willard wipers

[JLTD]

Anyone willing to offer up some tips about wiper fishing at Willard for a guy without a boat? I am new to the area and have never fished them there.
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[Wildcat94]

hit the north marina, bobber under a jig tipped with a waxie slowly retrieved. From now until june and you will catch everything, be prepared as combat fishing is not far away with the spawning fish and false spawn of the wipers
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[Springbuck]

Wow! Waxies under a bobber on a jig for WIPERS? I'da never thunk.
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[Wildcat94]

crazy huh?!? so simple yet so productive. thanks for the informative post sb such a contributor
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[Springbuck]

Thank you!
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[fishwhisperer14]

north west corner? I don't have a boat so I fish from shore. Bobber, fill it with water? Then have the jig 3-4 feet below right? I have done this before using chartruese jig heads and white curly tail grubs or dark green and white tube jigs. What kind of jigs were you using? I caught a few last week in the South marina inlet with muscles but when I went back there yesterday, I had no success!
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]During the time the wipers are in their spring fling thing they cruise closer to the shoreline, in shallower water and also stay closer to the surface even over deeper water. Fishing a jig under a bobber is a proven method for catching them.

Lots of potential rigs. Most common is a float with anywhere from 3 to 5 feet of line below it and a 1/6 oz. or 1/8 oz. jig...plastic or marabou. Smaller jigs often get more hits than bigger ones at this time. White is usually a good color but chartreuse can be good too.

You don't usually have to cast too far out since the fish are fairly close in. Either twitch the bobber a few times or let the wind blown waves keep it moving. Reel it in slowly then recast it out to different spots until you find where the fish are. And keep moving down the shoreline to find fish, if you are not getting any action where you are. They won't always come to you.
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[fishwhisperer14]

I have usually fished the north west corner and done well in the past. Like I said, I was fishing the south marina inlet a week ago and did okay, but it was dead yesterday. Everyone keeps saying the north marina/side. Where exactly should I go? Have you been having success more in the morning hours or later hours? When I caught mine last week, it was late afternoon, close to dark.
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[JLTD]

Thanks for the tip! I am going to go give here a try now. I need to get these northern Utah fish figured out!
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]This is a low water year so the fish are not going to be where they usually are...or at least further from shore. And with the changing weather it is a day to day thing. It can be red hot in the afternoon one day...after a long warming period...but can go cold for several days following a storm moving through. Before water temps stay above 60 degrees all day you will usually find the fish more active later in the day...after the water warms up.

There have been fish being caught just outside both the north and south marinas...in the dredged channels where the water is a little deeper. But have not heard of anybody doing consistently well off the shoreline areas or inside the harbor yet. That area of the inlet, where the water pours in, has a deeper "scour hole". That holds fish when they are in. But they can move out fast during a cold front.

Right now it is a matter of timing, location and luck. There are indicators you can watch to improve your chances but never any guarantees.
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[Gumbyk]

PM me. Caught about 20 today. Kept only 2, 1 was 21" 4.5lbs. A few weeks ago we we're releasing 6 lber's because that's how big and plentiful they were. Lately, they have been your typical cookie cutter medium size about 12"-17".
Fishing from shore, really not that difficult once you know the set up.
Past month and a half has been amazing at Willard. From Walleye and now transitioning to Wipers. I've been at Willard at least twice a week and limiting out on wipers within an hour. I usually stick around just for the fun of it with an ultra light rod. I've been trying to target crappie lately but I know the water temp is still down but that's how repeative it's been with the wipers. Don't get me wrong, I think wipers are one of the best sport fish to catch in Utah, but it's really been that simple. Believe what you want, I know text is cheap but PM and I'll walk you through it. I'm actually heading back up tomorrow if you want a hands on demo. People who know me, I'm usually wearing a white t-shirt around my head.

[CoyoteSpinner]

No pix, checked if they were marked inline, but no.

Sounds like you've got it wired. Wish Willard was closer for me. Never done too great there, buf haven't put enough time in.
Would like to give it a go sometime. Sounds like now is a pretty good time.

[Gumbyk]

I'm pretty computer literate. Something is up with this site. I've resized, changed formatting from .jpg to .png. Tried to attach beside inline and the images won't post. Which is funny because some images that are atttached on this site are over 3MB! I'm trying to insert an inline image of 32.2 kb. So Idk what's up, I previewed the message again and the images are showing up so if you want pics, you can try to pm me and see if they will send or pm me your email and I'll sent it that way.

[Springbuck]

This kind of post is what I find so confusing, because I go at least a couple times a year for the last 15 years and I have never caught one! I seriously have never heard of the wax worm thing, but this year alone have tried white curly jigs, white swim baits, gulp minnows, mussels, dead chubs, and small spinnerbaits and spinners, rattle traps, small rapala, roadrunner jigs, .... maybe more I can't think of. I have cast and bobbered both bait and jigs. Been up three times, trying to hit warming spells. Fish where peo ppl e are fishing and out away from the crowds. Tried the Inlet channel, inside and outside the N marina, and the dredge channel (near as I understand where it is).

I am baffled by my apparent I ability to do something so easy!
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[Gumbyk]

There can be many factors, but the main reason is location, rod set up, and if the fish are just plainly feeding.
But let's just say I can GUARANTEE you will catch a fish.
Yeah that's how confident and good it has been.
No boat required.
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[wiperhunter2]

I fixed your pics above, the method you used worked because the pics were there but next time don't check the inline box. Larger pics should also work. Good job on the wipers and eyes and thanks for sharing.
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[Gumbyk]

Hey thanks! I was thinking maybe because I'm using IE instead of Firefox and also my security settings on my pc are set to a high security setting so that can be the issue. But anyhow, thanks for fixing that and those photos are from the past month. I'll post some better pics later. I usually a lone wolf and don't take the time to take better photos because I want to get back into the water.
Been debating to set up a go-pro helmet cam and doing a time-lapsed video for a day of wiper fishing just so people can see how aggressive and fun it is.
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[Springbuck]

Tell you what! My next day off is Wed. and then I'm off for a week (I work seven 10-12 hour days, then off seven) of course I can't fish every day, but if you or anyone else wants to teach me something, just let me know how I can contribute.
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[Gumbyk]

You really just need one day. I normally have a pretty flexible work schedule but my business partner has the week off and taking her monthly, week vacation. Also, really bad day to be off on. As of now, Wednesday the temperature should be dropping to 52 degrees. But Thurs-Sun may work. I'm always on-call but we will probably only need a few hours so I can meet you there on one of those days and get back to work. I'm about 20-30 min from Willard. Weekdays are always good to be away from the crowds.
I'll PM you my contact info and go from there.
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[Hoola_bob]

I was down at Willard yesterday, and ly I had no luck. It was my very first time at Willard bay and following the post about Shad imitating rapalas from shore, that is what i brought.

I did see an guy just 100 feet to the North of me, who had a white shirt tied around his head, and he did catch about 6-7 fish in the few hours I was there. He was using what looked like an ultra light rod that I would take to catch bluegill and other pan fish.
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