Fishing Forum

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[font "Calibri"][size 3]Hit the bay yesterday 3/16/15, started pulling cranks.Looked like everyone around me was doing pretty well! I tried jointed raps in different colors and differentdepths. My result was nothing, nota, not even a sniff. Frustrated I put on myold standbys, a black and silver #5 shad rap and a clown color in the samesize. I was able to pick up 2 wipers on this set up but also had a couple morehits that did not hook up. Most of my hits came at 1.9 – 2.1. mph. [/size][/font]
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[font "Calibri"][size 3]Before I left I decided to spend some time throwing jerkbaits up shallow, I was able to pick up an additional 2 wiper doing this. I wasusing x-raps, I think it is just called silver but it has red and blues in itas well. I had to really slow down my cadences to get the wiper to committee(long pause on the jerking motion).[/size][/font]
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[size 3][font "Calibri"]All in all not bad 4 hours on the bay, I know there wereothers out there that had a much better day.[/font][/size]
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Sounds like a good day to me... Nice job... Later J
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That ol' Willard Bay is an interesting place for sure. I caught a few wipers last week and had a few other bites the same day that I wasn't able to hook up.

I fished Willard this morning from 7am to 11am and used the same thing (plus a whole lot more) I used last week and today ..... not a single fish, not even a bite. I fished for about an hour on the far South end, for an hour in Freeway bay, for an houron the Far North side and and then trolled from the light pole down to the Southwest corner and back. There were a bunch of boats out on the West end and the 2 boats I talked to hadn't had any action either.

Just when I think I'm starting to get Willard figured out.....
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It's feast or famine there.
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Wow, that is just crazy, we were out there on the 17th as well, fishing the same area you ended up at and we picked up 11. 9 were wipers up to 20" but we also caught one eye and a cat. It is amazing the difference a few hours will make. We were trolling from noon till 6pm.
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Maybe the warmer water temps in the later afternoon is the key to catching fish as compared to the early morning hours. The surface temp was 51 degrees when I launched at 7am and was 54 at 11am.

What were the temps during the later afternoon / evening on the 17th?
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LandL, you are experiencing the typical Willard Bay phenomenon................figure it out, it will change. I think I have told almost everyone I've ever talked to about WB, that it will make a liar out of you just about every time. That's why any advice I give on WB is followed by the Disclaimer "That's what worked....yesterday"
But it's that challenge that keeps us old stubborn guys going back for more punishment.
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Took 4 trips to finally even hook a fish at Willard, Tuesday caught a Walleye and 3 Wipers and lost 3 more Wipers.
All the action was in a 2 hr period 10:30- 12:30. No single lure caught more that two fish, so single color caught more than two fish. Just lucked into active fish for a short time and caught some. The other three hours were just like the skunk from the first three trips. All fish were caught trolling 2.1 MPH GPS. Basically out in the middle to west center of the lake. Used boards all day, not sure anything made a difference except the fish decided to Bite.

It's warm enough the flying bugs are starting to show up.
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I was fishing with another guy in his boat and I think his temp gage is off by a few degrees because on his finder, it never read above 51.6*. I do think the late morning and afternoon/evening bite is better, in general but just like Tin-Can said, that can change at a moments notice. Last Friday Wiperslayer and I fished from 11am till 5 pm and did not catch a fish, then another member said he did well in the morning[crazy]. The water temps do made a difference this time of the year. Did you notice a difference in temps from the West side of the lake to the East side of the lake? (See you in a few minutes)
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I call her "Ole Mistress Bay".
I'm addicted...
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