Fishing Forum

[cool][#0000ff]LloydE and I hit Willard north marina from our tubes this morning. Launched just after 7 AM. Lots of early skeeters in the warm 60 degree air. Air was calm, except for a light breeze a couple of times. Water temp was 65 at launch and 68 at noon. Clarity is getting better. Almost green instead of brown. Water level is the same as the last month or so. 7 feet in the channel.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Poor Lloyd. Started to launch without his rods. I got them off the top of the car and set him afloat. He got out past the marina entrance first but promptly got a hook in his head net. That kept him busy while I passed him on the way to the honey hole. Things didn't get much better for him.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]My first minnow was promptly nailed and line went streaming off the reel. Set the hook and listened to the drag cry in protest. Sweet. No cookie cutter kittie this time. My first fish...within minutes of starting to fish...was a nice 21 inch wiperinski. 4.3# of hard fighting tasty goodness. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It was over an hour before I got my next hit. But, Lloyd finally made it out and started fishing the right area...after I yelled at him to replace the batteries in his walkie talkie. I could hear him talking over the water but not the radio. Shortly after he cruised into the "zone" Lloyd went bendo on a nice wiper. But, inexperienced fish didn't know how to hang on. He let go at the tube. Whimper whimper. That was to be the high/low point of the day. No other hookups...ALL DAY. Bummer.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]On the other hand, I kept kicking north until I found another zone. I scored three or four quick cookie cutter kitties and called Lloyd to move down with me. Just as he was getting close, my minnow rod got another big bend in it. Another 21 inch wiper. Dang, I hate it when that happens. NOT.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We both worked around in that area and I caught about 10 cat-ettes...letting a couple go and keeping a limit for the fryer. Them Willard cookies is mighty tasty.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We might as well have gone home at 10:30...AGAIN. Typical of the way it has gone for us on several previous trips, the fish hit for awhile and then shut down. We saw plenty of fish on sonar...some indentifiable as PROBABLY wipers. But they were not eating minnows, crankbaits, spinners or plastics. Lockjaw city.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There were grundles of "toothless golden wipers" all over the surface of the water again today. Bajillions of cruising, sucking carp. I was ready to go get a machine gun to get even for all the ones that waited until I was almost on top of them before they made a big splash and rocketed away. Scared the stuffin' out of me more than once. On a calm morning, when you are half dozing while you kick slowly backwards...without looking...those sudden water explosions are a bit unnerving.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There were seven boat trailers in the lot when I got my car to load up our tubes. One boat joined us at the cleaning station and they had 3 wipers, taken trolling the west side...all under 18". All the boats we could see seemed to be moving around a lot and nobody was working any area with any degree of apparent success.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]When we came back in, Lloyd wanted me to take a picture of his empty basket. He planned to claim that it was full of invisible fish...6 invisible walleyes, 6 invisible wipers and 8 invisible catfish. But, Lloyd being the honest angler that he is (a rare breed), he decided that would not be right. However, in the true fisherman's tradition, he uttered the words "Well, it was a great day to be fishing...and there will always be other days when the catching is better." Somehow that is always more credible when somebody says it without hissing it through clenched teeth.[/#0000ff]
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Pat, I love reading your posts.. Thanks
Also, 2 in a row for trips with big wipers.. those are some dandy fish!
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That was an especially well-written and enjoyable post.

Those wipers must be fun. Think they're called that 'cause it's difficult to "wipe" the grin off your face once you hook one and bring it to the tube? That's my guess.

Glad you and Mr. Lloyd enjoyed yourselves, though I'm sorry he didn't find more catching success. He's fine company, as you well know.
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Nice pictures, I liked the one of the two wipers holding up the fisherman...[][sly][crazy]
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TDude,

I ain't ever tried that tubbing business (and I currently don't have any plans to) but you sure do make it look like a great way to fish. Thanks for your great reports.
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If I brought my 12' Raft up there would I be able to find some wipers without oaring too much?
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[cool][#0000ff]I caught my first wiper within 50 yards of the mouth of the marina this morning. And, in the past, many of my best fish have been taken within 200 yards of the marina. The guys that blast off for the far shore often go right over schools of active fish.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Shoot me a PM and I will send you a map with some of the better spots highlighted.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You SHOULD have good sonar to help you find fish and to stay in the right depth. But, you can catch fish without anything but a few good lures and a steady hand on the oars.[/#0000ff]
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Beautiful weather, terrific scenery, great company, challenging fishing -- what more could you ask for?
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Glad to hear the waters clearin up a bit. Enjoyable report as always Pat. How'd those wipers taste?
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Nice report and pics. Is it still launchable and did you see any boils ?
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[quote bassrods]Nice pictures, I liked the one of the two wipers holding up the fisherman...[][sly][crazy][/quote]

