Fishing Forum

Oh my, blowing the dust off the spinning rods and taking the kids to Willard Bay. I have been a way from BFT for a long time and barely wet a line the past few years. Happy to see this is still an awesome place for good fishing information.

I have always fished Willard from a boat, so this will be a new adventure. Years ago I remember TubeDude being a Willard expert, maybe he's still around? I googled Willard Bay shore fishing, low and behold one of his BFT posts came up. Anyway, we are planning to fish long the area of the South and West dikes. Any tips or advice would be appreciated.

[fishon]
WW

Try the area around the inlet at the south marina, it's the traditionally good area in the spring. Get a bag of frozen mussels for bait, they sell them in the grocery stores in the area.
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Thank for the info Jedidiah!

Where ever you can get to the deepest water possible would be my advice. You will probably see some other people when you check out the south marina then you can explore the rest of the shoreline as you discover the access roads. Google is your friend, but nothing but ground reconnaissance will confirm access.

There are many shoreline fish in Willard, catfish are my favorite because of they like it near shore this time of year and they are hungry most of their lives.
I use shrimp, crawlers, commercial dough, or fresh non game-fish meat if I can get it.
Bait two hooks, about 18" apart with a nice 1/4 to 1/2 oz sinker on the bottom and huck it out as far as you can. You can also put an egg sinker on the line, then a swivel and put the hook on the end as well, when I do this I like to add a really small float (fly nymphing indicator size) pinned 6" from the hook.
An hour before sunset to about 2 hours after is best. Be prepared for insects at sundown, they can be brutal. Bring a lantern and place it a bit away from you so the insects it attracts will not bother you, yet it lights up the ground, use head lamps for light to tie on and fish.
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