Willard Is Not Over Yet

[Paddler]

I only saw a couple of shad balls today, and one tern.  So not done yet.  I remember many years ago now I had both my sons-in-law in the boat, neither of which are fishermen, up on the Bay.  Their idea of fishing was driving around with lots of open containers, which are verboten in my boat.  I saw some terns up ahead diving on bait, so steered my boat right through them.  We hooked up three out of four lines on wipers.  They weren't really prepared to reel in fish as it interfered with their libations.

I was a bit concerned with the weak cold front forecast for yesterday, but decided to chance it.  The water was quite warm, and as I predicted, the fish would chase faster baits.  At one point I was dealing with three fish at one time.  Unfortunately, I had just cut the gill takers on the third fish when it somersaulted out of the splashwell off of the other two fish back into the water.  Bummer.

I ended up catching ten walleye, a 13" perch and a catfish.  A second cat broke me off, too.  Once I figured out they wanted, Hot-N-Tots, I kept a limit plus the perch.  Water temp was 73F rising to 76F in the afternoon.  Not sure if color matters, but Chrtreuse/Silver seemed to be better.  90'-120' off the boards, 50'-60' out to the boards.

Sorry no pictures, as I arranged my fish at the cleaning station and thought I took a photo buy it's not on my phone.

[RockyRaab2]

You were certainly the exception to the rest of us. I trolled what had been the winning combos for three hours without a touch, saw nothing on the screens, and quit. Nobody I spoke to had done any better. Later released 10 of the dozen crawlers I bought.

For what it's worth, I saw surface temps of 70 everywhere except in the north marina, which was warmer. Visibility was excellent at 6 feet or so.

My bass boat isn't really ideal as a troller, so I think I'll give up on Willard and concentrate on bassier waters. If I go back to Willard in the future, I'll fish the dikes.

[Bubman1]

I fished the rocks Sunday evening and did ok 4 cats a wiper and walleye with a few little smallies mixed in all on crank baits

[Paddler]

You were certainly the exception to the rest of us. I trolled what had been the winning combos for three hours without a touch, saw nothing on the screens, and quit. Nobody I spoke to had done any better. Later released 10 of the dozen crawlers I bought.

For what it's worth, I saw surface temps of 70 everywhere except in the north marina, which was  warmer. Visibility was excellent at 6 feet or so.

My bass boat isn't really ideal as a troller, so I think I'll give up on Willard and concentrate on bassier waters. If I go back to Willard in the future, I'll fish the dikes.

I talked to a guy in a Bass Tracker at the North Marina ramp yesterday who had fished three hours without a bite.  About noon.  Was that you?  

There was another guy in a Tracker who was pulling out.  Not very communicative, but he had done well bottom bouncing.

I watched a couple of guys land a fish out there in the middle, too, but didn't notice anybody else catching.  Too busy, thank goodness for AP.

Water clarity seemed decreased on the east side, Freeway Bay and off the feedlot. Better out in the middle and the north dike.

[Paddler]

Just finished final trimming my fish from yesterday. I took the fillets off and skinned them at the cleaning station with an electric knife, only my second attempt. Removing the ribs and epipleurals wastes a lot of meat, and I'm not very good at it. I only netted 4# of fillets, and trimmed off about 1.25# of ribs.

Wish I could clean them like this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL3XGtQfOB8

[RockyRaab2]

I was that guy.

[Paddler]

Okay, thought so. Nice chatting with you.

I don't understand how your boat isn't set up to troll. All you need is rodholders.

[Redrebel]

Open containers are a no go in my boat as well… everything must have a lid!

[Paddler]

Open containers are a no go in my boat as well… everything must have a lid!

I cleaned my Coho cooler today and noticed it has a bottle opener.  What could possibly go wrong?

[RockyRaab2]

Paddler, I do have one rod holder I can mount to the left side. I hand-hold a rod on the right while I drive. With my 50-hp at idle, I go 2.5 mph and that's how I spent the day Monday. I can pull the same lures at the same speed and troll the same areas as others who are catching fish, and I get zip. Dunno. Maybe there's a warning in fish language on the bottom of my hull, LOL!

