05-08-2011, 03:09 PM
I would like to offer my opinion on Willard. It is a fascinating reservoir in Utah. I won't get in to many details of it and won't talk to much about it's Morphology. To start it is a 10,000 surface acre reservoir which makes it one of the largest reservoirs in Northern Utah. The Weber river is the source of all it's water. It has a 0 conservation pool which means if can be drained to a mud puddle for agrarian or other use.
That said, it starts to be interesting when you think that it will be no deeper then say 36 feet at peak level (I am not trying to argue absolute water depth, that is just what my fish finder says) but could go much lower depending on time of year. The temperature range of the water is huge as well because of it's relative shallowness. The lack of relative structure, other then shoreline is the only other major factor. These are the "big" effects of number of fish, quality of fish, and quality of fishery.
This is not all the technical data, and there is lots more to know about the place, but for this particular article the important physical stuff is there. Let me expound a bit about the types of fish now because this brings the nature of the fishery to true light.
Shad. That is what runs the reservoir now. I don't recall the timing of the planting, but I do recall the effects on the fishery. This will come to bear shortly. Before the planting it was a Walleye factory. After it was a great fishery in all aspects of the word. With the Shad in the lake it has a relatively reliable and abundant food source. Shad being Plankton eaters are ideally suited to Willard. The reservoir is a giant soup bowl for which the Shad are designed to live in. With the introduction of the wipers you now have 3 predators to keep the Shad in check. Catfish, Walleye, and Wipers. I won't go into the Carp factor but they are a large impact on the reservoir when it comes to both the damage they inflict on the spawn of other fish and/or the piscivorous nature they adapt sometimes that competes with Game fish.
Now that is the general picture. The more specific picture is that it is a "soup bowl". There are big meaty chunks floating around, and a lot of broth. That means that other then the dike, and a very few other locations around the lake there is no structure per say to hold fish. That means that the Shad roam and the predators roam after them. The shore is technically the prime place to fish being that it is the only true source of cover (
What I am saying is the fish are where the bait fish are at and the bait fish roam like the buffalo all over the reservoir. Seasonally there are patterns, but the fishing day to day angler to angler is not as consistent for the above slated reasons.
The most successful Willard anglers usually roam where the fish roam. Or like the people who fish the dikes use specific patters that always produce. Those patterns almost always imitate the Shad. My most successful lures are a white 2-3 inch curly tail grub with a 1/8-1/4 ounce jighead in various colors or a Rapala Clown shad rap.
You need to have very good electronics to stay on fish at Willard, or be very persistent and patient on the dikes. More to the point the fish are deeper in the spring, shallower for a few weeks towards the start of summer, deep again during the summer, then surface bashing during late fall.
I suggest these are only the basic patterns and fine tuning of these patterns is a must. These are interesting musing's and mulling's but tried and true. There is always a better way, but these are the most basic.[:/]
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That said, it starts to be interesting when you think that it will be no deeper then say 36 feet at peak level (I am not trying to argue absolute water depth, that is just what my fish finder says) but could go much lower depending on time of year. The temperature range of the water is huge as well because of it's relative shallowness. The lack of relative structure, other then shoreline is the only other major factor. These are the "big" effects of number of fish, quality of fish, and quality of fishery.
This is not all the technical data, and there is lots more to know about the place, but for this particular article the important physical stuff is there. Let me expound a bit about the types of fish now because this brings the nature of the fishery to true light.
Shad. That is what runs the reservoir now. I don't recall the timing of the planting, but I do recall the effects on the fishery. This will come to bear shortly. Before the planting it was a Walleye factory. After it was a great fishery in all aspects of the word. With the Shad in the lake it has a relatively reliable and abundant food source. Shad being Plankton eaters are ideally suited to Willard. The reservoir is a giant soup bowl for which the Shad are designed to live in. With the introduction of the wipers you now have 3 predators to keep the Shad in check. Catfish, Walleye, and Wipers. I won't go into the Carp factor but they are a large impact on the reservoir when it comes to both the damage they inflict on the spawn of other fish and/or the piscivorous nature they adapt sometimes that competes with Game fish.
Now that is the general picture. The more specific picture is that it is a "soup bowl". There are big meaty chunks floating around, and a lot of broth. That means that other then the dike, and a very few other locations around the lake there is no structure per say to hold fish. That means that the Shad roam and the predators roam after them. The shore is technically the prime place to fish being that it is the only true source of cover (
What I am saying is the fish are where the bait fish are at and the bait fish roam like the buffalo all over the reservoir. Seasonally there are patterns, but the fishing day to day angler to angler is not as consistent for the above slated reasons.
The most successful Willard anglers usually roam where the fish roam. Or like the people who fish the dikes use specific patters that always produce. Those patterns almost always imitate the Shad. My most successful lures are a white 2-3 inch curly tail grub with a 1/8-1/4 ounce jighead in various colors or a Rapala Clown shad rap.
You need to have very good electronics to stay on fish at Willard, or be very persistent and patient on the dikes. More to the point the fish are deeper in the spring, shallower for a few weeks towards the start of summer, deep again during the summer, then surface bashing during late fall.
I suggest these are only the basic patterns and fine tuning of these patterns is a must. These are interesting musing's and mulling's but tried and true. There is always a better way, but these are the most basic.[:/]
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