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+--- Thread: Willard and Utah Lake (/showthread.php?tid=806194)
Willard and Utah Lake - Gumbyk - 03-18-2013
I'm an avid fisherman and just wanted to start a thread to update everyone each time I fish. Ill try to post as much as I can. Well here's the first report. Went to Utah Lake fri 3/15: American Fork harbor has plenty of open water. Fished for 1 hr with jigs, no luck. Provo harbor has open open water, spoke with some people there who stated it has been slow and only caught a trout. Lincoln beach was pretty much iced with limited open water. We did fish at a spot where you need waders and I caught a walleye.
For Willard Bay I went on sat 3/16: It is iced on freeway bay. Did not go into the north or south marina just by the way freeway bay looked. I did fish near the south marina and caught 3 wipers while others around me were catching walleye left to right. I tried to release the wipers because they are still small, but they were already struggling to survive so i kept them. I decided to go today 3/17 and caught myself a walleye. Didn't stay too long because the weather got bad. Pics posted.
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Re: [Gumbyk] Willard and Utah Lake - TheFishSlayer - 03-18-2013
Any day catching fish at Willard is a good day. Any tips?
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Re: [TheFishSlayer] Willard and Utah Lake - Gumbyk - 03-18-2013
I think everyday is a good day
I'm actually going again tomorrow. The weather looks like it's going to be a lot cooler this week. It's really too soon to say what is good or not. This was my first weekend of fishing for the year and since the weather was nice my friend and I just decided to "test" it out. It seems like the walleyes are spawning and they like cold water so it should be fairly good now and continue to be better in the next following weeks. I was surprise about the wipers but I figure all the fish are pretty hungry with the ice and all. Wipers usually get more active with the warmer water, but we did pretty good starting in April last year. Its usually better in the morning before 10am and picks up again after 5pm. But again, I caught plenty last year throughout the whole day. For this weekend, I caught the first wiper at noon and the second/third around 4pm. I missed about 5 in between those hrs. The walleye i caught about 8am, but i saw people catching them throughout the whole day the day prior. I hope this helps and will post about my day tomorrow.[signature]
Re: [Gumbyk] Willard and Utah Lake - one8sevenn - 03-18-2013
Nice Eye. Are you using jigs/Cranks or worm harnesses? Just Curious.
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Re: [Gumbyk] Willard and Utah Lake - toadly - 03-18-2013
Pretty sure the inlet canal of Willard closes from March thru May to let the Walleyes spawn. I might be off on the dates. Might want to check. It should be posted but there are some who remove the sign.
Nice to hear there is some open water to fish.. Nice catches..
P.S. Welcome to Big Fish..[cool]
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Re: [toadly] Willard and Utah Lake - hogstalker - 03-18-2013
Nothing at all in the proclamation about the inlet closing --or did I just miss it somehow?
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Re: [toadly] Willard and Utah Lake - raghorn4 - 03-18-2013
[mad]Closed to fishing March 1 though 6 a.m. on the last saturday in april fron the buoy in the south marina up to the second set of inlet baffles!! Your fishing the first set of baffles!!
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Re: [raghorn4] Willard and Utah Lake - toadly - 03-18-2013
Easy there buddy. No need for frowny faces. Its not me thats been fishing there. It is Gumbyk.
To reply to the original post you need to click on the original post reply button.
I am sure this guy didnt know about it being closed.
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Re: [toadly] Willard and Utah Lake - raghorn4 - 03-18-2013
Sorry.
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Re: [hogstalker] Willard and Utah Lake - Fishrmn - 03-18-2013
You didn't miss anything. The inlet channel isn't closed.
Here's what the proclamation says:
Quote:Willard Bay Reservoir and inlet channel, Box Elder County
• Limit 10 crappie.
• Limit 6 walleye, only 1 walleye may be over
24 inches.
• Limit 3 wiper.
• Possession of gizzard shad, dead or alive, is
unlawful.
Dosen't say a thing about the inlet being closed.
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Re: [raghorn4] Willard and Utah Lake - raghorn4 - 03-18-2013
[crazy]Now I'am seriosly
. it has been this way since the early eighties to help protect the spawning walleye. Now if iam reading the 2013 guidebook right you can fish there? This has got to be a wrong.[signature]
Re: [raghorn4] Willard and Utah Lake - TubeDude - 03-18-2013
[quote raghorn4][mad]Closed to fishing March 1 though 6 a.m. on the last saturday in april fron the buoy in the south marina up to the second set of inlet baffles!! Your fishing the first set of baffles!![/quote]
[cool][#0000FF]You are looking at an old proclamation. That restriction has been removed in the 2013 regs.
I am sorry to see it go. There will be a terrible harvest of both walleyes and wipers by the "happy harvesters". When the fish swarm up into the running water they are vulnerable to the snagging crowd and a lot of big spawning females will be snagged out. They usually don't get caught legally because they don't actually hit lures much until after the spawn.
Before they put the closure in place there were teams of snaggers that would fish all night...with a couple watching out for DWR officers. They would take home truckloads of snagged walleyes.
I hope DWR targets that area for some increased surveillance. But they are so spread out already that I doubt it will be covered much.
[/#0000FF]
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Re: [TubeDude] Willard and Utah Lake - raghorn4 - 03-18-2013
I do remember those days. Sad. What is the DWR thinking on this? Just when a lake was finaly becoming a fairly stable fishery.
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Re: [raghorn4] Willard and Utah Lake - flygoddess - 03-18-2013
Add insult to injury, thousands can now read that it is open[
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Re: [one8sevenn] Willard and Utah Lake - Gumbyk - 03-18-2013
Jigs. The white minnows with any color jig heads seems like they are working the best.
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Re: [flygoddess] Willard and Utah Lake - fish_fear_me2 - 03-18-2013
We always advocate reading the Guidebook if they compare last years to this years they would have noticed.
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Re: [flygoddess] Willard and Utah Lake - Gumbyk - 03-18-2013
I release all the females. And yes you can fish the inlet. I was carded 3 times on Saturday and asked if it was okay to fish the inlet and they said yes.
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Re: [fish_fear_me2] Willard and Utah Lake - flygoddess - 03-18-2013
[quote fish_fear_me2]We always advocate reading the Guidebook if they compare last years to this years they would have noticed.[/quote]
Great practice too, but I am betting Raghorn4 wasn't the only one that might not have noticed, but they know now.[sly]
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Re: [flygoddess] Willard and Utah Lake - fish_fear_me2 - 03-18-2013
would you have preferred a non factual response to the question? Someone fished, someone else posted info from last years proclamation, a couple posters clarified this years regulations.
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Re: [TubeDude] Willard and Utah Lake - toadly - 03-18-2013
It seem the DWR has turned there back on Willard.
They dont seem to patrol Willard much. I fished there at least 3 time per week last year between June and late August for the Wiper and Catfish. Not seeing the officers was the norm and the "Happy Harvesters" were taking full advantage of it. After seeing Coolers full of young Wipers being filled I called the report line but never saw one Officer.
Gumbyk is one of the few people there following the regulations. Good on him, maybe it will rub off on the others.
I am thinking the days of seeing large Wipers may be coming to an end since they will be harvested before they grow up...
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