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Well I know it's probably possible, but I don't really hear about it happening. Anyone here ever caught one through the ice? Or is it a secret when it happens to avoid hot-spotting?
I know they've got to eat in the winter, they can't just stop feeding.
Do they head out into the middle of the lake where nobody can get at them?
What's the deal? A wiper through the ice would make my winter. Even a report of someone else catching one so that I could have a little false hope would probably get me kind of excited.
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I would be happy to at least catch one, haven't been able to catch any for the last couple years have managed everything else out of there though.
[fishin]
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I ice fish willard once or twice every winter and in 10 years, I can only remember catching one wiper. I was fishing the North marina, out in the middle and was using one of TD's little red headed ice flies with chartruse bodies and wham, a wiper took it and pulled off 10 or 15 yds of line before I could slow it down. It took a while to get it to the hole and just as I was bringing it through the hole, the line broke and it was gone. That was it and the only time I have ever had a wiper on at Willard while ice fishing. It is do able but it is tough in my opinion. I have tried the SW corner, by the lightpole, outside the north marina on the north and south sides but the marina is the only area I have ever had any luck. Maybe you are right, out in the middle might be the ticket.
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Hmm, my first time out in the south marina this year I was fishing two poles so one was on the ice and one was in my hand. The one on the ice was in the same hole with my fishfinder. I was watching the finder as the bites I was getting were fish coming in slow and deliberate so i could watch them come in on the finder and then pick up my pole. All of a sudden something big came on the finder right on top of my jig. At that same instant my pole smacked onto the ice HARD! As soon as it was there it was gone... Maybe I've already run into a wiper and was just unprepared. [:/]
I was thinking of heading out around the lake to the light pole to try there but I don't know if that'd just be a wasted day. I guess it wouldn't waste too much of a day, I only live 10 minutes from the bay. But with the warmer weather lately the ice may not even be safe over there.
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I bet it was a wiper because that is exactly how the one I caught hit.
Trying the light pole area might be Ok but be careful going down the rocks they can be dangerous this time of the year. It might not hurt to take a plank as well. Are you planning on going by yourself? I think you could do just as well in other locations but I guess you never know until you try.
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Good luck Ive been tryin to ice a Wiper fer 5 yrs no kiddin !!! Had 3 on in my times spent and everyone sawed me off with mono-flouro and braid up to 30lb and so ... Go wit leadcore and a shiner bout 5inlong and wait [  ] When you hookem on ice its like waking a sleepin giant...
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I'm tempted to go to willard tomorrow but that place hasn't been very kind to me so I generally go somewhere else, and i am a little iffy on how the ice might be.
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[quote wiperhunter2]I bet it was a wiper because that is exactly how the one I caught hit.
Trying the light pole area might be Ok but be careful going down the rocks they can be dangerous this time of the year. It might not hurt to take a plank as well. Are you planning on going by yourself? I think you could do just as well in other locations but I guess you never know until you try.[/quote]
I think your probably right about being able to do just as well in other, closer places. I was just thinking out loud about what else could be done to increase my chances at a wiper.
All this thinking about wipers through the ice has got me excited though. If I end up having any fishing time this weekend I think I'll see what I can do about getting on the main lake outside of one of the marinas, move a lot and try to find at least a glimpse of a Wiper.
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you are thinking right , try something different then catching 1 on accident in 10 years.It can be done [ ]
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Wiper do bite through the ice, but it's tough to pattern. Haven't caught them for at least 7 years now on ice. That draining and repair ruined the marina pattern. Those wipers changed their habits. But never once did I get one of those slam energy filled hit you guys are describing. It was more like perch nibbles but once I set the hook on the nibbles ALL HELL broke loose. I had good 12lb trilene on and it felt like every minute of the fight that the line would snap. Very few times do I have to stick the rod halfway into the hole because the drag is a bit too tight and I feel like I'm maxing the line strength. With these wiper I had to plunge almost the entire 5ft ul ugly stick into the ice hole for several of times into the hole before it wore out. The drag froze because it was too cold. Don't use your ice rods for sure, I hate short little ice rods anyhow, but yeah it will have no flexibility enough to handle the fight. After I patterned them those years I would ice up to 3 -5 per trip. Once I iced what at that point was my best wiper at 21 1/4 inches. Never fast action on ice wipers. Takes a bit of drilling and jigging. Of course I felt no need to hot spot at that point in time haha.
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This subject has alot of promise. [cool] It either promises to be someones best day on the ice or the worst.
Has anyone been on the main lake area yet and checked the ice thickness? We haven't had the coldest late winter. It would be more likely the Wiper would be in the deepest area of willard hanging out with the bait fish. That area of Willard is very open.
Sounds like a good place for a late season "Gathering".[ ]
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I was on the main lake last thursday and yesterday. Both days I found 8" of clear solid ice. I did run into a few spots of open water where gas was bubbleing up but otherwise good ice. Caught a few cats yesterday in 14 feet of water on a tiny ice fly with a spike and shrimp scent.
