Just hadda hit Willard again...in another fruitless perch search. Launched by 7:30 at the north marina. Air temp was 44...warming to about 65 by noon. Water temps were 58 both in the marina and the main lake...only coming up about 1 degree by noon. Still too warm for a shad dieoff but should be dropping again after next week's weather.
![[Image: WILLARD-LAUNCH-10-19-23.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/148fNPDZ/WILLARD-LAUNCH-10-19-23.jpg)
Began by working the area just outside the marina. Saw a few fishy marks but found no active fish. Motored and sonared my way over to the area off Eagle Beach, where I scored a couple of cats last week. Got two more. One only about a footlong. The other was a decent 19" and went in the basket. I have cat fillets in the freezer but figured I would keep a couple for a fresh fish fry. I caught both of those fish on a new chartreuse LSS flig...Low, Slow, Small. And I got those on worm sweetener. Seems like worms often work well early in the day.
![[Image: LSS-CHART.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/p5L7yqm2/LSS-CHART.jpg)
Had no more love by about 10 am so I decided to try inside the marina. Was going to start there but changed plans. Saw quite a bit of fish life on TV but nothing on the end of my rod. Stopped to vertical jig a small group of perch marks. Hooked and lost two porky perch before the marks disappeared. Hopefully more will come inside the marina this year with the higher water.
Went back to slooooow dragging my new LSS lures...at only about .3 mph. Had one rod rigged with pink tiger and the other with orange tiger...both sweetened with small whole chub minnows. Missed one good hit on the orange tiger. Then got first a 24 incher...which I added to my basket...and then a brawling 25 incher that I released. Both of the bigguns took the pink tiger LSS.
![[Image: 2-FOOTER.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/68fSK86V/2-FOOTER.jpg)
![[Image: 25-INCHER.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/Xrs8xd7P/25-INCHER.jpg)
![[Image: LSS-PINK-TIGER.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/94qLMzCN/LSS-PINK-TIGER.jpg)
Saw Jeff & Jill in their boat...briefly at launch. They were going to try fishing "normal"...with cranks, bottom bouncers and planer boards. Didn't see them again before I left so I don't know how they did. But I did talk to a couple of other boaters and they both smelled skunk.
Couldn't have asked for a nicer day on the water. Still some fall colors left on the mountains to the east. But like other Willardites I am hoping for some cooler water and hotter fishing. At least I got some tugs and managed to have a couple of dinner guests crawl in my basket.
![[Image: NICE-FALL-DAY.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/XrnW9Sp8/NICE-FALL-DAY.jpg)
![[Image: KEPT-2.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/R6HyjXWh/KEPT-2.jpg)
Began by working the area just outside the marina. Saw a few fishy marks but found no active fish. Motored and sonared my way over to the area off Eagle Beach, where I scored a couple of cats last week. Got two more. One only about a footlong. The other was a decent 19" and went in the basket. I have cat fillets in the freezer but figured I would keep a couple for a fresh fish fry. I caught both of those fish on a new chartreuse LSS flig...Low, Slow, Small. And I got those on worm sweetener. Seems like worms often work well early in the day.
Had no more love by about 10 am so I decided to try inside the marina. Was going to start there but changed plans. Saw quite a bit of fish life on TV but nothing on the end of my rod. Stopped to vertical jig a small group of perch marks. Hooked and lost two porky perch before the marks disappeared. Hopefully more will come inside the marina this year with the higher water.
Went back to slooooow dragging my new LSS lures...at only about .3 mph. Had one rod rigged with pink tiger and the other with orange tiger...both sweetened with small whole chub minnows. Missed one good hit on the orange tiger. Then got first a 24 incher...which I added to my basket...and then a brawling 25 incher that I released. Both of the bigguns took the pink tiger LSS.
Saw Jeff & Jill in their boat...briefly at launch. They were going to try fishing "normal"...with cranks, bottom bouncers and planer boards. Didn't see them again before I left so I don't know how they did. But I did talk to a couple of other boaters and they both smelled skunk.
Couldn't have asked for a nicer day on the water. Still some fall colors left on the mountains to the east. But like other Willardites I am hoping for some cooler water and hotter fishing. At least I got some tugs and managed to have a couple of dinner guests crawl in my basket.