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Hit willard bay this morning, not very many boats out. Fished out of the south Marina trolled along the south dike with several different rattlin rapalas and flicker shads. No luck there so I headed to the other side of the lake, trolled along the north dike and caught one 21 inch wiper off the planer board maybe 10 feet away from the shore. I cant remember the name of the rattle trap I was using but it had a bright orange belly and stripes almost like a sunfish.
Talked to some other fisherman on the way out and it sounded like the west dike is where the action was. They all limited out on wipers and had a walleye in the mix. I have never limited on wipers before so I will hopefully have a day like that soon!
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Thanks for a great detailed report. Was that lure the fire tiger? Seems to be pretty popular this year. Later J
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Instead of running the planner board against the dike try actually trolling with the boat in the same area. I did this for years and did very well. I feel the wipers are there and when you troll that close at fast speeds like 2.8 with a lipless crank just about 15 feet out past your prop wash gets you fish that come in for the fish you spook off the dike rocks. I would guess about 45-50 feet back.
The inside rod would almost always get hit while it was occasionally ticking on the rocks. if your hanging up allot just don't go as far back. or pick up your speed to about 3.0 mph. It works, I have proven the technique more than once and have had some of my best days doing this.
I would watch the sonar and try to keep the boat in 10 feet of water constantly.
Trolling area: the last 1/4 mile of the north dike before it hits the west dike I would flip around at the light pole and troll east until I didn't get hits, then loop back around and head back towards the light pole.
Guys don't do this allot but casting to the dike works well when they are feeding on the shad against the dike. I use the same lipless cranks and work down the dike casting right up to the rocks and I mean right on the edge. They would hit as soon as the bait hit the water or a few turns on the reel. You want to replicate a shad trying to get away so a ripping and reeling fast presentation worked the best, and the faster I would rip and reel the more fish I caught. It gets tiring after awhile if your not in the right spot but when you are you don't even notice your arm is about to fall off.
By the way the 27 1/2 wiper in my avatar was casting to the shore not trolling.
good luck and tight lines.
fnf[cool]
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fire tiger was one and blue shad was the other, both in #5
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Also awesome advice I'll definately put that to the test next time i'm up.
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Thanks that would be fun to get over there and try them again. Later J
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