My wife and I celebrated our anniversary by trolling Willard Thurs. morning, about 8:30 'til the wind blew us away around noon thirty. She picked up 2 wipers, I was skunked - - my excuse is I spent the whole time messing with my new fish finder / GPS and steering the boat, etc., hardly looked at my rod all morning. The weather was perfect and the water mirror smooth as you can see in the photo. Can't wait for fishing to get even better! We trolled a Producer on hers, a Shad Rap on mine, about 2 mph. Maybe we should have used the big motor to troll faster, but we didn't try it. Water temp was 48, and warmed to 51 degrees by the time we left.
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Thanks for posting your report MC, what area did your wife catch the wipers? Good way to celebrate your anniversary, I wish my wife would go for that. Were you using side planners? WH2
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]A definite keeper, not the wipers, the wife. Any woman who will celebrate her anniversary trolling for wipers is a real catch![/size][/black][/font]
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Agreed. Wish my wife would go out with me from time to time.
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We launched at the North Marina and just trolled around in the NE corner, where the water is about 15' deep. A couple of boats were launching just as we were leaving, and the wind was blowing like a mutha. Whatever blows your skirt up, I guess. I don't mind a breeze, but...
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WOW!!! Your Wife actually wanted to go fishing with you on your Anniversary?[
] My wife loves fishing on our Anniversary only its the $60 a plate kind and not exactly on a boat.[unsure]
How was the water levels in the North Marina? Last time I was up there ( being very careful) I nicked a prop and have been shy about ever going back. Are there still a few underwater hazards to look out for?
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The water level at the North Marina was good, about 9 feet. There were even some boats going up into the big area to the east of the ramp where it's shallower. I saw boats get hung up in there last spring, and I would avoid that area until the lake comes up more. But you really don't need to fear the North Marina ramp, plenty of water now, much better than last year I think, although I didn't make my first trip there until a little later last year. In fact the loading dock adjacent to the ramp is totally usable, making it easy for you to launch alone. The cleaning station is still closed [mad] At least there aren't any PWC's around [cool] There was a grundle of people fishing from the bank up there in the day use area by the docks, but I didn't drive over to see what was up. They seemed to be bait fishing - - catfish maybe?
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Very nice Wiper indeed!
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Those people you saw fishing from shore in the North marina were catching crappie and from all reports, they are slabs. Maybe it will be a good year for crappie too. WH2
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