I've been considering trying my hand at wipers from my pontoon. Is this very productive or do you need a boat to cover more water and be able to cruise over to boils? Do many people fish for the wipers this way?
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Hey cje04,
I toon up at willard for wipers. Yes, it can be quite productive. You can also get your share of walleyes from a pontoon. There are several areas that are accessible by pontoon from both the North and South marinas. I don't know what kind of toon or motor you might have, but, trolling may be difficult to accomplish for very long at the speeds needed some times. My electric trolling motor's battery won't last a long time at 2.5-3.2 mph, however, I have used my gas engine(2 stroke 3 hp Yamaha) a time or two and it worked out much better(with the caveat ,that I end up trolling my lures much further behind the toon because of the noise's and vibration's of the gas motor's effects on the fish). Usually, if I intend to troll all day, I'll take my tin boat - it's so much easier. I like to use my pontoon boat for a more stealthy approach - often, I cast flies right up close to where the fish are after I snuck up on thier holding or cruising areas. On of my favorite and a very productive method, is to slowly cruise the rocks on the bank and cast buggers, jigs and zonkers into them. You can do this as well even with your electric motor. I have gotten lots of wipers, walleyes, bass and even catfish that way.
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Took my pontoon to the North marina several times last year,have a electric motor,so I went to the North dike from the marina.Found a
few good boils,and did ok,caught fish on other occasions also.Found one good boil just outside the harbor as I was going in.Usually fished late afternoon until dark.Got the fish last year on 3/8 oz kastmasters,this year they seem to like surface stuff sometimes(tiny torpedoes by Heddon)
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I was up there yesterday from 4-8PM and had enough already. My tendonitus is so aggrivated I can barely move my right wrist. 15 wipers 3 channel cats and 2 walleye. What a day.
It is possible to get into them. I myself troll for them out by the island until they boil. 2mph is the lucky nukber for me.
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I went out yesterday also. I fished the dike by the South Marina. This was my 2 time fishing Willard and my first time pontooning it. As such I really didn't have a clue to what I was doing or where I should concentrate on fishing. I ended up landing 1 small wiper and had another fish on that after about spooling me promptly broke me off. I am assuming it was a decent sized wiper. That was all the action I had. I fished from 6 pm to dark. I'm looking forward to heading out again soon. I know many of the BFT people carry radios. Are they 2 way radio's? If so, what channel? I took my 2 way radio yesterday and scanned the channels hoping to hear someone. Unfortunately I didn't hear anyone. If anyone's willing I'd like to hook up and try tubing for them again.
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My first wiper was caught just inside the mouth of the marina along the north east side of the side with the lush greens. I think you probably did pretty darn good considering the lack of boils. I only saw 1 before the wind picked up and it only lasted a minute with all the skiiers. I am motorized so that really helps with getting the wipers so I can cover more water. I troll most the time unless i find a boil.
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