02-15-2015, 02:23 PM
Ice has been off WB now for couple weeks. I have been out bank tanglin a couple times, with no joy. With the past week of very nice (very early) spring weather, I decided to get the Tin-Can unwrapped and on the water. The morning started kind of cloudy, cool, light breeze. Got to the north ramp about 9 AM. Had taken all the stuff I needed to do an oil change. Got the motor into the water, started up and running to warm up the oil and lower end lube. Noticed I had to back quite a ways down the ramp to float the boat, and the depth while still on the trailer was 2 ft. Well, got the oil warmed and the motor running smooth, pulled back up the ramp with a DNR Ranger right on my bumper. Had a nice conversation and got my safety and compliance inspection on the first fishin day this year. All good, as it always is. Changed my oil, & filter, put everything back together and was launched by about 10 AM.
OK, the stats that most of us always look for in one of these reports: Depth of the end of ramp 2 ft. within the launch bowl area between ramp and west dock, 4 to 6ft. going out the channel 5 to 7 ft. in the middle, at the hump entrance to main body jumps up to about 4.5 ft. in the middle, but goes up sharply to 3 ft. toward the south bank. Other side of the hump to the Red / Green buoys depth increases 5 to 8 ft. and past the buoys gets down to 9 to 11 ft. in the north center area off the swim beach. Now I didn't go to far out in the bay yesterday, but there where 8 to 10 other boats out there somewhere. I could see a couple, but not all. Water temp. was 46 at launch and got to 47.6 by mid day. Sky stayed cloudy with some breaks that the sun came thru and made it quite comfortable. Breeze stiffened to a light wind for a short time but nothing critical. Now , normally I take a couple days to get my poles and reels set up with new line, replenish my snaps, swivels, egg weights, various hooks and other "expendables" that are lost during the previous season, clean out the tackle box, and get the boat set and ready BEFORE I hit the water. This years warmer weather caught me a bit by surprise. I was able to get the boat mostly set up, but I just dropped all my poles in the boat with a shopping bag of "stuff" and headed for WB . Once I was out in water that showed a passing possibility of holding some fish, I anchored out, got a couple lines baited up and out, then set to work replacing line on all my poles, restocking my tackle box, and doing final adjustments to how I like my boat arranged. Now I was quite involved with those tasks, and not really expecting to hook up anything on the first day out, and wouldn't you know it, some cookie cutter Willard Bay Channel Cat decided to interrupt my work on re-spooling a reel. So, OK, no skunk on first day out this year, well that's a pleasant change.
[inline "(06) 14 Feb 2015 1025 Cat CPR First catch of 2015.jpg"]
14 Feb 2015 WB Cat #1 1025 AM CPR
Well, got all my reels re-spooled with new line, cleaned out the tackle box, moved around to a couple other spots up in the north center area, thoroughly drowned a few more worms, drank some coffee, ate some mini glazed donuts, listened to the radio, and basically didn't do too much. Made one more move to about 200 yards off the north wall about 300 yards west of the swim beach shallows and anchored up in about 8 FOW. Got lines back out, and wasn't but a few minutes one pole starts tapping against the side of the boat, short sharp tugs, took up the pole tightened up drag jus a bit, slow reeled until line was taught, and thump ! Game on! Thought maybe I had a early Wiper, or a more aggressive Cat, maybe even a mid size carp. Nope, turned out to be the fattest Yellow Perch I have caught at Willard to date. Now back in 2013 I caught a couple while bank fishin with wiperhunter2 that were better than the average WB size. This one was about the same length, but quite a bit thicker in the middle.
[inline "(08) 11.5 inch Perch 14 Feb 2015.jpg"]
[inline "(09) Perch CPR 14 Feb 2015.jpg"]
14 Feb 2015 WB 1:08 PM Yellow Perch 11.5 " CPR
Not long after that, temp cooled some, breeze came up some more, and I figured I had done enough for day one of Fishin Season 2015.
[signature]
OK, the stats that most of us always look for in one of these reports: Depth of the end of ramp 2 ft. within the launch bowl area between ramp and west dock, 4 to 6ft. going out the channel 5 to 7 ft. in the middle, at the hump entrance to main body jumps up to about 4.5 ft. in the middle, but goes up sharply to 3 ft. toward the south bank. Other side of the hump to the Red / Green buoys depth increases 5 to 8 ft. and past the buoys gets down to 9 to 11 ft. in the north center area off the swim beach. Now I didn't go to far out in the bay yesterday, but there where 8 to 10 other boats out there somewhere. I could see a couple, but not all. Water temp. was 46 at launch and got to 47.6 by mid day. Sky stayed cloudy with some breaks that the sun came thru and made it quite comfortable. Breeze stiffened to a light wind for a short time but nothing critical. Now , normally I take a couple days to get my poles and reels set up with new line, replenish my snaps, swivels, egg weights, various hooks and other "expendables" that are lost during the previous season, clean out the tackle box, and get the boat set and ready BEFORE I hit the water. This years warmer weather caught me a bit by surprise. I was able to get the boat mostly set up, but I just dropped all my poles in the boat with a shopping bag of "stuff" and headed for WB . Once I was out in water that showed a passing possibility of holding some fish, I anchored out, got a couple lines baited up and out, then set to work replacing line on all my poles, restocking my tackle box, and doing final adjustments to how I like my boat arranged. Now I was quite involved with those tasks, and not really expecting to hook up anything on the first day out, and wouldn't you know it, some cookie cutter Willard Bay Channel Cat decided to interrupt my work on re-spooling a reel. So, OK, no skunk on first day out this year, well that's a pleasant change.
[inline "(06) 14 Feb 2015 1025 Cat CPR First catch of 2015.jpg"]
14 Feb 2015 WB Cat #1 1025 AM CPR
Well, got all my reels re-spooled with new line, cleaned out the tackle box, moved around to a couple other spots up in the north center area, thoroughly drowned a few more worms, drank some coffee, ate some mini glazed donuts, listened to the radio, and basically didn't do too much. Made one more move to about 200 yards off the north wall about 300 yards west of the swim beach shallows and anchored up in about 8 FOW. Got lines back out, and wasn't but a few minutes one pole starts tapping against the side of the boat, short sharp tugs, took up the pole tightened up drag jus a bit, slow reeled until line was taught, and thump ! Game on! Thought maybe I had a early Wiper, or a more aggressive Cat, maybe even a mid size carp. Nope, turned out to be the fattest Yellow Perch I have caught at Willard to date. Now back in 2013 I caught a couple while bank fishin with wiperhunter2 that were better than the average WB size. This one was about the same length, but quite a bit thicker in the middle.
[inline "(08) 11.5 inch Perch 14 Feb 2015.jpg"]
[inline "(09) Perch CPR 14 Feb 2015.jpg"]
14 Feb 2015 WB 1:08 PM Yellow Perch 11.5 " CPR
Not long after that, temp cooled some, breeze came up some more, and I figured I had done enough for day one of Fishin Season 2015.
[signature]
] Of course I was bottom bouncing for eyes and only fished for a few hours. My main mission was to check out my new trolling device, the Troll Master. It is a digital trolling device that makes it so much easier to get you to the exact speed you want to go. At least that part of my mission was a success[
]. 
]