NBC Day Willard 8-17-23 (With Video)

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LINK TO VIDEO

Planned a short morning trip to Willard...to see if anything might not be so stuffed on baby shad that they would "yawn" for something I offered.  Was supposed to get hot later so I set my departure time for about 11.  I lived and fished in Arizona for 20 years but never learned to like the heat.

Got to the south marina about 6:15.  Still mostly dark.  Getting lighter later.  Air temp a nice 65...warming to 90 by noonish.  Water temp 75 at launch and 78 at return.  Only two boats launching when I did and only a couple more through the morning.  One of the guys in a boat said he had blanked his last two trips.  Wondered if I shoulda stood in bed.


I have caught fish in the channel this time of year before so that's where I started.  Dragged baited fligs all the way out from the buoy to the mouth of the channel.  Saw little on sonar and zippo on my lines.  As soon as I got out into the main lake I began to see shad balls on sonar...some big and some small...from about 10 feet of water out to 15 or 16 feet.  I eventually worked out as far as 20 feet of depth but saw few shad and fewer fish beyond about 16 feet.


I had started by using minnow-baited whirly fligs in white or blue-back silver...the colors that have produced for me in the past at this time of year...when baby shad are the main menu item.  Nary a sniff for the first half hour.  Then I switched one rod to one with a fire tiger buzz whirly crawler rig...still in my rod arsenal from my last walleye trip in June.  Put on a fresh crawler, pitched it out and almost immediately caught the first kitty of the day.  Then caught several more...including a bitty kitty that managed to snarf the bottom stinger hook on the crawler rig.  Smallest cat I have caught in Willard for several years.
 

After failing to find fish in deeper water, I settled into working on either side of 14'.  That's where I saw the most shad...and a few non-shad marks as well.  But after the crawler rig quit getting bit I started rotating different colors of whirly fligs...baited with a half chub minnow.  Had a few pop and drops that were either perch or more bitty kitties but also started hooking up with some bigger cats.  Ended up bringing in about a dozen...with several in the two footer size range. Much fun.


Put away the kitty tackle a bit after 10 and began trolling some small cranks back to the Marina.  Have caught some nice wipers on those in the past...when they are targeting small shad.  No hits, no runs no fish.  Back at the ramp about 11ish.  Parking lot at the ramp was mostly empty.

I had kept a limit of 8 cats...figuring I could make short work of them at the cleaning station without having to make a mess at home.   WRONG!!!!!  Once again some doofus (or doofii) had left the grinder clogged up with fish parts.  Grumbled all the way home.