Fishing Forum

Made the trip to Willard arrival water temp was 48* departure 56*. Water temp did nudge 59* for a little while. It was a beautiful day slight breeze in the morning then calmed down to hardly a breeze at all. We were kinda suprised there really wasn't that many boats at all on the main body for such a great day to be on the water. Kinda looked close to combat fish'n though in the North Marina. Lots of folks bunched up in there.

Anyhoo because we like space we headed to the open water of Willard in search of them Walleye. However as fate would have it and go figure the only fish that liked the worm harnesses were Wiper.

I was using a planner board carolina rig with a Colorado blade firetiger 2 hook harness and them fish slammed this setup set'n off the bait casters drag. Had 2 make it to the boat and lost 2 others. One for sure was a Wiper by the way it slammed the rig but the other one the jury is out as to if it was a Catfish or Walleye. On that one the planner board just had the back end dip under the water and coming/pulling towards the boat never set the casters drag off. Grabbed the rod and it felt heavy but this fish didn't slam like the Wipers did and unfortunately tossed the harness so who knows what it was.

Other two rods were setup with 2oz bottom bouncers and a Lindy harnesses and not a bump to be had. The dang planner board setup kept us from get'n the skunk. Since we don't eat Wiper both of them were released for another day and angler. Both the Wipers measured a titch under 20" and you can tell by the photos they were nice and chunky and both were heavy fish as far as I'm concerned.

Worked primarily Freeway bay and the North End. All fish and hits were off the beach and out in the middle of freeway bay in approximately 19' of water trolling at 1-1.2MPH on the GPS
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]Very nice start to the season. I hope to do the same this coming week after we get back. Temps here are in the high 80’s and low 90’s. To damn hot, but we’re enjoying it none the less. [cool][/size][/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000][size 4]Keep up the good work.[/size][/#800000][/font]
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Those fish aren't healthy at all!![]
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Nice report Kim and nice looking wipers. Looks like they fattened up during the winter. With the water temps getting that warm, it won't be long before they really turn on.
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See you are starting to figure them out, you two should join us on 12 June.[fishin]
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dang i gotta go do that. NICE FISH. looks like a hoot.
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Reminds me of several years ago when I first tried to fish for wipers up at Willard and I caught a six to eight walleye, and not a single wiper.
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That second wiper has striper markings. The black lines aren't broken like the first one. Makes me wonder if there might have been a mix-up at the hatchery. I mean, Lakes Powell and Mead have stripers so it's not like they couldn't live in Willard.[sly]

Good on ya, Kim.[cool]

Retch (aka fatbass)
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