[cool][#0000ff]Thanks. Well trained wipers...especially the third one that took the picture.[/#0000ff]
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[quote LloydE]Beautiful weather, terrific scenery, great company, challenging fishing -- what more could you ask for?[/quote]

[cool][#0000ff]Well, some of the more selfish anglers might wish for more fish.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It was indeed a great day to be on the water. Too bad the stupid fish ruined MY peaceful reverie. It is such a distraction to have to keep setting hooks, bringing in fish, etc.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Sorry, Lloyd. As you know...I'm bad. But at least I reminded you about the rods before you got out to start fishing.[/#0000ff]
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[quote BEARCLAW]Glad to hear the waters clearin up a bit. Enjoyable report as always Pat. How'd those wipers taste?[/quote]

[cool][#0000ff]Thanks.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Fixed one wiper for TubeBabe and myself last night. The two fillets were plenty. Did 'em up scampi style (sauteed in garlic butter) and served them over some noodles. Deeeeelicious.[/#0000ff]
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[quote mactuna]Nice report and pics. Is it still launchable and did you see any boils ?[/quote]

[cool][#0000ff]Thanks.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The water level has not dropped noticeably in the last month. Still about 5 feet at the back of the trailer at the ramp and 7 feet in the middle of the channel on the way out. There is still that 3.5 foot hump right at the mouth of the marina but that should be plenty of clearance...especially if you trim up the motor until you are past it...if you are concerned. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As others have suggested, keep going straight west from the marina at least a couple of hundred yards before going north or south. There are spots less than 3 feet deep way off the shore in either direction...with a shallow rockpile not buoyed straight out off Eagle Beach. Several places where I can stand up in my tube way out in the middle of nowhere.[/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]Did not see any surface activity except for carp. The water is cooling and the shad are going deeper...and the wipers follow. However, there were some carp fry working around the edges at daybreak and the wipers WILL forage on those.[/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]Neither of the wipers I filleted had any shad in them, but one had a 5" long "remnant" of some unidentifiable species...not shad. It was long and slender. Could have been a June sucker on vacation from Utah Lake.[/#0000ff]
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Everytime we have gone out except one we have hit atleast on fish coming out of the marina, like TD said about 200 yds out.
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[font "Times New Roman"][#000000]That basket of fishes lookes mighty good. What were you using this time now that you say the water color is a bit different? What was LloydE using were you guys trying different things or tactics? Many things to think about I guess. [/#000000][/font]
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[font "Times New Roman"][#000000]Reading the posts from Willard the last few months I have come to think that it is not a bad place, not bad at all. Looking at those pictures of the scencery one can feel like they are fishing in some far off place. But then that is why fishing makes a man so happy and calm. [fishin][/#000000][/font]
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[quote line_dangler][font "Times New Roman"][#000000]That basket of fishes lookes mighty good. What were you using this time now that you say the water color is a bit different? What was LloydE using were you guys trying different things or tactics? Many things to think about I guess. [/#000000][/font][font "Times New Roman"][#000000] [/#000000][/font][/quote]

[cool][#0000ff]The only thing I got any fish on was chub minnows...both wipers and about 10 catfish. And, only on the bottom...nothing on dropshot rig or nothing below a bobber. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I was optimistic about my chances with crankbaits or plastics but barely got a couple of light bumps on artificials. Some days it goes that way and other days the fish are up in the water column and active enough to smack lures.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We fished early in the morning, when the water temps were at their lowest...starting at about 65 degrees. Wipers prefer temps above 70, so they get more active later in the day, after the sun warms the water a bit. It was 68 when we left at noon (so Lloyd could get back for a meeting). Guys who fished later that same day got into some decent action on lures.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Lloyd was using chub minnows too, on a rig I put together for him on our previous trip. We both fished essentially the same area the same way with the same baits and lures. Why did he blank? I have been fishing too long to try to answer that. Sometimes the fish just gang up on somebody and totally ignore them. The only explanation I could offer Lloyd is that he got impatient on the first fish and blew it before he could net it. That fish might have spread the word to watch out for him. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It's the old "first fish jinx". Sometimes the guy who catches the first fish catches all the fish...and sometimes they don't get another one all day. And, as I have seen many times before, if you lose the first fish you don't get any other chances.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Makes about as much sense as any other explanation. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Willard Bay Reservoir is a manmade shallow bowl, ringed by rock dikes. As such, it ain't very pretty. But, they put it in a nice place. The mountains to the east are always a good view, and the sunsets to the west, across the Salt Lake, can bring tears to your eyes. It is always a good spot for bird watching too. In a typical morning you can see flights of ducks, geese, cranes, ibis, gulls, terns, pelicans, cormorants and various kinds of shore birds. Unfortunately there are sometimes "red breasted water skiers", "spiky haired wakeboarders" or "crested Jet Skiers". They can be a nuisance to anglers.[/#0000ff]
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