NBW at Willard today, well almost

[wiperhunter2]

After reading boatballast's post, on catching those smaller wipers tolling at Willard, Ira and I gave it a try today.We arrived around 7:30 am and talked to Tubedude at the ramp, good seeing and talking to you Pat and thanks for the flig samples. Also saw Tincan there too, good seeing and talking to you as well Forest. Ira and I headed toward the feed lot, trolling lures at 1.5 mph. After a few minutes we started catching those smaller wipers, 12 to 14 inchers. We used side planners and straight out the back and caught they with both methods. After catching and releasing 20 of those little feisty fighters, we decided to head over to where Pat was fishing and see how he was doing. He was doing good there for cats, so we decided to give it a try. We could not seems to find any active cats there, so we decided to head toward the island and finally started to pick up a few cats, at 1:30 we called it quits, with 3 or 4 cats up to 23". Good day on the water, hardly any boats out there today.

[oldguy]

After reading boatballast's post, on catching those smaller wipers tolling at Willard, Ira and I gave it a try today.We arrived around 7:30 am and talked to Tubedude at the ramp, good seeing and talking to you Pat and thanks for the flig samples. Also saw Tincan there too, good seeing and talking to you as well Forest. Ira and I headed toward the feed lot, trolling lures at 1.5 mph. After a few minutes we started catching those smaller wipers, 12 to 14 inchers. We used side planners and straight out the back and caught they with both methods. After catching and releasing 20 of those little feisty fighters, we decided to head over to where Pat was fishing and see how he was doing. He was doing good there for cats, so we decided to give it a try. We could not seems to find any active cats there, so we decided to head toward the island and finally started to pick up a few cats, at 1:30 we called it quits, with 3 or 4 cats up to 23". Good day on the water, hardly any boats out there today.

Nice job you guys 
Thanks for the report.

[obifishkenobi]

After reading boatballast's post, on catching those smaller wipers tolling at Willard, Ira and I gave it a try today.We arrived around 7:30 am and talked to Tubedude at the ramp, good seeing and talking to you Pat and thanks for the flig samples. Also saw Tincan there too, good seeing and talking to you as well Forest. Ira and I headed toward the feed lot, trolling lures at 1.5 mph. After a few minutes we started catching those smaller wipers, 12 to 14 inchers. We used side planners and straight out the back and caught they with both methods. After catching and releasing 20 of those little feisty fighters, we decided to head over to where Pat was fishing and see how he was doing. He was doing good there for cats, so we decided to give it a try. We could not seems to find any active cats there, so we decided to head toward the island and finally started to pick up a few cats, at 1:30 we called it quits, with 3 or 4 cats up to 23". Good day on the water, hardly any boats out there today.

Those little Wipers sure are fun, what lures where you guys trolling and how long where your set backs?

[Cowboypirate]

Wiper reports have sure improved from last year. And size should next year

[TubeDude]

Good to see you guys on the water again.  Glad you found some willing "baby wipes".  They always punch above their weight class.

Got an email from Chris Penne asking about those wiperettes...sizes, etc.  He is happy that last years bumper plantings are doing well and providing good action.  I told him of the many reports of success...including some boils.  Also told him that a lot of Willardites would prefer year round fishing for wipers to only two months of reliable action for walleyes.  No response to that yet.

He is also wanting to know if anyone is catching any of this year's plantings of small wipers...should be in the 4-5 inch range about now.  I suspect that since not many folks are fishing "small" they are not likely to be getting many of those.  I had some rattle rattle bites and quick hit pecks while dragging fligs yesterday...that could have been some of those wee wipers...or perch...or small cats.  But since none got hooked I can only speculate.

[wiperhunter2]

Nice job you guys 
Thanks for the report.

Thanks, it was a fun day out there, especially after hitting Bear lake the week before and getting skunked.

[wiperhunter2]

Those little Wipers sure are fun, what lures where you guys trolling and how long where your set backs?

Chartreuse lures, like the Cordell spot was what I started off catching them on, then I added a firetiger lipless crank to the mix and it also worked. On the side planner I had 30 to 40' setback, straight out the back I started off with 100' setbacks but then I shorted that up to 75 ' setbacks but once I was only able to get the line out 30' and one hit it, on another note we also had a triple and several doubles when we went through them.

[wiperhunter2]

Wiper reports have sure improved from last year.  And size should next year

Yes, you are right, big improvement from the last half dozen years or more and I agree, if people just don't keep these smaller wipers, they should really be a good size next year.

[wiperhunter2]

Good to see you guys on the water again.  Glad you found some willing "baby wipes".  They always punch above their weight class.

Got an email from Chris Penne asking about those wiperettes...sizes, etc.  He is happy that last years bumper plantings are doing well and providing good action.  I told him of the many reports of success...including some boils.  Also told him that a lot of Willardites would prefer year round fishing for wipers to only two months of reliable action for walleyes.  No response to that yet.

He is also wanting to know if anyone is catching any of this year's plantings of small wipers...should be in the 4-5 inch range about now.  I suspect that since not many folks are fishing "small" they are not likely to be getting many of those.  I had some rattle rattle bites and quick hit pecks while dragging fligs yesterday...that could have been some of those wee wipers...or perch...or small cats.  But since none got hooked I can only speculate.

I have heard from two separate people, that some folks are catching wipers that are 6 to 8". We never caught any that small but when we started fishing yesterday, Ira was worried that might be what we caught, glad that didn't turn out to be true, at least for us. When we moved over closer to you yesterday, and then around the island, we were getting a few of those tap tap tap bites that usually means perch or maybe small wipers but we never hooked any of them, so I can only guess what they were.

[MWScott72]

Sounds like a fun day on the water guys. I am looking forward to next year as those wipers will really be fun in the 16-18” class!

[BoatBallast]

Great job!  Glad to hear you found the wipers!

[Jig-fisher]

Nice report. Wipers always pull above their weight class. Very fun.

[wiperhunter2]

Sounds like a fun day on the water guys.  I am looking forward to next year as those wipers will really be fun in the 16-18” class!

Agreed, next year should be a great wiper year and when they get to that size they are even better fighter. 

[wiperhunter2]

Nice report. Wipers always pull above their weight class. Very fun.

Thanks. Yes they do and it's great to see them returning to the numbers we use to see at Willard.

[wiperhunter2]

Great job!  Glad to hear you found the wipers!

Thanks we were glad we found them too. It was nice catching them, it was a change of pace of what we normally catch. Thanks again for your help.

[BoatBallast]

Great job!  Glad to hear you found the wipers!

Thanks we were glad we found them too. It was nice catching them, it was a change of pace of what we normally catch. Thanks again for your help.

Happy to help.  The wipers have been a little more elusive the last couple years.  I look forward to getting into some bigger ones next year.