Fishing Forum

I arrived to Willard around 6:45 AM. The wind was minimal so I started to setup my gear. I got a call from Rick (HCD) saying he was running a little late due to a family obligation that had him up into the late hours of the night. I decided to launch around 7 am.

I started scouting for fish on the finder and trying to find some boils or surface activity and found alot of action inside the marina. I started dragging my lure around in the marina and seemed like I would get hits pretty much any time I trolled in 10-14 feet of water. I had several hit and misses and a few hook ups and losses but successfully landed 3 in about 20 minutes. Just after the third HCD launched so I scooted over to show him the hot lure and give him an extra I brought for him. He put one on and we both started working over the marina.

I hooked up on the east side and then let a nice 3 lb channel cat go then heard Rick yell "Fish On!". I headed over to see what he had because it was giving him one hell of a fight on his fly rod. He ended up landing his first wiper and on a fly rod at that! I snapped a shot and he released this doozie and we started again.



We both seemed to hook up every time we hit certain spots in the marina. We continued to hammer them until about 10:30 AM then we both decided to venture out of the marina to see what we could find elsewhere.

We worked our way north towards the north east end and I hooked up with this nice wiper.





We worked that area over a bit with little success, and only marked minimal shad. We went back and worked some other spots we caught fish regularly and we both had one heck of a time catching until about 12:00 Noon when the wind came up. We decided to call it quits around 1 PM when the wind got so bad we couldnt make our way North anymore, plus my batteries power was depleated.

Overall we had one heck of a day on the water landing around 25-30 wipers between us and Rick successfully added wipers to his list of fish caught. I kept a couple to cook for me and the wife that night but all others were released. Thanks for coming out HCD, great times on the water with great company.




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[cool][#0000ff]Now, dat's what I'm talkin' 'bout. Great report.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Care to share exactly what the "hot lure" for the day was?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Would also like to know what fly pattern worked on the fairy wand.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Too bad about the wind. This is a "transition time" of year though, and wind is part of the normal equation. I guess we just got to appreciate those rare and wonderful calm days.[/#0000ff]
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Renegade's Tennessee Shad was the hot ticket. Out produced the typical blue/silver producers 10 to 1. My best bet is they look alot like the carp minnows swimming about. I opened the stomache on the 19 inchers I kept and found some very small shad minnows and some bigger carp minnows. Color was faint as they had been partially digested.

As for flies, HCD tied on one of these small cranks to his fly rod. He just enjoys the fight on a fly rod. I know he was using tubes on Sunday at Willard and hammering them.
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[cool][#0000ff]Probably a good theory on the carp minnows. TubeBabe got two wipers on chub minnows the last trip we made up there.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I can "synthesize" with the enjoyment of fighting fish on a flyrod, even though you ain't flingin' flies. I have built several spinning rods on 9 foot fly rod blanks over the years. They are great "bubble chuckers" and "dip sticks". They also work well for both casting and retrieving parallel to shoreline (like the rocks at Willard) or for trolling a ways out from a boat or toon (outriggers).[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The softer action of the long rods not only makes them more fun to the angler, but also helps whup large fish with the springiness of the rod, which acts as a shock absorber. This can be especially important when using light lines.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Many of the steelhead and salmon fans in the great lakes areas fish with "noodle rods" that allow them to present small offerings to wary fish in clear water, and then to fight them on the light line. Good concept.[/#0000ff]
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Hey CBR,

Great report and great fish ! I'm glad you guys got to get out and had a great day on the water.

Quick question if you don't mind me being nosey - hounds are kind of like that.

What does a Renegade Tennessee shad look like ? Could you post a photo of one ? I have several shads that are called Tennessee shads(none are Renegade though) and they all are kind of different color patterns. Must be artistic license or something like that. So, I was wondering which one I have that might closely resemble the one you guys were having success with and if mine are about the same size as yours. I may be going up to Willard tomorrow or the next day - depending on where and when my fishing partners want to go - it's not decided on yet.

Anyway, it's nice to see someone get out and enjoy some fishing and catching - especially when I am stuck here in town just being jealous.
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[cool]Hey Craig. Went to wally-world a couple of weeks ago to look for the Renegade "Tennessee Shad." They didn't have any in the box on the bottom shelf that contained Renegade lures, but i did pick up something called the "Arkansas Shad" that looked and sounded similar to what you describe as the Tennessee Shad. I'm looking forward to trying it out on Willard soon. I think it will work really well. Might also work well for the Smallies in Jordy, I'm thinking.
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