Fishing Forum

Has anyone hit Willard this week? I am thinking about going Sunday. Also what are the regs. on the size of hole you can have. I tried to read the proc. but my computer keeps messing up.
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My son is going to Willard on tuesday. He asked if I would find out what is working for wipers. I showed him a post with a good location to fish, but I don't know what tackle or bait to use. Do you use minnows or meal worms? What size hooks etc. I told my son that the folks at BFT would give us the answers so please don't let me down. Thanks DKSRenegade
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You can have a maximum of a 10" hole on every lake in Utah, except at Bear Lake while fishing for Cisco.

As far as what is working, minnows or crawlers will catch Wipers. But you need to move around to catch them. Wipers are generally a schooling fish, so If you can locate a school, you should do well. Punch a lot of holes, and use your sonar to locate the fish. Good luck when you head out.
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Thanks for the info.
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Northland Fire-Ball Jigs
These live-bait jigs tempt and hold bass, perch and walleye. Northland's Fire-Ball jigs have a short-shank, wide-gap hook that's compact and provides solid hooksets. Live bait hugs the jig head because of a cone-shaped shoulder which holds them tight, making the bait essentially part of the jig itself. These jigs can be used with or without the stinger hook, which is a necessity when fish are swiping or mouthing your bait. Clip double-barb stinger hook behind the dorsal fin for extra bait-holding power.

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If you are going to use minnows, you will want one of these type fireball jigs and you definitley want to rig the stinger hook that comes with them.

In willard, I like the glow, or the really brightly colored lures. The water is so murky, and with the snow sitting on the ice, theres little light penetration in the water. The glow lures help the fish find your bait a little better. And the brightly colored lures help them see the action in the murk.

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I have been using this type of lure on my second pole. I use a 1 inch grub that james has down at hooked. Hooked is the only place I have ever seen this particular grub. But I imagine any brand would do. I rig it on a lead haed, and tip it with a crawler.

I will be out there myself saturday and sunday.
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Per the 2004 Proclamation: "When angling through the ice, the hole may not exceed 12 inches across the widest point, except at Bear Lake, Flaming Gorge Reservoir and Fish Lake where specific limiations apply."
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Hey Icefool

I've talked to a couple of people that have fished willard through the ice. It a great place to go in the winter if you don't want to catch any fish. LOL. At least I've not heard good report about the ice fishing from there. So if you want to catch lots of fish I would recomend somewhere other than there.



Trent
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Thanks for the reply Predator ,I down loaded your pictures and gave it to my son. He will get the jigs and bait and be ready to go now. I hope to have some wiper pictures to post wed. BFT, you guys ROCK DKSRenegade
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The difference between Willard and other lakes that are fished all the time in the winter is Willard is an unknown lake, at least as far a ice fishing goes. Most of us have never fished Willard in the winter, or at least very little, so it could be that once we learn how to fish it in the winter the catching could be better than it has been. I guess we will find out because there are more people fishing Willard this year than I have ever seen fish it during the winter. WH2
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Thanks for the info and since we are taking the kids I think we will opt for Echo. I still want to hit Willard it will just have to be at a later date. Will have to see how Predator does.
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All I can say is Willard is Willard, summer or winter it is hard to be consistent and as always you have to find the fish that are feeding. Predator has had fish on that have broke his line recently, so I would say if you can find the wipers that are looking for a meal you will have a fight on your hands. People have been catching big perch and smaller catfish also and it's all about fishing the fish that want to eat what you have to offer them. I hope we will be hearing more stories about people catching some wipers through the ice but time will tell, I know I'm going to be going after them a few more times before ice is out. WH2
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Hey ice fool, dont wait for me. I was supposed to go out this morning, but I woke up and my back was murdering me. I couldnt drag my sorry butt out of bed until around 10:00 am.

Sucks to be so young and get old all at the same time.

I did make it out for a few hours in the afternoon. I just couldnt let the back totally kill the chance.

I drilled a first set of holes, marked fish right off. Put down the poles, and fished it for a while. No bites so I moved on. Didnt mark any fish, so I moved again, marked a couple fish, but again no bites.

My back was killing me by now, but I punched a couple more holes, no fish on the finder. So I decided to go back to the first set of holes since they had the most fish on the finder. But the fish had moved on, and there were none to be found there.

So I fished it for a bit, and gave into back pain, hauled my sorry butt off the ice, without even so much as a bite today.

I was supposed to go back tommorow, and I would love to, But I will have to see what the back does to me in the morning.

Still hunting that willard ice eye.
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Thanks for the report Predator, sorry to hear about your baxk. I know how that is. To bad you didn't get a fish for all the work and pain. I have decided to head to Echo this morning.
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hey what kind of minnows are you using chubs,shinners,shad,what. I saw in a store(wallmart) they had small shad in bags just want to know if you've tryed them. now I love to use those small sinners you find in the bags for the crappie up there (and other lakes).
I'm going up on tuesday and need to know what to buy. Oh and what about ancovs? help a fellow bad back guy out. and how thick was the ice?
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The minnows are from Fuzzyfisher, a few of us got some a few weeks ago. I got sucker minnows but I'm not sure what Predator got. I think any minnows would work but I've never tried Ancovies. The ice was 7 to 8 inches thick on Monday. WH2
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ok thanks I have 3 kinds of minnows now to try that I've picked up but no suckers . one of these days I need to go back down to scipio lake for more sucker minnows from the stream. I haven't done that for a year or so. maybe I take the long way how saturday after fishing redmond.
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