Fished Willard from 0800 to 1100 in my tube. Pretty slow, but did manage a nice 19 incher that was as round as a football. It put me into my backing in about 10 seconds. There is nothing funner then catching a big wiper in a float tube with a fly rod. Also managed a small catfish. Weather was pleasant and the bugs weren't bad at all.
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Thanks for the report PM, sounds like that wiper gave you quite a battle. What area were you fishing and what were you using? WH2
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Thanks for the post & welcome aboard
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I was fishing in the south-east corner and caught them on a white crystal woolly bugger.
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[red][size 3]Welcome to ya' and good to see your post. Congratz on that fly rod wiper! Last Tuesday I had one peel my line bare to the bone then snap off 36 pound spiderwire. I'll have to go back to mono for a little more stretch, or get a higher capacity reel, or maybe... stainless.... [/size][/red]
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When you say the southeast corner, are you talking about the area by the freeway? Welcome to the site PerchMaster. WH2
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I was actually in the south-west corner. Sorry
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That South West corner has a nice beach area and a great place to walk over the dike, I noticed they opened the road again that goes down to the water. Was that pump running when you were there? Last year we walked up that road and carried a 12ft boat and launched at the beach, it won't be long before that will be the only way to get a boat on Willard. WH2
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They were there working on the pump. I saw it but am not sure if it was on or not. There were trucks driving back and forth above the dike there.
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[#ff0000] I had one peel my line bare to the bone then snap off 36 pound spiderwire.[/#ff0000]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]That sounds pretty unbelievable, NOS. What in the world could be in Willard that could do that?[/size][/black][/font]
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[red][size 3]I don't know but if you find my lure I want it back! I had the ol' producer on one line and started screwing around with my second pole and put on a orange/yellow stainless salt water lure the size of a bloated sausage. (I dragged it around Pineview with Petty one day trying to pick up a tiger with no luck there.) It was only in the water for a few minutes when the drag started singing, another moment after that I am hanging out the end of the boat on tiptoes, down to my very last loop around the spool, now going sixty, trying to get six more inches of play and "pop" it was gone. I was way more upset about that than shishkabobing my thumb with a treble hook still shared by another
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wiper that day.... Yikes.[/size][/red]
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Your post brought back memories of my big wiper this year. I too got a treble hook imbedded into my thumb a half inch while trying to get the rapala out of the fish and the net. I couldn't push it on throught so finally had to pull hard enough to tear the barb through the flesh to get it out. That and the fish are memories that will linger for a long time. Acey
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I'll have to agree with BLM, there isn't a fish in willard that could take spiderwire off your reel like you described. I'll tell you what had a hold of your lure, it was one of those rock fish. We had one on that did the same thing on Sunday. Dennis had just put his pole down(not in a rod holder) when the rod took off and the only thing that keep it from going over board was the transit. As you can imagine the rock fish put up a good battle and we had to turn the boat around before it spooled his reel. We still were not sure it wasn't a real fish until we got right up beside the rock and the lure came loose. We were sure if it was a fish, it had to be a state record. That spiderwire has no give, like you said and there is a huge difference between it and mono when it comes to trolling. WH2
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Ask Pat, he know's.
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That's right. Pat knows all about what lurks beneath the dark waters of Willard Bay. Just a[url "javascript: addTag('cool')"][/url]sk him.[url "javascript: addTag('cool')"][cool][/url]
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[url "javascript: addTag('cool')"][cool][/url][#0000ff]Are you guys referring to my epic saga 'THE MONSTER OF WILLARD BAY"?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Since it ain't copyrighted, and since it probably don't have much commercial potential, I'll attach a copy here for anyone who wants to subject themselves to it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I wrote it for the entertainment of my younguns over twenty years ago, and have had a lot of fun with it since. Some of the content is "dated", but I did tweak it a little recently.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Apologies in advance for the "colorful" language of the hero...Grunt.[/#0000ff]
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And you want me to give tubin a try!
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[black][size 3]Oh TubeDude,[/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]That was too good. I think I'll read that one to the grand kids some day when we're out on Willard.[/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]"Channell Cat #5"?? Heeee he. Too good.[/size][/black]
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[black][size 3]Welcome home .... [/size][/black]
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[red][size 3]HEY! HEY! THAT WAS IT!!! THAT SAME PULSING CRESCENDO MUSIC I HEARD READING YOUR STORY WAS THE SAME TUNE WE COULD HEAR RIGHT UP TO THE POINT MY POLE WENT NUTZ!!! Great story, was it true? [/size][/red]
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[url "javascript: addTag('cool')"][cool][/url][#0000ff]Hey never, you heard the music too? Something between "Dueling Banjos" and the theme from "Jaws"?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Was it true? Coulda been. After all, dead fishermen tell no tales, and they don't smell any worse dead than alive.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]To Kent: You ain't gonna go tubin' just because of some silly story? I guess any excuse is better than none.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]To Coot: It is good to be HOME. Thanks for the welcome, and glad you liked the story.[/#0000ff]
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