04-27-2018, 10:26 PM
"Are there any plans to dump more structure into the bay to help the smaller fry survive?"
[#0000FF]I do not know of any plans to add more structure. In the past a group got together and dumped some bundles of Christmas trees at several points around the lake. But those have long since rotted away. And a little over a year ago there was an organized effort to dump some rock piles out off the south marina. Those are proving to be attractive to larger fish but are not designed to protect fry.
When the water is high...as it is now...there is a lot of flooded brush and the water is well up into the rocks along the dike. That provides a whole lot of spawning area for some species and shelter for the fry of all species. Couldn't ask for better. But during low water years the newly hatched fry are unprotected and vulnerable...poor recruitment...and poor fishing in future years.
DWR plants wipers...and now walleyes. But all the other species are at the mercy of the varying weather patterns...and the needs of the water users. Willard was not created as a fishing lake...but it is a good fishing lake when Mama Nature and the water users take it easy on us.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
[#0000FF]I do not know of any plans to add more structure. In the past a group got together and dumped some bundles of Christmas trees at several points around the lake. But those have long since rotted away. And a little over a year ago there was an organized effort to dump some rock piles out off the south marina. Those are proving to be attractive to larger fish but are not designed to protect fry.
When the water is high...as it is now...there is a lot of flooded brush and the water is well up into the rocks along the dike. That provides a whole lot of spawning area for some species and shelter for the fry of all species. Couldn't ask for better. But during low water years the newly hatched fry are unprotected and vulnerable...poor recruitment...and poor fishing in future years.
DWR plants wipers...and now walleyes. But all the other species are at the mercy of the varying weather patterns...and the needs of the water users. Willard was not created as a fishing lake...but it is a good fishing lake when Mama Nature and the water users take it easy on us.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]