Willard...FROM A BOAT! 8-7-13

[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]TubeBabe and I were semi sorta planning a float tube trip to Willard...to take advantage of the decreased boating activity with the lower water levels. But got an invite from Wiperhunter2 to join him on his boat for a morning of washing lures. How could we resist? Our favorite pastime...but with great company and a guy who knows his stuff.

Prepped and launched a bit before 7 am in the barely damp south marina. Water is really getting skinny at the docks. Water temp about 77. Deepest water in the channel going out was just over 10 feet deep...but you could sustain some damage to your craft trying to get there. Gonna be worse before it gets better.

A light chop on the water early. Just a good fishing ripple. Not enough to mess up the auto pilot on the motor. TubeBabe and I each rotated through several different lures, trying to find the right combo of color depth and action. WH2 had the first "inquiry" on his planer board setup but lost the fish right at the boat...whatever it was.

Then I went bendo on a solid fish. Took line off the drag and gave a good account of itself. Wiper? Yeah, one with whiskers. First fish aboard was a 22 inch kitty. Second fish aboard was an 18 incher scored by the Captain...WH2. TubeBabe had at least three good pops but did not get any solid hookups for over half the morning.

Then we got into a ZONE. First WH2 brought in a nice 19 inch walleye. Then TubeBabe went major bendo on a beefy 21 inch wiper. It beat her up pretty good before the captain scooped it up in the net. Shortly afterward I got a wiper...a feisty footlong that fought much bigger than he was.

We were complimenting outselves on at least scoring five fish in a morning on Willard...known to be stingy at times. We agreed that any additional catches would be frosting on the cake. An hour later, about the time we were codgertatin' heading for the ramp, Captain Curt went big time bendo on his 21 inch wiper. That was it for the day, even though our anglers' optimism kept us washing lures for another hour beyond our previously agreed cut off time. But that hour was "quality time"...spent enjoying the company of fellow tanglers on a nice calm day when a lot of other poor souls were looking out the windows of their offices and wishing they were fishing.

Neener neener.
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[Kent]

Wow, how do you rate? Now that Curtis has a newer and improved boat no invites have come my way.[]

Looks like an enjoyable day on the water. Too bad the state can't drag those docks a few feet further out into the water.
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[wiperhunter2]

It was a decent day on the pond Pat, really enjoyed getting out there and fishing with you and your wife, good times[].
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[SkunkedAgain]

Nice TD been wondering about a Willard trip myself. Thanks for a report. Later J
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]There's an old saying..."The best time to tell someone you love them is before someone else does." Don't know how that relates to fishing but at least Curt invited me on his boat before you did.

If he didn't invite you it could be a personal problem. Have you checked your mouthwash and deodorant lately?

Actually, I think I would pay to just ride along on a trip with both of you guys fishing together. Might win me some big bucks on AFV shows. Both of you are prone to generating big drama on your "average" trips.
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Thanks again for the invite and the fine day on the water. Nice that a few fish came to play too.

Sounds like you have some issues to address with Kent. Good luck.
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[TubeDude]

[quote SkunkedAgain]Nice TD been wondering about a Willard trip myself. Thanks for a report. Later J[/quote]

[#0000FF]We had been planning a tube assault out of the south marina. I am convinced that we would have probably caught a fair number of "cookie cutter" kitties but doubt we would have done well on walleyes or wipers.

Based upon what we saw on sonar and experienced on our lines it takes covering a lot of water...way to heck out there...to find a few strays. Just cain't do that effectively with a tube or toon.

I likely won't hit it again until well after Labor Day. By then the water will be cooler and the fish more active (hopefully)...and the power squadron mostly non-existent with the lowering water levels. That's when a happy tuber can have some real enjoys without much competition.

Stay in touch and maybe we can launch a combined assault from the north marina. I know a few spots that have been productive in the past during low water periods.
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[wiperhunter2]

I took Kent out last year, he just wants to ride in my new boat[], I've just got one more member on this years fishing list, then I'll open it up again, to folks that fished with me last year[sly].
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[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks Pat for the intell and invite. I'd love to join in if I can. Please keep me in the loop.

I think for now, I can play a family duty card and take my relatives fishing next week over to Willard. I haven't had the boat out since early June and I need to put it back to work. That toon has been my main ride this year.

Any tips on speed or depth to pick up those scattered fishies? Did you see any boils at all? With the water level so low, it starts to get hard to see things on the finder so I'll have to try your Utah lake techniques to see if we can find some friends to play with. Thanks again for the info. J
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[albinotrout]

[quote kentofnsl]Wow, how do you rate? Now that Curtis has a newer and improved boat no invites have come my way.[]

Looks like an enjoyable day on the water. Too bad the state can't drag those docks a few feet further out into the water.[/quote]

Kent now that I got my craft up and running I will give you a standing invite. How's that?
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[albinotrout]

Thanks for the nice report. Friday afternoon is my next planned getaway and will be at willard. Mamatrout and I are going to give the boat a nice shakedown now that we got it up and runninvg.
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[Kent]

[quote TubeDude][#0000ff]

There's an old saying..."The best time to tell someone you love them is before someone else does."

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That is an awfully big price to pay to take a guy fishing.[] I was just pulling Curt's chain.
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[Kent]

[quote albinotrout]

Kent now that I got my craft up and running I will give you a standing invite. How's that?

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I was just funnin' Curtis. Have my own boat, but willing to share you company again some time on your new-to-you boat, but I hope I can sit down.[]
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[TubeDude]

"Any tips on speed or depth to pick up those scattered fishies? Did you see any boils at all?"

