Still Skunkless on Willard 4-22-21

[TubeDude]

Went fishing with the Pirate and Cookie this morning...me from the north marina...them from the bank in the SW corner.  We both caught fish.  Yee haww.

Pre-daybreak launch at 6:45...AM.  Cool 35 air temp.  Water temp 51 plus...rising to almost 53 inside the marina by 11 am departure.  Still TDC (Too D... Cold)


Got a good start.  Barely got my first whirly flig and minnow into the water going out of the marina when a hungry kitty climbed on.  Thought this was gonna be the beginning of a busy day.  Nay, not so.  Didn't get my second and last cat until just after 10 am...after fishing all morning outside and then coming back inside the marina.  Also on a blue-silver whirly flig and minnow.


In betwixt suicidal kitties I covered a lot of water...from about 7-8 feet to as deep as 17 feet...seeing little on sonar and less on my line.  Dragged a variety of lures and baits...cranks, plastics, tubes, fligs, etc.  Checked all the spots that usually produce this time of year, but the combo of mucho wind and cold temps has just got the fish elsewhere.

I did have one moment of "excitement" about an hour into the morning.  I was moving quietly along, enjoying the tranquility of undisturbed fishing (dang it) when I heard a loud hissing and then some popping noises behind me.  I almost launched from my tube like a Polaris missile...absolutely sure I was about to be devoured by the Monster of Willard Bay.  Senility, forgetfulness (selective data retrieval) or whatever had made me forgot to put on the inflatable PFD I had draped over the back of my tube while parking my car.  When I came back to launch, I neglected to put it on...as per custom.  During the shifting and rock and roll motions in the breezy bumpy water the vest had slipped off and into the water.  And...just as it is supposed to do...it automatically inflated when it got wet.  I think some of my laundry got a bit wet too.


The forecast stronger breeze started picking up a little before 10 so I decided to try some prospecting inside the marina.  I had heard there were crappies moving in and out with the changing water conditions...and even some stray wipers.  Maybe?  The fact that there was not a line of happy harvesters ringing the far east side of the harbor should have told me something.  When it's "ON" you have to bring your own rock to stand on with all of the bubble chuckers assaulting the crappies.  Neither crappies nor anglers ruined the tranquility inside today.

Howsomever, I did get one hard takedown on my whirly flig rod.  The 24" kitty gave a fine account of itself in the cool water.  But it provided the last action of the day...in spite of my optimistic continuance for another hour.

[Mooseman75]

I just bought a recharge kit four my PFD it was $26. I was told every 2-3 years to get a new kit. Don't know if that is hogwash or truth, never thought about putting it in the lake to see if it works with my old one first. I'm kind of scared of it hurting lol.... Maybe I can get my 14 year old too try it out. Or do it the not so fun way and throw it in the water. Your story has inspired me me Pat,thank you. I got out the other day shore fishing finally after 5 wells and have been cleared to do more so maybe I'll see you one day. Great job on keeping the streak alive at Willard

[TubeDude]

I just bought a recharge kit four my PFD it was $26. I was told every 2-3 years to get a new kit. Don't know if that is hogwash or truth, never thought about putting it in the lake to see if it works with my old one first. I'm kind of scared of it hurting lol.... Maybe I can get my 14 year old too try it out. Or do it the not so fun way and throw it in the water. Your story has inspired me me Pat,thank you. I got out the other day shore fishing finally after 5 wells and have been cleared to do more so maybe I'll see you one day. Great job on keeping the streak alive at Willard

Yep.  First order of business when I got home was ordering a recharge kit...got one for $22 at Amazon.

Glad to hear you are mending well.  Don't overdo it though.  Hope to see you guys on the water this year.

[doitall5000]

Hey pat, I used a flig yesterday. Tried a minnow, and a crawler. I didn't think it was floating up very good. How do you hookup your minnows so they float up.?

[Cowboypirate]

Went fishing with the Pirate and Cookie this morning...me from the north marina...them from the bank in the SW corner.  We both caught fish.  Yee haww.

