I accepted the most kind invite of wiperhunter2 to motor around Willard to see if I could make my hands smell fishy. I'm not sure of where all we trolled (I was facing the rear) but I can tell you that our secret launching spot was (hotspot alert follows) the South Marina.
The water is down about ten feet from high pool, and still falling. Surface temps ranged from 76° to 78°F and it was overcast and dead calm all day. Glassy, in fact.
I managed to bring home three walleye about 19" long and skinny. Curt hung a very stupified crappie on a lure half its size. No wipers at all.
The hot (if you can one strike per hour hot) lure was a deep-diving shad imitator with black back.
A good time was had by both, especially while Curt watched me try to back his stick-shift truck and trailer down the ramp at load-out. Hilarious.
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]Rocky,[/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]Been there; done that with Curt’s truck. LOL![/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]So the eyes are still giving it a go. Maybe I can get out Thursday or Friday andgrab some for the frying pan. Thanks forthe report.[/#800000][/font]
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I enjoyed getting out there with you today Rocky, I wish the catching had been better but that could be as good as it is going to get for the rest of this year. Maybe we will get lucky and the shad numbers will be down this year, if that is the case we will see wiper boils before too long. That was surprising, catching that crappie and even more surprising that the worm harness did not catch anything, even a cat.
I thought you did a good job backing the trailer down the ramp, compared to some people that I have seen backing down the ramp you are an Ace.
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Hey Curt how is the new boat treating you? Have you heard any rumors of the north marina opening yet? Can't believe I haven't made it over the hill to fish Willard yet. I just haven't found the time to do it yet, but one of these days. Later J
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New boat is great, still learning about how things work on it but I sure can't complain. We took a look at the North marina as we trolled past, doesn't look like anything has changed. From what I heard though, the test results, of the soil samples, should be back this week. If they are good the marina could open later this month if they are bad, I'd say the North marina will be closed most of this year[frown]. June was a good month at the Bay but you aren't missing much now, I'm just glad the eyes are still biting or it would be a total waste to fish there.
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I forgot to mention this above.
Curt gingerly motored us over the "island" and we noted less than three feet of water on the sonar. That's probably right at three feet of actual depth, counting the wee bit that the transducer is submerged.
The only good news is that we saw only one waterskier boat. Fishing may not be the best right now, but at least it isn't a war zone out there. Weekends might be another matter, of course.
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Thanks for the update and glad your ride is working out. Seems like the cats kept me home this year but I still want to knock that wiper off my to catch list. If the bay is slow, maybe I'll try Kokes at the pig next opening. Thanks for the info. J
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Yea, if the water keeps dropping at the rate it is dropping now, the Island could be out of the water by fall. One thing I have never seen them do in the past, they have three buoys on the Island, in a triangle.
I have no way to confirm this but it appears they have opened up the channel in the South marina, that goes to the baffles. I've seen many boats in there this year and even though they claim the channel is closed to boat traffic, they have refused to put a buoy in the channel saying it is closed even after many request.
Does anyone know where, if anywhere, there is a rule on a website that says the channel is still closed? I'm going to send an Email to the Willard park manager and ask him but I'm not sure he will even reply.
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