04-28-2007, 01:21 PM
[cool][#0000ff]Sorry the wipers didn't wanna play with ya, but glad you enjoyed the nice weather I ordered for us tubers.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I don't catch wipers every time I hit Willard, but if I can find some, I usually score a few. That is, while fishing from my tube. The only two times I have been skunked on Willard, over the past two years, is while trolling for wipers out of somebody's boat (BLM and P4L). [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Trolling will always be the best way to locate wipers. But, it is not always the best way to put them in the boat. When the water is still cool, the fish will not move as far or as fast to intercept a trolled lure. You almost have to hit them in the face with it. That is especially true when the water is "stained", as it is right now. Wipers are sight feeders and they forage more efficiently when they can cruise fast and see their prey a few feet away...and then rocket in for the attack. In stained water wipers can locate prey by vibration but have to get close to see well enough for a successful attack.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Under the current conditions, it is sometimes better to fish low and slow...and to use highly visible colors that the fish can see easier. In low light conditions, go with chartreuse or other high vis colors...especially if there is a contrasting color like hot red or orange...or black. Chartreuse plastics with red or orange heads...fished very slow...are good bets in the early morning or late afternoon. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The firetiger finish diving crankbait I used yesterday morning is also a good high-vis color for low-vis conditions. More importantly was probably the way I fished it. I used the old tried and true bass technique for diving cranks. Instead of just "chunkin' and windin"...like Jimmy Houston...I would make a long cast on light line (6#), make a few quick reel turns to get the lure down and then reel just fast enough to keep it wiggling and occasionally digging into the bottom in the shallow area I was fishing. On every retrieve, I would speed up and slow down to change up the action. A lot of pops came either just as I speeded up...or when I stopped it for a couple of seconds. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In cool and/or murky water, you have to help the fish a little. Use lures with rattles (like mine) and fish them slow enough to allow the fish to find them from a few feet away in the gloom. Then, use some change up in the action to help trigger a reaction bite when a fish is eyeballing your offering at close range. You have to fish with confidence and expectation. You need to anticpate that there are fish out there on every cast and that they are just hanging back and watching your retrieve. Keep doing things to get their attention and to stimulate an attack.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Later in the morning yesterday, the hits on my firetiger quit coming. Not even any catfish smacks. That told me that with the higher light intensity, I might do better with something lighter and shinier. Blueback chrome is a proven color for wipers throughout the year. It is one of the best imitators of the natural appearance of a shad. So, I tied on a diving crankbait in the same model as the firetiger I had been using, only with the blue/chrome combo. I had several hits on it, without hookups. That is not unusual when fishing for wipers, stripers or white bass. When they are in a neutral or inactive mode, they will often bump lures without inhaling them. We sometimes snag those fish on the outside of their heads when we drag "well armed" lures. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I finally found that to trigger a CHOMP, I had to wait for a bump and then speed up the retrieve. Cat and mouse strategy. That got me a couple of brief hookups...and losses. It also got a solid slam from the 21" fish that I netted but lost through the hole in my basket.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]My point? Sometimes just "washing lures" (trolling) is not the best strategy. If the fish are there, but not biting, you gotta get down and dirty. Shut off the motor and drift through the fishy area...casting plastics or diving crankbaits. In my tube I can't run across to the lightpole, but if I find fish I can fish them in stealth mode. When the fish are active and moving around the lake, in clearer water, trolling can put a lot of fish on your line. But, when trolling is not the answer, you need to know what the other questions are.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]With the low water levels in Willard this year, I suspect that the lake is always going to have more "color" than in high water years. There are lots of exposed muddy shorelines and whenever the wind comes up those shorelines get muddied up pretty good. Actually, the exposed muddy shorelines can sometimes be good places to cast lures in the wind. Both wipers and walleyes like those conditions because they stack up and disorient the baitfish (shad) and make for good "sonar" (lateral line) feeding conditions. I have had some great fishing on Willard on windy shorelines. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Unfortunately, for trollers, the lower clarity means they have to slow down and use different lures than those that worked best under better conditions.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The bright spot...my prediction...is that there is going to be some gangbuster boil fishing later in the year. The wipers now have lots of shallow nooks and crannies around the lake into which they can herd schools of shad. They will take up stations around those areas and make periodic feeding forays into them (boils). When they have shad bottled up, they will stay nearby all day and you can stay in one spot rather than running and gunning around the lake to chase boils. And, under conditions of lower visibility, you won't have to "match the hatch". Almost anything you throw into the craziness is likely to get bit. Boiling wipers in murky water bite first and sort out edibility issues later.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Like most of us, I would love to see the lake full again, with nice clean water and lots of active fishies. But, the reality is that it may be two or three years (or more) before the feds quit messin' around and let the lake fill up again...if Mama Nature cooperates in the snowpack department. So...we all need to adapt and take advantage of whatever fishing we can get. Don't get hung up on fishing the same way...with the same lures...that worked for you last year. Things are different.