Pre-daybreak launch at 6:45...AM.  Cool 35 air temp.  Water temp 51 plus...rising to almost 53 inside the marina by 11 am departure.  Still TDC (Too D... Cold)


Got a good start.  Barely got my first whirly flig and minnow into the water going out of the marina when a hungry kitty climbed on.  Thought this was gonna be the beginning of a busy day.  Nay, not so.  Didn't get my second and last cat until just after 10 am...after fishing all morning outside and then coming back inside the marina.  Also on a blue-silver whirly flig and minnow.


In betwixt suicidal kitties I covered a lot of water...from about 7-8 feet to as deep as 17 feet...seeing little on sonar and less on my line.  Dragged a variety of lures and baits...cranks, plastics, tubes, fligs, etc.  Checked all the spots that usually produce this time of year, but the combo of mucho wind and cold temps has just got the fish elsewhere.

I did have one moment of "excitement" about an hour into the morning.  I was moving quietly along, enjoying the tranquility of undisturbed fishing (dang it) when I heard a loud hissing and then some popping noises behind me.  I almost launched from my tube like a Polaris missile...absolutely sure I was about to be devoured by the Monster of Willard Bay.  Senility, forgetfulness (selective data retrieval) or whatever had made me forgot to put on the inflatable PFD I had draped over the back of my tube while parking my car.  When I came back to launch, I neglected to put it on...as per custom.  During the shifting and rock and roll motions in the breezy bumpy water the vest had slipped off and into the water.  And...just as it is supposed to do...it automatically inflated when it got wet.  I think some of my laundry got a bit wet too.


The forecast stronger breeze started picking up a little before 10 so I decided to try some prospecting inside the marina.  I had heard there were crappies moving in and out with the changing water conditions...and even some stray wipers.  Maybe?  The fact that there was not a line of happy harvesters ringing the far east side of the harbor should have told me something.  When it's "ON" you have to bring your own rock to stand on with all of the bubble chuckers assaulting the crappies.  Neither crappies nor anglers ruined the tranquility inside today.

Howsomever, I did get one hard takedown on my whirly flig rod.  The 24" kitty gave a fine account of itself in the cool water.  But it provided the last action of the day...in spite of my optimistic continuance for another hour.

We enjoyed fishing with you today Pat although in the future when we fish together I would like to be close enough to enjoy watching you chase down your PFD. The SW bank (as Cookie reported) had a decent early bite, but when it died, it died.

[r2u2]

Pat ! Your wearing different gloves.

RJ

[Freakyfisherman]

Went fishing with the Pirate and Cookie this morning...me from the north marina...them from the bank in the SW corner.  We both caught fish.  Yee haww.

Pre-daybreak launch at 6:45...AM.  Cool 35 air temp.  Water temp 51 plus...rising to almost 53 inside the marina by 11 am departure.  Still TDC (Too D... Cold)


Got a good start.  Barely got my first whirly flig and minnow into the water going out of the marina when a hungry kitty climbed on.  Thought this was gonna be the beginning of a busy day.  Nay, not so.  Didn't get my second and last cat until just after 10 am...after fishing all morning outside and then coming back inside the marina.  Also on a blue-silver whirly flig and minnow.


In betwixt suicidal kitties I covered a lot of water...from about 7-8 feet to as deep as 17 feet...seeing little on sonar and less on my line.  Dragged a variety of lures and baits...cranks, plastics, tubes, fligs, etc.  Checked all the spots that usually produce this time of year, but the combo of mucho wind and cold temps has just got the fish elsewhere.

I did have one moment of "excitement" about an hour into the morning.  I was moving quietly along, enjoying the tranquility of undisturbed fishing (dang it) when I heard a loud hissing and then some popping noises behind me.  I almost launched from my tube like a Polaris missile...absolutely sure I was about to be devoured by the Monster of Willard Bay.  Senility, forgetfulness (selective data retrieval) or whatever had made me forgot to put on the inflatable PFD I had draped over the back of my tube while parking my car.  When I came back to launch, I neglected to put it on...as per custom.  During the shifting and rock and roll motions in the breezy bumpy water the vest had slipped off and into the water.  And...just as it is supposed to do...it automatically inflated when it got wet.  I think some of my laundry got a bit wet too.