Frankly, I don't much care for trolling anyway. I'd much rather cast at targets and work lures back. I'll concentrate on Echo, East Canyon, Hyrum and similar lakes. I refuse to fish Pineview due to the insanity of how it's run.

[FishfulThinkin]

Paddler, I do have one rod holder I can mount to the left side. I hand-hold a rod on the right while I drive. With my 50-hp at idle, I go 2.5 mph and that's how I spent the day Monday. I can pull the same lures at the same speed and troll the same areas as others who are catching fish, and I get zip. Dunno. Maybe there's a warning in fish language on the bottom of my hull, LOL!

Frankly, I don't much care for trolling anyway. I'd much rather cast at targets and work lures back. I'll concentrate on Echo, East Canyon, Hyrum and similar lakes. I refuse to fish Pineview due to the insanity of how it's run.

Rocky,

I'd suggest you try your electric motor for trolling or else maybe planer boards. I had my electric motor controller go out on Willard recently so I used my big motor with a trolling plate and noticed a major decline in my success. Willard is so shallow that I think the boat noise moves the fish away from the boat when it passes with a big motor churning. Your electric may not go 2.5 but even a little slower should work if you can quiet things down in my opinion. That's my theory anyway.

[Paddler]

Paddler, I do have one rod holder I can mount to the left side. I hand-hold a rod on the right while I drive. With my 50-hp at idle, I go 2.5 mph and that's how I spent the day Monday. I can pull the same lures at the same speed and troll the same areas as others who are catching fish, and I get zip. Dunno. Maybe there's a warning in fish language on the bottom of my hull, LOL!

Frankly, I don't much care for trolling anyway. I'd much rather cast at targets and work lures back. I'll concentrate on Echo, East Canyon, Hyrum and similar lakes. I refuse to fish Pineview due to the insanity of how it's run.

Rocky,

I'd suggest you try your electric motor for trolling or else maybe planer boards. I had my electric motor controller go out on Willard recently so I used my big motor with a trolling plate and noticed a major decline in my success. Willard is so shallow that I think the boat noise moves the fish away from the boat when it passes with a big motor churning. Your electric may not go 2.5 but even a little slower should work if you can quiet things down in my opinion. That's my theory anyway.

I think you're probably right.  I always troll with my main as I don't have a kicker or a trolling motor.  I use planer boards except when I have more than 100' or so of line out, especially if I'm using deeper running lures.  I have run 1/4oz Thin Fins 20' off the boards, which puts them down 3-4'.  I run 80' of line to the boards when I do that.

I can't imagine hand holding a rod while trolling, especially while using planer boards.  I put lots and lots of fish in my Alumacraft trolling on my Mercury 50HP 4S.  It wasn't even EFI.  

I think it also may depend on the chop.  One day I was out and it turned pretty ugly, too rough to run boards.  So I just flat lined a couple of SR7s, I forget how far back.  Picked uo three fish on my way back to the North Marina.

I do wonder about engine noise moving the fish, though.  With all the wake boarders, jet skiers, water skiers, and tubers the fish should be pretty used to noise.

[RockyRaab2]

I've tried running both cranks and bouncers so far back I'm practically down to the reel spool. Nada. (Yeah, my wrist does get pretty tired and sore holding that rod.) I'm doing SOMETHING wrong, obviously. Just don't know what.

[Paddler]

I've tried running both cranks and bouncers so far back I'm practically down to the reel spool. Nada. (Yeah, my wrist does get pretty tired and sore holding that rod.) I'm doing SOMETHING wrong, obviously. Just don't know what.

Do you have line counter reels?  I used to run Ambaseur 5500C reels before I got my Daiwa line counters.  I measured the line out per rotation, one full pass of the level wind worked out to 16'.  It worked fine but the Daiwas are so much easier.

