Slow day at Willard this week

[wiperhunter2]

After the good day last week, this week was a let down. Got out there around 7 am and picked up some trinkets from TubeDude, thanks Pat, before we launched. Water temp at launch was 46 degrees, warming up to 48 by the time we got off the water around 1:30 pm. We got a few perch type bites, right after we got out of the North marina but no hookups. We moved around for a few hours before we had our first hookup and that turn out to be a foul hooked carp. Second fish was a 23" cat and our last fish of the day was a nice perch but that was it or the day. A lot less shad our there today but we saw no dead ones. Now that the water temps have finally started to drop, I'm hoping it won't be long before the catching will improve but you never know, it's been a strange Fall.

[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks for the report Curt, nice to see at least one perch hitting the live well... I'll bet you are correct, won't be long now...Thanks again... J

[TubeDude]

Ditto.  I only stayed until about 10:30.  I know when I ain't loved.  Got one small kitty to keep the striped kitty away.

Like you guys, I started by working all the USUALLY good spots outside the north marina.  Did see a few fish but found no active ones.  I'm blaming the extreme drop in water temps (almost 20 degrees) and the series of fronts that have gone through the past few days.  All unsettling to the fish.  They need a few days of stability to settle down, group up and get back on the feed.  Noticed a bit more color in the water yesterday.

I also could not find any quantities of shad...a few small balls in all the outside area I covered.  That's it.  And when I cruised back into the marina to check it out, I found NOTHING on sonar.  No shad, no crappies, no perch, no cats, no carp.  NADA.  It was like a big fishy desert everywhere I checked.  I did try dragging some minnow-sweetened fligs and did some vertical presentations just to confirm what I was  seeing.  And got nary a sniff.

About 10 I motored back outside the marina and tried a couple of other possible spots.  Still no good "programs" on "TV".  I did get a couple of "perch pecks"...but no hookups.  And then...when I snapped my rod to pull the sinker loose from a minor hangup...it pulled back...barely.  A wimpy footlong kitty wiggled a few times on the way in and was relieved when I removed his pink lip ornament and put him back in the water.

Supposed to be some more snow next Tuesday but no major wind events next week.  By the end of next week it might be worth trying again.  The fish gotta be somewhere...and some of them gotta eat.  Just gotta find the active ones.  Simple...but not easy.

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Pat, what was the water temp now? Twenty degree drop has got to put a shock on things for sure, plus if the shad are dying off, that has to fill the fish bellies and make it a little more difficult to get a bite... Sure interesting how the fish can disappear, yet other spots were probably loaded... Last November on Cutler, I seen a similar day with nothing on the screen until I found a little deeper area and it looked like the mother load with teams of fish schooled up... Only got a couple to bite that day, but was cool how they had changed patterns from usual... Looked like I imagine the ocean would look with fish everywhere, once I found them... Thanks for your perspective on the day... Later J

[TubeDude]

Hey Pat, what was the water temp now?  Twenty degree drop has got to put a shock on things for sure, plus if the shad are dying off, that has to fill the fish bellies and make it a little more difficult to get a bite... Sure interesting how the fish can disappear, yet other spots were probably loaded...  Last November on Cutler, I seen a similar day with nothing on the screen until I found a little deeper area and it looked like the mother load with teams of fish schooled up... Only got a couple to bite that day, but was cool how they had changed patterns from usual... Looked like I imagine the ocean would look with fish everywhere, once I found them... Thanks for your perspective on the day... Later J

Water temps were below 45 in the marina but 46 outside.  That is almost 20 degrees lower than about a week ago.  We have been waiting for the cold water to turn on the perch fishing, but the fish need time to adjust.  

There was a report a few days ago of someone seeing dead shad.  But there were no shad...living or dead...in the areas we fished yesterday.  However, as you suggested...the fish were SOMEWHERE.  There is a "90/10 rule" that says 90% of the fish will be in only 10% of the water.  And that really seems to hold true in Willard.  We have all had days when our sonars showed little or nothing for hours...and then suddenly we are in a mass of fish from top to bottom.  But...as we all painfully discover...finding fish is no guarantee you can catch them.  Like females of the human species, fish seem to do what they want, when they want and where they want...for their own reasons.  And we (mostly male) anglers gotta figure them out on any given day if we wanna "get lucky".  