The forecast stronger breeze started picking up a little before 10 so I decided to try some prospecting inside the marina.  I had heard there were crappies moving in and out with the changing water conditions...and even some stray wipers.  Maybe?  The fact that there was not a line of happy harvesters ringing the far east side of the harbor should have told me something.  When it's "ON" you have to bring your own rock to stand on with all of the bubble chuckers assaulting the crappies.  Neither crappies nor anglers ruined the tranquility inside today.

Howsomever, I did get one hard takedown on my whirly flig rod.  The 24" kitty gave a fine account of itself in the cool water.  But it provided the last action of the day...in spite of my optimistic continuance for another hour.

Pat, my son and I float tubed for an hour today as well. It was his maiden voyage and he had a blast. He missed a few hits working a jig and I missed my only hit I got. I am thinking it was a wiper. We launched almost directly from the fishing pier in the north marina, just on the opposite side, outside the marina, on the main lake. Nice report
Gabe

[TubeDude]

Hey pat, I used a flig yesterday.  Tried a minnow,  and a crawler. I didn't think it was floating up very good. How do you hookup your minnows so they float up.?

Always a balancing act between size of flig, size and weight of bait, type of weight, leader and length, etc.  I usually have a range of fligs in different shapes and sizes.  But if forced to use a small flig and a minnow I will usually cut the minnow into pieces...heads or tails?  Even the smaller tailed fligs will usually float a crawler up high enough to get the job done...at the right speed.  

In the final analysis, if nothing else the color and sparkle of the flig acts as "bling beads" on your bait...providing color attraction even if too small to float a larger bait.  I've caught lots of fish of many species by merely stringing a few beads on my line ahead of the bait.

Based upon my experiences and personal observations I think the fish need a few more degrees of warmth to get active enough for serious fligging.

---

Pat ! Your wearing different gloves.

RJ

Ya like those?  If it will make you feel better I had my old fleece gloves inside my pockets...just in case.  I never leave home without them.

[Tin-Can]

Pat, those auto inflate PFD's do work. I learned that about 2 years ago when I got "launched" off the back of my boat at Mantua while leaning over the motor to clear grass off the prop. 
Glad your inflation wasn't due to a needed case of falling out of your tube.... 

[TubeDude]

Pat, my son and I float tubed for an hour today as well. It was his maiden voyage and he had a blast. He missed a few hits working a jig and I missed my only hit I got. I am thinking it was a wiper. We launched almost directly from the fishing pier in the north marina, just on the opposite side, outside the marina, on the main lake. Nice report
Gabe

Sounds like you got your son's new tube all put together.  Glad he likes it.  It will be nice if you guys can share some more tubing trips.  I got my kids out in tubes as soon as they were up to it.  And even had a 3-generation outing a few times.  Here's a picture of one trip down in Arizona...with one of my sons and a grandson.  Good memories.

---

Pat, those auto inflate PFD's do work. I learned that about 2 years ago when I got "launched" off the back of my boat at Mantua while leaning over the motor to clear grass off the prop. 
Glad your inflation wasn't due to a needed case of falling out of your tube.... 

Me too.  I bought that model PFD because it was red...matching my tube.  It had good reviews from other users so I was confident that it would do the job if needed.  But there is always that question in the back of your mind..."Will it work if I need it?"  And when it went off promptly after slipping into the water my first thought was "Well, it worked.".  My second was "Glad I found out this way than the other."

[jjannie]

Went fishing with the Pirate and Cookie this morning...me from the north marina...them from the bank in the SW corner.  We both caught fish.  Yee haww.