[#0000FF]Sorry for the lack of details. I am usually a bit more attentive to the particulars.

Depth? The area we fished was 10 - 12 feet...max. Best areas seemed to be about 11 to 11.5 feet. The lake is a big shallow bowl with a fairly flat bottom over much of the lake. With current low water conditions there are not many spots much deeper.

Speed? GPS speeds ranged from about 2.2 to 2.5 mph. Due to some residual murk in the water the visibility was not conducive to sight-feeding fish hitting at higher speeds. Both of our catfish came on slower speeds. The single walleye and all three wipers hit at the higher speeds...in areas of cleaner water.

None of the fish we cleaned had ANY stomach contents. And the wipers were a bit lean. Also, there were no observable shad schools, unlike the huge schools we typically encounter all over the lake at this time of year. No boils, but I did see one "wiperlike" series of surface splashes. Too far away for a positive ID.

We saw a few terns flying over the lake but none diving on baby shad...which are usually in huge swarms by now. We did see a few large groups of grebes in a couple of places but they just seemed to be there for each others' company. None appeared to be diving and fishing.

In short, the long ice cap, low water conditions and other factors seem to have reduced shad numbers. The predators are having to forage for whatever they can find. We were catching fish on larger lures than what usually works best this time of year. We were also catching them on darker colors and bright colors...not the traditional small shad imitators that are necessary to get the attention of fish feeding selectively on abundant baby shad. Both of the fish I landed hit a perch pattern crank...about 4" long. TubeBabe's large wiper came on a pale perch color 3" crankbait. And WH2 has been doing best on crawdad colors and lures with dark backs and bright or light colored lower parts. Even lures with black or purple backs.

The deadly "bait dragon" technique has always worked well for me at Willard. Working a minnow on one rod while kicking along and pitching plastics or cranks has scored a lot of catfish...as well as a goodly number of walleyes and wipers. Recently, with the predators forced to forage, there have been numbers of wipers and walleyes caught by soaking crawlers. They are hungry.

Good luck. PM me if you need more info.

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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]About once or twice a year I swallow my pride and climb in one of those noisy and expensive things they call boats. And I usually resign myself to the fact that the fishing will not be as good as I typically experience when float tubing. Yesterday I caught more fish (2) than I expected to. Over the past ten years my least productive fishing days...and 3 skunks...have occured while fishing from boats.

There is a general feeling among experienced anglers that you will usually do best when fishing with confidence. I just have more confidence in fishing with my preferred system...float tubes.

But, that being said, I readily admit that float tubes have their limitations. One of those is not being able to troll...to cover water in seeking out scattered and/or active fish. I have never been a big fan of trolling but there are times when that is what it takes to git 'er done.

As a few of my fishing buddies with boats will attest, I whine a lot when I am fishing from a boat on waters I usually tube. Doesn't take long for the boat owner to get tired of me saying..."Now if I was fishing this from my tube."

Howsomever, as I grow older and more tolerant of the misguided preferences of others, I have tried to mellow out and restrict my boat-snarky comments. I find that if I spend a couple of days in meditation and fasting that I can actually condition myself to getting on a boat and focusing on the enjoyment of the experience...and the company of a fellow angler.

After all, fishing is not merely about catching. At least that's what I have learned to say when I conclude a poor fishing trip on a boat.
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[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks TD that's a great run down on where to start. It will be fun to give it a try. I still have yet to catch a wiper so I'd like to find one of them. Would a fathead minnow work on Willard where they are used to eating Shad? May try a flig with a minnow tail and see what happens. That is sure a big pond to work, hope the fish will be in similar spots that I've found them before, but I haven't fished this late in the summer before or this low of water level at Willard so I've got some learning to do. I do know where the deepest area is and so I will likely head there after checking my usual spots on the way. Thanks for the help. J
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[SkunkedAgain]

I've found if I fish alone I will take the toon every time this year. If I take company I'll be in the boat and my catch rate will for sure go down. Part of that is because I become the host/guide and its more about them catching something, but I have fun getting others into fish as well. Later J
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]That is a big lake and it seems that the fish are scattered all over...but with small groups holding in one area or another. They are constantly moving while looking for food or more comfortable temps or oxygen levels. Not too many spots hold them from one day to another...or even during the same day.

Use your sonar and troll various lures at different depths while searching for the fish. We were keeping our lures fairly close to the bottom but we also saw fish suspending at middepth in 11 to 12 feet. Could have been anything from wipers to carp to large shad. Our fish all came on the deep presentation.

Fathead minnows SHOULD work. I have never tried them but I have used carp minnows, chubs and redside shiners successfully in Willard. I have also done well on strips of perch meat, carp meat and plain old crawlers. A lot of all species are caught every year by guys fishing crawler harnesses on bottom bouncer rigs. And I catch plenty of all species on small jigs tipped with worm. In fact, during the summer I often do best on small jigs tipped with worm...for wipers...than I do on larger lures or whole minnows. See attached pics.
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[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks I'll try to practice some of these. Later J
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[uncledon]

Hi pat, the last time I heard of you being in a boat you were with me and my old fishing partner Jim. That's been about four years ago. You graciously went with us to share a few tricks on the kittys. Thanks again. We put all we leaned to good use until Jim just couldn't make the trip anymore. Jim finally left us to go meet his lifelong sweetheart on Valentines day a year ago past February. We shared many good times on Willard chasing the cats. I miss him a lot. I haven't been on here for a long time but when I read about you in a boat I guess it just tripped my switch. Thanks for all you do for other fisherpersons. I wish there were more like you and Loah.
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