Willard Wipers

[fishingoddess]

Sounds like Willard is where the action is right now. I've never fished that lake and never tried my luck with the Wipers. Anybody want to give me some pointers?
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[fishnutts]

No action for me today, water clarity is very bad right now,and water level is low. I trolled crank baits and crawler harness today with no luck. Usually one or the other will produce for me.Maybe somebody else had better luck today, did not see any action from the other boats fishing near by.
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[Yahtahay]

Willard sucked today, no doubt, fished from 8 AM to 3 PM and never caught a thing. You are correct, the water clarity was very bad, I couldn't see my jigs 1 foot under the surface. We had three boats out today and NOBODY caught a thing. I also tried trolling a few shad rap's and some swimbait gizzard shad's...NADA. Should have went to the Gorge.
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[WiperMac]

That's Willard fishing for ya. Hot one day, dead the next. Me, the father inlaw and the trusty dog fished today from 7:00-3:30 as well but from the sounds of it we did better then most. Had my first two wipers in the boat within 15 minutes of launching but once the sun popped over the mountains it slowed from there.

Fish was in the entire water column but most were concentrated in the 4 to 7 foot range today. Mostly pulled cranks but also tried worm harnesses and curly tails as well.

The key for us was finding the right trolling speed, once we got that nailed down the fish started jumping in the boat. Ended the day with 12 wipers and one cat.
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[wiperhunter2]

Good for you, the right speed makes all the difference, any eyes? Did you get any wipers over that standard 13 to 15" mark?
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[WiperMac]

No eyes on this trip but we weren't really targeting them. All wipers were in the 13"-15" range but they still fight like the devil. Shallow running crankbaits running 50 feet behind planer boards was the ticket this trip.
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[fishnutts]

Have you heard if they are going to let any more water into Willard this year, most of the docks in the south marina are sitting on dry land. It is quite the challenge to launch and retrieve a boat during a average or high water year, on a weekend with all the traffic, not to mention that they are down to one Marina for a while. I would also be cautious of the last dock (one closest to the channel) something reached out and grabbed my outboard as i was pushing off, fortunately no damage.
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[wiperhunter2]

Water is rising right now, I've notice since the fuel spill they are only raising the water level one foot or so then it will drop a foot. They have to, by law maintain a certain amount of out flow to the water fowel area. The problem is by the time they are done cleaning up the fuel spill, the runoff will be over, so I doubt we will see the water level raise much at Willard this year[frown].
What I don't understand, why don't they drag those docks out into deeper water[:/]. Yea, that dock closer to channel is in very shallow water, maybe 2 ft deep, the other one is about 3 ft deep. They still have not put a bouy in the channel going up to the baffles and last week there was a ski boat up in that area. I ask the person at the gate about it and she said she would tell them but a week later still no bouy. You would think with only one marina to take care of, the state parks folks would do a better job of it. I'd hate to see what is going to happen in the coming weeks as more and more people use the south marina.
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[DKStroutfitter]

I am very unhappy with the Parks folks at Willard. They have done nothing to help the situation out there. We are all stuck in the South Marina and not one thing has been done to help with all the extra people being forced to go there.

Lazy people that don't care about the public at all.
Very poor relations.
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[Yahtahay]

Agreed, it is extremely shallow and to dock at any of the docks is asking for trouble. Just getting my buddy on the boat the other day I didn't dare use any of the docks, instead I put the bow as close to the dock as possible and said "JUMP FOOL"!
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[Fowl-Hook]

One would truly think that with only one ramp to be concerned with the staff could move the docks deeper. Your tax dollars at work, or no work.
Your outdrive will hit if you parallel the dock, make sure you raise it.
Total bites Fri was ZERO. No speed changes worked for me!!
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[Paddler]

We fished WB on Thursday and did okay with ~15 wipers to the boat. Turbidity was bad, but finding warmer water helped. Most fish came on SR5's 60'-70' behind planer boards. Didn't have trouble at the dock, the middle one seemed okay.
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[TheFishSlayer]

What range of speeds work this time of year? I don't have a kicker so all I have is my 125 and my bow mount. So I can get down to 3mph with the big motor or up to 1.9 mph with the bow mount. We fished planners and cranks and not a bite.
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[WiperMac]

3.4-3.7
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[TheFishSlayer]

Copy thank you.

I'm headed out right now. I'll be in a small trophy if anyone is headed out.
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[fishnutts]

Thanks Curt for the info, If this is a sign of way things will be this year, may have to park the boat , and join the Tube Tude Regalia.[] may be a banner Tube year.
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[wiperhunter2]

Yea, I'm not happy with them either. They rarely answer the phone at Willard, if I can find a phone number or Email address maybe I'll go over their heads and contact their boss. What do you think, .gov Email address?
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[ekimjack]

I've done well at 2 or 2.5 mph
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[DKStroutfitter]

I sent them an email last year about not opening the South Marina earlier in the year.
I also complained about the restrooms at the North Marina.
They replied but I wasn't happy with their excuses.
If they get a lot of emails from members here, they will have to at least take note that we are not happy and expect more from them. Send the email.
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[TheFishSlayer]

Thank you for the advice guys. Went out and got a little Wiper in the boat. We also caught a really nice walleye but as I was taking him out of the water he shook and sniped my line, flashed his middle fin and took off. I just stared at the water in disappointment. It would have been the biggest walleye I ever caught. Oh well it was nice to see atleast.

Well atleast we got the skunk smell off.

We were trolling in the 3.5 to 3.7 range. We were using the Shad Jointed Rapalas drug behind planner boards.

I was experimenting with using my down rigger lines to attach the planner boards to and then just clip my line into the back clip. I hate reeling in the fish with the planner boards attached to the line on the rod. But when I used the downrigger lines they wouldn't come out to the sides. Not sure what was the problem so I swithed back to just clipping it to the line.

http://i1325.photobucket.com/albums/u624...cc16ba.jpg
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