Pre-daybreak launch at 6:45...AM.  Cool 35 air temp.  Water temp 51 plus...rising to almost 53 inside the marina by 11 am departure.  Still TDC (Too D... Cold)


Got a good start.  Barely got my first whirly flig and minnow into the water going out of the marina when a hungry kitty climbed on.  Thought this was gonna be the beginning of a busy day.  Nay, not so.  Didn't get my second and last cat until just after 10 am...after fishing all morning outside and then coming back inside the marina.  Also on a blue-silver whirly flig and minnow.
I did have one moment of "excitement" about an hour into the morning.  I was moving quietly along, enjoying the tranquility of undisturbed fishing (dang it) when I heard a loud hissing and then some popping noises behind me.  I almost launched from my tube like a Polaris missile...absolutely sure I was about to be devoured by the Monster of Willard Bay.  Senility, forgetfulness (selective data retrieval) or whatever had made me forgot to put on the inflatable PFD I had draped over the back of my tube while parking my car.  When I came back to launch, I neglected to put it on...as per custom.  During the shifting and rock and roll motions in the breezy bumpy water the vest had slipped off and into the water.  And...just as it is supposed to do...it automatically inflated when it got wet.  I think some of my laundry got a bit wet too.




Howsomever, I did get one hard takedown on my whirly flig rod.  The 24" kitty gave a fine account of itself in the cool water.  But it provided the last action of the day...in spite of my optimistic continuance for another hour.

Thought for sure that was going to be you glad it wasn't. My auto PFD was tested out last summer when I tried to get little Rosie back into the boat but waves hit our boat at the same time launching me overboard when mine went off - Jeff did a great job rescuing us both.  By the way, Rosie can swim and still LOVES the water almost too much. Made up some those those whirly fligs and had them for our last Willard outing, but had no takers on them - not sure if it was us or the fish so we'll just have to keep 'practicing'. 

[wiperhunter2]

Great report and pics Pat. Too bad the cats action was a little slow but I'm sure that will be changing soon as the water warms. No fishing for me in the last week, spent the week up in Idaho with our Son, hopefully we will get some decent weather this coming week to get after them again.

[TubeDude]

Great report and pics Pat. Too bad the cats action was a little slow but I'm sure that will be changing soon as the water warms. No fishing for me in the last week, spent the week up in Idaho with our Son, hopefully we will get some decent weather this coming week to get after them again.

Yeah.  I probably wouldn't have gone out except I had a couple of new things I wanted to check out...like my new rigid apron...a 24 inch wide hard plastic computer keyboard tray for one.  Worked great.


Another time I have violated my customary "3 day rule"...waiting for at least 3 days after a "wind event".  I'd never get to go fishing this year if I stuck to that.

---

Thought for sure that was going to be you glad it wasn't. My auto PFD was tested out last summer when I tried to get little Rosie back into the boat but waves hit our boat at the same time launching me overboard when mine went off - Jeff did a great job rescuing us both.  By the way, Rosie can swim and still LOVES the water almost too much. Made up some those those whirly fligs and had them for our last Willard outing, but had no takers on them - not sure if it was us or the fish so we'll just have to keep 'practicing'. 

I was going to ask how Rosie was doing.  Good to hear she is a good fishing companion.

The whirly fligs seem to be a niche-filler...between slow dragging a regular flig and faster trolling a standard bladed crawler rig.  I seem to do best moving them just above the bottom...at about .7 mph or so.  But those little blades whirl at the slightest movement in the water.  Last year I did well on walleyes and wipers in June by pulling them at over 1 mph at mid depth...or at least somewhere up off the bottom...and decorating them with white gulp minnows.  Got some more colors and options to try this year...including a 3 wire Utah Alabama rig.

[Tin-Can]

Pat, my son and I float tubed for an hour today as well. It was his maiden voyage and he had a blast. He missed a few hits working a jig and I missed my only hit I got. I am thinking it was a wiper. We launched almost directly from the fishing pier in the north marina, just on the opposite side, outside the marina, on the main lake. Nice report
Gabe

Sounds like you got your son's new tube all put together.  Glad he likes it.  It will be nice if you guys can share some more tubing trips.  I got my kids out in tubes as soon as they were up to it.  And even had a 3-generation outing a few times.  Here's a picture of one trip down in Arizona...with one of my sons and a grandson.  Good memories.