After this unusual year of both high water and high temperatures longer into the fall, it is anyone\s guess as to what "normal" will be this year.  Some of us believe there will likely not be as much of a baby shad dieoff because the warmer temps lasted longer and the smallest shad had more time to grow and develop...and to be more survivable in the cooling water.  We shall see.  Right now I am forecasting a much earlier ice cap on the lake than last year...so when and if the perchin' does pick up it might not last long in open water.  Most years in the past Willard marinas ice up around the first week of December...with the open lake capping in January.  And the best ice fishing has been in February.  Last year I was float tubing in late January into February...and still catching both perch and catfish.

[BoatBallast]

Thank you for the reports!

[SkunkedAgain]

Pat, points well taken and I definitely agree things are twisted this year from the usual mode... Hope your ice cast comes true, even though I'm a little wary after last years dismal ice year... I'm getting closer and closer to having the garage addition completed, got the doors on the garage yesterday, some painting in the upstairs started, then I'll need to get all the electrical stuff finished and the cabinets in... It's getting close for sure... Will need a tutorial to remind me how to fish when this two year greenhouse/garage project years are over... Probably start with the basics in the tutorial... Later J

[TubeDude]

Pat, points well taken and I definitely agree things are twisted this year from the usual mode... Hope your ice cast comes true, even though I'm a little wary after last years dismal ice year... I'm getting closer and closer to having the garage addition completed, got the doors on the garage yesterday, some painting in the upstairs started, then I'll need to get all the electrical stuff finished and the cabinets in... It's getting close for sure... Will need a tutorial to remind me how to fish when this two year greenhouse/garage project years are over... Probably start with the basics in the tutorial... Later J

Here ya go.  Hope that's not going too fast fer ya.

[SkunkedAgain]

Got it first lesson is a success... J

[obifishkenobi]

I didn't see your post until I got up at 5am this morning and had already made plans to fish Willard, wish I had seen it earlier and chased bows and perch at Echo or Rockport. We ,launched around 7am from the south marina and fished fligs off of the feed lot, most of the morning, putting several cats in the box, then moved to Pats Kittie Condos later, adding a couple more. Only 5 cats for the day 0 perch. We had a half dozen pop and drops as well. got them on pink, chartreuse and silver fligs tipped with chub, 17' was our most productive depth.

[oldguy]

After the good day last week, this week was a let down. Got out there around 7 am and picked up some trinkets from TubeDude, thanks Pat, before we launched. Water temp at launch was 46 degrees, warming up to 48 by the time we got off the water around 1:30 pm. We got a few perch type bites, right after we got out of the North marina but no hookups. We moved around for a few hours before we had our first hookup and that turn out to be a foul hooked carp. Second fish was a 23" cat and our last fish of the day was a nice perch but that was it or the day. A lot less shad our there today but we saw no dead ones. Now that the water temps have finally started to drop, I'm hoping it won't be long before the catching will improve but you never know, it's been a strange Fall.

Did you guys try the s.e corner or just stay  to the north?

[wiperhunter2]

After the good day last week, this week was a let down. Got out there around 7 am and picked up some trinkets from TubeDude, thanks Pat, before we launched. Water temp at launch was 46 degrees, warming up to 48 by the time we got off the water around 1:30 pm. We got a few perch type bites, right after we got out of the North marina but no hookups. We moved around for a few hours before we had our first hookup and that turn out to be a foul hooked carp. Second fish was a 23" cat and our last fish of the day was a nice perch but that was it or the day. A lot less shad our there today but we saw no dead ones. Now that the water temps have finally started to drop, I'm hoping it won't be long before the catching will improve but you never know, it's been a strange Fall.

Did you guys try the s.e corner or just stay  to the north?

We tried the whole East side from the outlet, in the North East corner, all the way to Freeway bay, never made it toward the West side, unless you are calling freeway bay the SE corner