Daily Dozen at Willard 9-23-22

[TubeDude]

Well, I din’t kill ‘em at Willard yesterday.  But I sure sore-lipped a few.  Plenty of tugs even if it was an NBC day (Nuttin' but cats).  Beats heck out of almost anything I could have been doing at home.
 
Launched from the south marina about 7 am.  Air temp a brisk 50…warming to a lovely 68 by noon departure.  Water temps down to 64…10 degrees colder than my last trip…and warming to only 65 at noon.  Glad I decided to bring my waders.  65 is my low temp threshold for this old body.

 
Had to wade out a ways from the water’s edge at the ramp to find enough depth to drop my electric motor and sit down in my tube.  Only 1 to 1.5 feet in the boat area to the channel.  Then the channel was a good 8-9 feet all the way out.
 
Looked at my sonar screen as I got into the channel and was amazed at all the fishy life I could see.  Several different sizes and types of fish.  Some looked suspiciously perchy and I rigged up to try for some.  No sniffs in about 20 minutes of sincere effort.  So I rigged one rod with a large fire tiger whirly and a minnow.  Wham.  Bendo.  First kitty at 7:42…inside the channel.  But didn’t get anything else until I started working in the extended channel out beyond the entrance.
 

Water level was from 8 to 10 feet for a couple hundred yards out from the channel entrance.  And I have never seen so much fish life on my sonar at Willard.  There were intermittent clouds of shad…surrounded by hordes of “USOs”…Unidentified Swimming Objects.  I have my own ideas on what some of them were but didn’t prove it on the end of my line.  I figured those fish were so full of shadlets that anything I might show them would not get much attention.
 

However, throughout the morning I did get a few minor munches that looked suspiciously like perch inquiries.  No proof though.  But the everlovin’ kitties did come to play.  However a few of them only did a pop and drop howdy and did not commit.  The few that did gulp and go gave me plenty of enjoys.  Got about 12 before I ran out of minnows a little after 11.   Got a dozen on my last trip so maybe that is my new norm.
  

I tried a variety of rigs, baits and colors today.  Couldn’t get a sniff on anything with worm on it.  Everything I caught was on small chub minnows…and whirly fligs…on 3 way sinker dropper rigs.  The only two colors that produced in the stained waters were fire tiger and the chartreuse with 3 hot red spots.  Fished my usually productive blue and silver a long time with no love.  Ditto for orange tiger and pink tiger. 
 

Only saw 1 boat leave the channel.  It was a flat bottom with one of those long shaft mud motors.  Once he got well outside the channel he raised the long shaft and prop out of the water and began trolling around with a bow mount electric.  Saw him move over a whole lotta water without any evidence of interruption. 

[b]The water pump newly installed…as previously reported by WH2…was in full operation.  Pretty noisy.  And I noticed a lack of fishy marks on sonar for quite a few feet on either side of it as I went by.[/b]


[b]I’m guessing that if the water level drops any lower, I will have to move my assault to the north marina.  I was kicking up mud on this trip inside the marina with my electric so if it drops some more I will be walking out and back.[/b]


It was definitely cooler.  But...no wind, no bugs and no power squadron.  Not bad.

[wiperhunter2]

Great report and pics as usual. The belly on the big cat was as extended as much as the one Ira caught, likely full of dead or dying shad that you were likely seeing too. We had the same pop & drops you got too but with far less pick ups and takes that you got, looks like you picked the right day to go. Did you notice if any water was coming down the baffles on your drive in or out yesterday? Do you have any idea what is beside that big pump? We saw them unload it last week but could not figure what it was.

[doitall5000]

That's very interesting, your pictures are very good. Those docks in the south marina really show how low it is. Makes me want to do a fact find finding mission. Love to see other exposed structures.

[TubeDude]

That's very interesting,  your pictures are very good. Those docks in the south marina really show how low it is. Makes me want to do a fact find finding mission. Love to see other exposed structures.

If you were to launch at the north marina and come down to the south, you can see a lot of newly exposed rocks and humps along the east dike north of the marina entrance.  These things are good to know when casting or trolling along that dike in high water.  From where I took the attached picture I could see some protruding rocks a ways out from the dike...still mostly underwater.  Hmmmmm?

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Great report and pics as usual. The belly on the big cat was as extended as much as the one Ira caught, likely full of dead or dying shad that you were likely seeing too. We had the same pop & drops you got too but with far less pick ups and takes that you got, looks like you picked the right day to go. Did you notice if any water was coming down the baffles on your drive in or out yesterday? Do you have any idea what is beside that big pump? We saw them unload it last week but could not figure what it was.

No idea what might be in that box...unless it is spare parts or some kind of generator.   

As previously reported by another BFTer, there is no water coming in now.  The canal has been drained.  The baffles were high and dry.  Not a drop coming in.

And yes, I did see a lot of dead small shad...less than 2".  Not only washed up on the ramp but quite a few out on the surface of the main lake too.  Saw a couple of terns lazily swoop down and pick a couple up.  But I'm betting they are staying pretty well fed too.  Never saw anything like a wiper splash but did see a few carp slurp up a couple of dead shadlets.  The murky water is a real handicap to sight feeding species...like wipers.  Unless they are cruising the surface...like carp...they will be unable to see the floaters.  But I'm guessing there are plenty of sinkers that are supplying all of the shad lovers.  And the balls of live ones are so thick all the predators have to do is open their mouths and swim through.

[wiperhunter2]

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Great report and pics as usual. The belly on the big cat was as extended as much as the one Ira caught, likely full of dead or dying shad that you were likely seeing too. We had the same pop & drops you got too but with far less pick ups and takes that you got, looks like you picked the right day to go. Did you notice if any water was coming down the baffles on your drive in or out yesterday? Do you have any idea what is beside that big pump? We saw them unload it last week but could not figure what it was.

No idea what might be in that box...unless it is spare parts or some kind of generator.   

As previously reported by another BFTer, there is no water coming in now.  The canal has been drained.  The baffles were high and dry.  Not a drop coming in.

Yes I remember reading that no water was coming in but when Ira and I drove by on Tues, we saw one canal empty and another canel full to the top, so I wasn't sure what was going on, so that was why I ask. That very well could be a generator, I just figured pumps that big had built in engines to run those pumps but who knows.

[TubeDude]

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Great report and pics as usual. The belly on the big cat was as extended as much as the one Ira caught, likely full of dead or dying shad that you were likely seeing too. We had the same pop & drops you got too but with far less pick ups and takes that you got, looks like you picked the right day to go. Did you notice if any water was coming down the baffles on your drive in or out yesterday? Do you have any idea what is beside that big pump? We saw them unload it last week but could not figure what it was.

No idea what might be in that box...unless it is spare parts or some kind of generator.   

As previously reported by another BFTer, there is no water coming in now.  The canal has been drained.  The baffles were high and dry.  Not a drop coming in.

Yes I remember reading that no water was coming in but when Ira and I drove by on Tues, we saw one canal empty and another canel full to the top, so I wasn't sure what was going on, so that was why I ask. That very well could be a generator, I just figured pumps that big had built in engines to run those pumps but who knows.

As near as I could tell, the pumps were doing all of their own work...and pretty noisy too.  Probably another explanation for the mystery box.  Maybe fuel?