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Did you enter the ice over the rocky dike or go through one of the Marinas?
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We drove by the North marina about an hour ago and it looks like the channel in not frozen now. There must be a warm water spring there because it always melts at the first sign of any warm weather.
The deepest part of the lake is near the light pole. About three hundred yards South East, there is a four foot drop off that starts in that area and runs to the SW corner.
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[quote toadly]Did you enter the ice over the rocky dike or go through one of the Marinas?[/quote]
I like his question. How'd ya get on the big water?
And curious - how big were the kitties? Cookie-Cutters- chunkies? Were you just on the bottom? Bobbers - spring bobbers?
That'd be fun to ice some cats (or wipers). But Willard hasn't been too kind to me ( yet). - glutton for punishment!
Thanks for the info all. Wipers under ice - ok, so braid for the browns, steel for the wipers! ha
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What kind of depth is the deepest part? Good to know if I'm drilling and checking.
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It varies with the over all depth of the lake, so it is hard to tell what it is right now. This might take some doing but if you really want to find it this time of the year, I would suggest taking a power auger, start 3 to 4 hundred yards south of the light pole and start drilling holes. Start 50 to 75yds from the dike and drill a hole every 25 yds or so until you see the depth go 3 to 4 ft shallower. For an example, the water depth as you go away from the dike will be 15, 20, 25, then go the other way to 21'. When you see that difference in depth, you will know the drop off will be some where between the last two holes. Once you find the spot, go north and south along a line that parallels the dike and you will find the deepest part of the lake. If I had to guess, I would say it will be a max depth between 25 to 28 ft.
It has been a few years back but a group of BFT members did an outing in that location and fished the morning bite with no luck for our trouble. The ice was close to a foot thick but 6 inches of the top layer was slush, so it made for some scary walking as we left the ice that day. Walking down the dike was tough because snow covered
the rocks and if you hit the wrong spot you could sink in up to your knees or deeper, so be careful if you go.
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[cool][#0000ff]It is true that the wipers tend to hang out near the groceries during the winter...and roam endlessly while searching for food year round. They may be found in numbers in some areas...but usually only for a short time. Here today, gone tomorrow.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Guys with underwater cameras have seen them cruising through at middepth in both the north marina and south marina under the ice. But attempts to catch the cruisers are usually not too effective. The active feeders are often near the bottom, looking for shad that have died and settled to the bottom. So most wipers hooked through the ice are usually taken on jigging spoons near the bottom or on baited jigs fished down deep.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I know several wiperholics that have both hooked and iced wipers at Willard. Most have been in or around the mouth of the channel...or a short distance to the west. And seldom does anybody get a shot at more than a couple in a full day of searching and jigging. They seem to cruise more in singles or doubles than as large schools during boil time.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]One of the major obstacles to icing a hooked wiper is not so much the abrasion of the line on the ice, but the fact that they make big circles under the ice. If you have a second rod down a hole nearby...or there are others fishing within a few yards...it becomes tangle city. Heard tales of someone screaming at everybody around him to "REEL YOUR LINES IN"...and then going ballistic when his fish tangled someone else and they start jerking and reeling...thinking they have a fish too. Can you say double cutoff?[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Wipers slow down in the winter, like most fish, but as a cross with the winter-loving white bass they have some of the same habits. Find a feeding school and you can catch multiples. But when they roam freely in singles or small groups...at mid depth...they may be in a neutral or negative mode and more interested in just getting from point A to point B without stopping for a snack.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I caught my last wiper this last year in mid December, after the N. marina had frozen and then thawed again. Got it right in the mouth of the channel...on a dead minnow. The water temp was just above freezing and it was in about 16 feet of water. I know of several wipers that have been hooked in that same spot, through the ice, when it is thick enough to fish.[/#0000ff]
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Well everyone, I found some fish time this morning. Parked at the south marina at about 7:10 fishing by 7:30 first and only fish by 8:15. Monster perch! But alas, no more to be had the rest of the day, lots of lookers, lots of nibblers, no takers [frown]
I arrived with every intention of heading out to the main lake at the mouth of the marina. However, I could see a spot where the ice had come up over itself right where I had planned on fishing and didn't have the guts to go check it out by myself.[blush]
One of these days...
TubeDude, In your 3rd paragraph when you say "mouth of the channel" Do you mean the south marina? Or the channel at the north marina?
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"In your 3rd paragraph when you say "mouth of the channel" Do you mean the south marina? Or the channel at the north marina?"
[cool][#0000ff]I was referring to the north marina in that sentence. It is a fairly short channel between the launch area and the outlet to the main lake. In that short channel it has been dredged fairly deeply and often holds fish when the shallower main marina area does not.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The channel out to the lake at the south marina was also dredged several feet deeper than the area of the marina. Sometimes the fish come up onto the shallower zone. Other times they stay out in the deeper channel. You just have to check it every time you go. But on many open water trips I catch many of my fish...wipers, walleyes and catfish...all along the outlet channel. I haven't fished that area through the ice since the channel was dredged several years ago.[/#0000ff]
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