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I don't catch wipers every time I hit Willard, but if I can find some, I usually score a few. That is, while fishing from my tube. The only two times I have been skunked on Willard, over the past two years, is while trolling for wipers out of somebody's boat (BLM and P4L). [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Trolling will always be the best way to locate wipers. But, it is not always the best way to put them in the boat. When the water is still cool, the fish will not move as far or as fast to intercept a trolled lure. You almost have to hit them in the face with it. That is especially true when the water is "stained", as it is right now. Wipers are sight feeders and they forage more efficiently when they can cruise fast and see their prey a few feet away...and then rocket in for the attack. In stained water wipers can locate prey by vibration but have to get close to see well enough for a successful attack.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Under the current conditions, it is sometimes better to fish low and slow...and to use highly visible colors that the fish can see easier. In low light conditions, go with chartreuse or other high vis colors...especially if there is a contrasting color like hot red or orange...or black. Chartreuse plastics with red or orange heads...fished very slow...are good bets in the early morning or late afternoon. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The firetiger finish diving crankbait I used yesterday morning is also a good high-vis color for low-vis conditions. More importantly was probably the way I fished it. I used the old tried and true bass technique for diving cranks. Instead of just "chunkin' and windin"...like Jimmy Houston...I would make a long cast on light line (6#), make a few quick reel turns to get the lure down and then reel just fast enough to keep it wiggling and occasionally digging into the bottom in the shallow area I was fishing. On every retrieve, I would speed up and slow down to change up the action. A lot of pops came either just as I speeded up...or when I stopped it for a couple of seconds. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]In cool and/or murky water, you have to help the fish a little. Use lures with rattles (like mine) and fish them slow enough to allow the fish to find them from a few feet away in the gloom. Then, use some change up in the action to help trigger a reaction bite when a fish is eyeballing your offering at close range. You have to fish with confidence and expectation. You need to anticpate that there are fish out there on every cast and that they are just hanging back and watching your retrieve. Keep doing things to get their attention and to stimulate an attack.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Later in the morning yesterday, the hits on my firetiger quit coming. Not even any catfish smacks. That told me that with the higher light intensity, I might do better with something lighter and shinier. Blueback chrome is a proven color for wipers throughout the year. It is one of the best imitators of the natural appearance of a shad. So, I tied on a diving crankbait in the same model as the firetiger I had been using, only with the blue/chrome combo. I had several hits on it, without hookups. That is not unusual when fishing for wipers, stripers or white bass. When they are in a neutral or inactive mode, they will often bump lures without inhaling them. We sometimes snag those fish on the outside of their heads when we drag "well armed" lures. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I finally found that to trigger a CHOMP, I had to wait for a bump and then speed up the retrieve. Cat and mouse strategy. That got me a couple of brief hookups...and losses. It also got a solid slam from the 21" fish that I netted but lost through the hole in my basket.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]My point? Sometimes just "washing lures" (trolling) is not the best strategy. If the fish are there, but not biting, you gotta get down and dirty. Shut off the motor and drift through the fishy area...casting plastics or diving crankbaits. In my tube I can't run across to the lightpole, but if I find fish I can fish them in stealth mode. When the fish are active and moving around the lake, in clearer water, trolling can put a lot of fish on your line. But, when trolling is not the answer, you need to know what the other questions are.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]With the low water levels in Willard this year, I suspect that the lake is always going to have more "color" than in high water years. There are lots of exposed muddy shorelines and whenever the wind comes up those shorelines get muddied up pretty good. Actually, the exposed muddy shorelines can sometimes be good places to cast lures in the wind. Both wipers and walleyes like those conditions because they stack up and disorient the baitfish (shad) and make for good "sonar" (lateral line) feeding conditions. I have had some great fishing on Willard on windy shorelines. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Unfortunately, for trollers, the lower clarity means they have to slow down and use different lures than those that worked best under better conditions.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The bright spot...my prediction...is that there is going to be some gangbuster boil fishing later in the year. The wipers now have lots of shallow nooks and crannies around the lake into which they can herd schools of shad. They will take up stations around those areas and make periodic feeding forays into them (boils). When they have shad bottled up, they will stay nearby all day and you can stay in one spot rather than running and gunning around the lake to chase boils. And, under conditions of lower visibility, you won't have to "match the hatch". Almost anything you throw into the craziness is likely to get bit. Boiling wipers in murky water bite first and sort out edibility issues later.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Like most of us, I would love to see the lake full again, with nice clean water and lots of active fishies. But, the reality is that it may be two or three years (or more) before the feds quit messin' around and let the lake fill up again...if Mama Nature cooperates in the snowpack department. So...we all need to adapt and take advantage of whatever fishing we can get. Don't get hung up on fishing the same way...with the same lures...that worked for you last year. Things are different.[/#0000ff]
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