vehicle to be able to leave.  On another lake I got blown clear across the lake and had to spend the night...waiting for calm water in the morning.

Dirty Harry says "A man should know his limitations".  Mama Nature will remind you if you forget.

Little late on the report, but took my dad to WB before his flight on 6/16 for a few hours and managed walleye, perch, and a wiper. Trolling #5 & #7flicker shad. The Eye came on a crawl harness. That was my first time ever trolling cranks, so I didn't know what to expect.

Went out for a few hours the next day with the wife and kids and managed to duplicate the success from the previous day.

The majority of the fish came around the south dike, while 3 came from freeway Bay.

Amazing what can change in 48 hrs.
Great easy fishing just until the 20th.
I knew I should have listened to you all but I had to go today (6/23) and struggled.
Grateful for the three Walleye I netted and only missed one other hit.
Two on lipless crank and other on Rapala floater, all three fish on orange colors.
Missed hit was on Luckycraft blue/silver Pointer.

I’ll add to the sorrow. Jmorfish and I hit WB last night (Thurs) and fished from about 6-9pm. 1, 12” perch was all we had to show for it. Worm harnesses, cranks, bottom bouncers, planer boards, etc. Didn’t seem to matter. Marked lots of fish along the south dike and SW corner area out of the south marina, but the fish were tight-lipped. Spoke to another boater at the ramp while getting off the lake, and their experience was worse…no fish and no hits.

(06-23-2023, 08:16 PM)MrShane Wrote: [ -> ]Amazing what can change in 48 hrs.
Great easy fishing just until the 20th.
I knew I should have listened to you all but I had to go today (6/23) and struggled.
Grateful for the three Walleye I netted and only missed one other hit.
Two on lipless crank and other on Rapala floater, all three fish on orange colors.
Missed hit was on Luckycraft blue/silver Pointer.

You got 3 more walleyes than I did, Shane.  Any size to them?  I'm catching more small ones than in prior years.  As a result I'm releasing more than I'm keeping.

I assume you're running your crankbaits behind bottom bouncers? I need to try that as I have a bunch of them from my Alumacraft days.
 
I have 2 Lucky Craft lures, got them as gifts from when they first came out.  I never run them, though, maybe because they're so expensive and I'm cheap. 

Methinks there are a couple of factors that are contributing to the sudden downturn in angler success on Willard.  First, the weather.  Fronts moving through...with changes in wind and temperature.  Water temps last Thursday were lower than the week before.  A minor drop in temps during the spring warmup can put fishing on hold.  Just ask the bass tournament guys.

Second is the food chain.  Those "bait balls" we see on our sonar are not ALL shad.  Several other species have spawned and their young are approaching edibility size.  All the predators will dine on young perch, walleye, crappies and especially baby carp.  Those should be reaching between 1 and 2 inches in length. 

Well fed fish are not as aggressive or competitive.  It often takes something to create a "reaction bite".  This can be something smaller...or larger...with more or less action...of different color...fished at different depths, etc.  One thing a lot of Willardites have discovered is that downsizing lures to something closer to current fry size will get more bites.  I especially like the little 2" Rattlin Raps in holographic shad colors.  But I also catch a few fish on white Gulp minnows...and even on 2" tube jigs.

A couple of predictions.  Right after this next batch of windy days...and if the water warms back up to close to 70 degrees...fishing will improve.  Second, I think this year we will continue to catch perch all through the summer.  Seems to be a big population now and if you can find them you should be able to catch them.  I have some ideas I wanna try out to get a handle on summer perchin' in Willard.  But then there are always the everlovin' kitties.

(06-24-2023, 05:07 AM)Paddler Wrote: [ -> ]

(06-23-2023, 08:16 PM)MrShane Wrote: [ -> ]Amazing what can change in 48 hrs.
Great easy fishing just until the 20th.
I knew I should have listened to you all but I had to go today (6/23) and struggled.
Grateful for the three Walleye I netted and only missed one other hit.
Two on lipless crank and other on Rapala floater, all three fish on orange colors.
Missed hit was on Luckycraft blue/silver Pointer.

You got 3 more walleyes than I did, Shane.  Any size to them?  I'm catching more small ones than in prior years.  As a result I'm releasing more than I'm keeping.

I assume you're running your crankbaits behind bottom bouncers?  I need to try that as I have a bunch of them from my Alumacraft days.
 
I have 2 Lucky Craft lures, got them as gifts from when they first came out.  I never run them, though, maybe because they're so expensive and I'm cheap. 

Hi Jon,
I fished bb’ers/harnesses for about 1.5 hrs without a hit, so switched to cranks.
Two fish came off the lipless crank/planer board, no weight.
Third fish off of long-lined Rapala, no weight.
One fish about 16”, other two about 15”.
No food in their bellies which surprised me.
P.S. I am a ‘frugal angler’ like yourself, but go treat yourself and run those LC’s.
I look at LC’s this way:
If I don’t ruin them/lose them while fishing, after I die my wife will just sale them for .25 cents at my ‘going away’ yard sale.
Pro Tip: One day ask me what the protocol on my boat is when we lose an LC!

(06-24-2023, 03:15 PM)MrShane Wrote: [ -> ]I fished bb’ers/harnesses for about 1.5 hrs without a hit, so switched to cranks.
Two fish came off the lipless crank/planer board, no weight.
Third fish off of long-lined Rapala, no weight.
One fish about 16”, other two about 15”.
No food in their bellies which surprised me.
P.S. I am a ‘frugal angler’ like yourself, but go treat yourself and run those LC’s.
I look at LC’s this way:
If I don’t ruin them/lose them while fishing, after I die my wife will just sale them for .25 cents at my ‘going away’ yard sale.
Pro Tip: One day ask me what the protocol on my boat is when we lose an LC!

Hi Shane.  I'm amazed those fish hit so high in the water column.  Although, the perch I caught hit my Thin Fin running at 6-7' down in 23 FOW.  Maybe next trip I'll run my LCs. 

Although, I spent a few hours yesterday cleaning the boat, even my seat boxes had hundreds of midges in them.  I'm thinking of pulling the floorboards, seats, etc, to take a look underneath and thoroughly clean the bilge.  Heading to the coast in August again, I want everything tidied up.  You should take your boat over, it's awesome.