03-19-2011, 12:36 PM
[cool][#0000ff]I launch out of both the north and south marinas. I make my decision based upon weather forecasts and fishing forecasts...and past experience. Nothing concrete.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]This is the time of year when the weather is changing a lot and the fish have not really settled into any kind of pattern. It can be different every day. No matter what you know or how good you are you usually have to look hard to find fish and even harder to get them to bite. If you get lucky you find active fish fast and catch a lot. But more folks have different results until the weather calms and the water warms...usually about mid April into May.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Right now the water is too cold for fast moving crankbaits. Slow moving plastics are best if you are fishing lures for walleyes, cats or crappies. In fact, fishing small jigs...plastic or feathers...under a bobber is sometimes the best way to pick up crappies and the occasional wiper.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I almost always drag a minnow behind my tube on one rod while throwing a tandem rig with small tube jigs or single plastic swimbait or grum on the other. Plastics work best in white, pearl or chartreuse. But sometimes a two tone in bright colors is easier to see in muddied water or is more attractive in cold water or low light conditions.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]It is tough to make accurate suggestions to anybody who has not fished the lake enough to know the "standard" spots and how to fish them during different times of the year. Willard is definitely a lake that can be very good...or very frustrating. Even the guys who have fished it a lot for a lot of years don't catch lots of fish on every trip. Skunk happens on Willard...a lot...especially this time of year.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]If I were to make a recommendation it would be to launch in the north marina. Then use your sonar to look around along the far eastern shore inside the marina...looking for suspended fish (crappies) or fish near the bottom (walleyes or wipers). If you see little or nothing, try fishing next to the docks for a little while, to prospect for crappies. If there is nothing doing than power back to the channel entrance. Drag some baits slowly back and forth inside the channel on your way out and then angle slowly to the NW as you come out. Work from 12' depth out to about 20 feet. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]If you don't see anything on sonar or don't get any hits within 100 yards of the marina entrance, power over to the Eagle Beach area. If they have the buoys in place, fish both inside and outside the buoy line. The water should be at least 10-12 feet deep. Drag a bait on one rod and either fish a tandem jig rig with small plastics or slowly drag a bobber and jig setup with about 5-6 feet of line between the jig and bobber. Best way to prospect for crappies on the light gear and other species on the bait rods. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]If nothing happens there, drag the baits straight out to the west for a couple of hundred yards...into 15 to 16 feet of water...and then work north to the NE corner of the lake. When you get even with the campgrounds, work back into the big cove with all the brushy stickups along shore. Drag your bait on one rod and fish the crappie stuff with the other. When you get into water shallower than 12 feet, you can switch to two crappie rigs on bobbers and move slowly...giving the rods a little twitch once in a while and watching the bobbers for the slightest movement. Sometimes they will go under but often they just move sideways an inch or so on the bite.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]If you do not find anything in that area, move back out into 15-16 feet and drag bait first over to the outlet area and then in and out along the north dike...from shallow to deep. There are often good numbers of walleyes, catfish and wipers in that area.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Yeah. That's what I would do. Talkin' about it has got me ready to go. See ya out there.[/#0000ff]
[signature]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]This is the time of year when the weather is changing a lot and the fish have not really settled into any kind of pattern. It can be different every day. No matter what you know or how good you are you usually have to look hard to find fish and even harder to get them to bite. If you get lucky you find active fish fast and catch a lot. But more folks have different results until the weather calms and the water warms...usually about mid April into May.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Right now the water is too cold for fast moving crankbaits. Slow moving plastics are best if you are fishing lures for walleyes, cats or crappies. In fact, fishing small jigs...plastic or feathers...under a bobber is sometimes the best way to pick up crappies and the occasional wiper.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I almost always drag a minnow behind my tube on one rod while throwing a tandem rig with small tube jigs or single plastic swimbait or grum on the other. Plastics work best in white, pearl or chartreuse. But sometimes a two tone in bright colors is easier to see in muddied water or is more attractive in cold water or low light conditions.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]It is tough to make accurate suggestions to anybody who has not fished the lake enough to know the "standard" spots and how to fish them during different times of the year. Willard is definitely a lake that can be very good...or very frustrating. Even the guys who have fished it a lot for a lot of years don't catch lots of fish on every trip. Skunk happens on Willard...a lot...especially this time of year.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]If I were to make a recommendation it would be to launch in the north marina. Then use your sonar to look around along the far eastern shore inside the marina...looking for suspended fish (crappies) or fish near the bottom (walleyes or wipers). If you see little or nothing, try fishing next to the docks for a little while, to prospect for crappies. If there is nothing doing than power back to the channel entrance. Drag some baits slowly back and forth inside the channel on your way out and then angle slowly to the NW as you come out. Work from 12' depth out to about 20 feet. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]If you don't see anything on sonar or don't get any hits within 100 yards of the marina entrance, power over to the Eagle Beach area. If they have the buoys in place, fish both inside and outside the buoy line. The water should be at least 10-12 feet deep. Drag a bait on one rod and either fish a tandem jig rig with small plastics or slowly drag a bobber and jig setup with about 5-6 feet of line between the jig and bobber. Best way to prospect for crappies on the light gear and other species on the bait rods. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]If nothing happens there, drag the baits straight out to the west for a couple of hundred yards...into 15 to 16 feet of water...and then work north to the NE corner of the lake. When you get even with the campgrounds, work back into the big cove with all the brushy stickups along shore. Drag your bait on one rod and fish the crappie stuff with the other. When you get into water shallower than 12 feet, you can switch to two crappie rigs on bobbers and move slowly...giving the rods a little twitch once in a while and watching the bobbers for the slightest movement. Sometimes they will go under but often they just move sideways an inch or so on the bite.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]If you do not find anything in that area, move back out into 15-16 feet and drag bait first over to the outlet area and then in and out along the north dike...from shallow to deep. There are often good numbers of walleyes, catfish and wipers in that area.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Yeah. That's what I would do. Talkin' about it has got me ready to go. See ya out there.[/#0000ff]
[signature]