08-01-2022, 08:03 PM
(08-01-2022, 05:37 PM)TubeDude Wrote: It is interesting to look back over the history of the wiper fishery the past few years. For several years...'05 -'10 and a few years beyond...there were wipers galore. You couldn't avoid catching them. My wife and I had days when we kept our tubes inside the north marina and had wiper boils going on around us all morning...each catching at least 10 -20 fish apiece by throwing pearl Sassy Shads. Then...after DWR began experimenting with "new and better" stocking programs...the fishing began to fall off. At least for wipers. Their new and improved walleye program has resulted in a better walleye fishery but a lot of us miss the slugfest sessions with wipers. When was the last time you fished a wide open boil?
Funny how the favored lures have changed too...both for the fish and fishermen. For a time those Producers were the hot lures. For the past few years I have not been able to buy a fish on them. Hmmmmm? Is it the fish changing...or the fishermen?
Likely it was back in the 2000's, by 2010 or soon after the big boils slowed way down, likely the result of fewer and fewer wipers being stocked. In those days a lot of the wipers that had been planted in Willard were going to other lakes, like minersville and newcastle. In the last ten years, the DWR stocked even fewer, with many of those wipers going to community ponds and many other lakes, like East canyon, jordanelle and schofield. Then about four or five years ago the push for more walleye and less wipers really started, I'm fine with more walleye but I think they went too far on the numbers of the wipers they cut out of the stocking program for Willard. Chris P said they are working on getting those numbers up and we did see more of those smaller wipers this year but it small in comparison to what it use to be. A few years ago Ira and I got into a small boil over in Freeway bay but other than that it has been close to 10 years since we have see any boils.