---

Pat, those auto inflate PFD's do work. I learned that about 2 years ago when I got "launched" off the back of my boat at Mantua while leaning over the motor to clear grass off the prop. 
Glad your inflation wasn't due to a needed case of falling out of your tube.... 

Me too.  I bought that model PFD because it was red...matching my tube.  It had good reviews from other users so I was confident that it would do the job if needed.  But there is always that question in the back of your mind..."Will it work if I need it?"  And when it went off promptly after slipping into the water my first thought was "Well, it worked.".  My second was "Glad I found out this way than the other."

   Pat, just some info you may find valuable:  When I accidently water tested my PFD at Mantua, I learned an additional valuable lesson. My PFD inflated as advertised, kept me afloat BUT it dang near strangled me.  When it inflated, it blew up around my neck so tight, I had to release the buckle so I could breath. So it would have kept me from drowning, but had I been unconscious, it would have choked me to death.  I bought a new one from West Marine, longer in the sides with the head support pillow and a wider opening in the front like a old horse collar.  This new one, I inflated it manually by blowing it up with my little pancake compressor to see how tight it got around my neck. Much better.   A bit pricier than my first one, but now maybe I won't drown, or choke. 
Recommend you test fit your PFD with it inflated. You can either blow it up by huffing and puffing, use a small compressor, or pull the cord.

[TubeDude]

   Pat, just some info you may find valuable:  When I accidently water tested my PFD at Mantua, I learned an additional valuable lesson. My PFD inflated as advertised, kept me afloat BUT it dang near strangled me.  When it inflated, it blew up around my neck so tight, I had to release the buckle so I could breath. So it would have kept me from drowning, but had I been unconscious, it would have choked me to death.  I bought a new one from West Marine, longer in the sides with the head support pillow and a wider opening in the front like a old horse collar.  This new one, I inflated it manually by blowing it up with my little pancake compressor to see how tight it got around my neck. Much better.   A bit pricier than my first one, but now maybe I won't drown, or choke. 
Recommend you test fit your PFD with it inflated. You can either blow it up by huffing and puffing, use a small compressor, or pull the cord.

 Good advice.  But I think the incident of strangling is usually addressed by the manufacturers in their testing processes.  However, as you found out, they are not infallible.  Not likely to pull the cord and waste a cartridge on checking mine out.  But definitely worth manually airing it up to check the fit.  That would be a bummer on the death certificate..."Strangled by PFD".

[RockyRaab2]

That would be Pretty Flipping Dumb.

I inflate mine annually by the mouth tube to check for leaks. Put it on, huff and puff a bit, and note fit. Take it off and let it sit overnight for leak check. Then deflate and carefully re-stow.

BTW, I attached a whistle to mine via a short cord. It rides inside the flaps when it's all closed so it's never in the way or catches on anything. But it's there as my signal while bobbing around.

[TubeDude]

That would be Pretty Flipping Dumb.

I inflate mine annually by the mouth tube to check for leaks. Put it on, huff and puff a bit, and note fit. Take it off and let it sit overnight for leak check. Then deflate and carefully re-stow.

BTW, I attached a whistle to mine via a short cord. It rides inside the flaps when it's all closed so it's never in the way or catches on anything. But it's there as my signal while bobbing around.

Good idea.  My newest PFD included a small whistle attached to the vest inside the cover.  Wouldn't have known that until it went POOF.  Guess it's kinda limited space in there or they could include a canned air horn.

[Tin-Can]

I attached flat whistles on nylon cord, and placed in the small internal flap pocket on all 3 of my PFD's. I have in the past been in the habit of doing an inflation of all my PFD's at the beginning of each year, and letting them sit over night to confirm they hold the pressure. Then, when the cylinder in each one reaches it's printed 3 year recommended change date, I pull the lanyard, making sure all of that mechanical linkage still functions, leave the vest inflated over night, deflate, replace cylinder, and repack vest.

Having been in the Air Force career field that maintained 1 man, 7 man, and 20 man life raft inflation systems, regular maintenance and inspections became a long time habit.