I don't think your doing anything wrong.  I fished for three hours on Monday with different cranks without a bite except for two catfish.  They wanted Hot-N-Tots, and once I stared using them I caught about 3 fish per hour, even a slow double.

Planer boards offer the flexibility of running any crank from sub surface to maximun running depth.  Without them I think you should probably run your baits at least 100' back, maybe 120' on flat water.  SR5's and SR7s should produce for you most days.  Just not every day.

[obifishkenobi]

I've tried running both cranks and bouncers so far back I'm practically down to the reel spool. Nada. (Yeah, my wrist does get pretty tired and sore holding that rod.) I'm doing SOMETHING wrong, obviously. Just don't know what.

Do you have line counter reels?  I used to run Ambaseur 5500C reels before I got my Daiwa line counters.  I measured the line out per rotation, one full pass of the level wind worked out to 16'.  It worked fine but the Daiwas are so much easier.

I don't think your doing anything wrong.  I fished for three hours on Monday with different cranks without a bite except for two catfish.  They wanted Hot-N-Tots, and once I stared using them I caught about 3 fish per hour, even a slow double.

Planer boards offer the flexibility of running any crank from sub surface to maximun running depth.  Without them I think you should probably run your baits at least 100' back, maybe 120' on flat water.  SR5's and SR7s should produce for you most days.  Just not every day.

All right guys here is my opinion take for what it’s worth. I am not a scientific troller my set backs are either long or short I don’t measure, I catch a good number of fish with cranks, bottom bouncers, spoons, spinners, dodgers and squids, across multiple species. The biggest difference I make is I turn a lot. Driving in a strait line going the same speed all day will get you a few, but making radical turns will get a lot more. A number of better fishing guys get theirs dong S turns, I get more turning hard, if I do not tangle my lines several times a day I’m not trying hard. We all know about speeding up and slowing on the inside and outside of turns, I just take it to the extreme and put fish in my boat. I have fished on the best guys on this forums boat and I always think if we turned more we would catch more fish, could be wrong but that is what is in my head.

[Paddler]

I've tried running both cranks and bouncers so far back I'm practically down to the reel spool. Nada. (Yeah, my wrist does get pretty tired and sore holding that rod.) I'm doing SOMETHING wrong, obviously. Just don't know what.

Do you have line counter reels?  I used to run Ambaseur 5500C reels before I got my Daiwa line counters.  I measured the line out per rotation, one full pass of the level wind worked out to 16'.  It worked fine but the Daiwas are so much easier.

I don't think your doing anything wrong.  I fished for three hours on Monday with different cranks without a bite except for two catfish.  They wanted Hot-N-Tots, and once I stared using them I caught about 3 fish per hour, even a slow double.

Planer boards offer the flexibility of running any crank from sub surface to maximun running depth.  Without them I think you should probably run your baits at least 100' back, maybe 120' on flat water.  SR5's and SR7s should produce for you most days.  Just not every day.

All right guys here is my opinion take for what it’s worth. I am not a scientific troller my set backs are either long or short I don’t measure, I catch a good number of fish with cranks, bottom bouncers, spoons, spinners, dodgers and squids, across multiple species. The biggest difference I make is I turn a lot. Driving in a strait line going the same speed all day will get you a few, but making radical turns will get a lot more. A number of better fishing guys get theirs dong S turns, I get more turning hard, if I do not tangle my lines several times a day I’m not trying hard. We all know about speeding up and slowing on the inside and outside of turns, I just take it to the extreme and put fish in my boat. I have fished on the best guys on this forums boat and I always think if we turned more we would catch more fish, could be wrong but that is what is in my head.

I agree to some extent.  A couple of weeks ago they seemed to trigger on the inside of a turn, ie, the slow side.  Monday I had one hit on the outside while going 2.7MPH.  So that lure was going a bit faster.  I have my "Dodge" function set to 30*, and I can push it twice and turn 60*.  

Most of my fish hit while I was going straight, though.  So like all else fishing related, I guess it depends on the day.  Hard to do a double-blind randomized trial, though.