03-24-2015, 02:40 PM
[#0000FF]From my experience...and the experience of a few other fly tiers and fly flingers over the past ten years I can say that location and presentation are generally more important than pattern . You gotta find the fish first and that can be tough. Then you gotta present your offering at the right depth and the right speed. That can change on an hourly basis.
Over the years plain white patterns have probably produced the most fish at Willard...wipers, walleyes and cats...and crappies...and smallmouths. Crystal buggers, zonkers and clousers are all on the fishies approved list. Adding eyes also seems to give a fly a slight edge over one without.
At this time of year wipers are feeding heavily on bottom dwelling invertebrates...like crawdads. So green/brown patterns on the bottom can produce. Shad spawn in June and by July there are baby shad all over the place...about 1 to 1.5 inches. That is when the wipers start chasing them and the first surface boils start happening. Fishing a small white pattern imitating the size of the prevailing shadlets is your best bet. And stripping it fast will get more bites than a slow retrieve.
By August into September the fast growing young shad may be 2 to 3". So you should be tieing and fishing larger flies to "match the hatch".
All that being said, wipers and walleyes both show a liking for "hot colors"...chartreuse, hot pink, hot red and hot orange. These colors are especially effective during cold water months and during periods of murky water. And you will usually fish them with a deeper and/or slower retrieve. So it is always a good idea to have some bright stuff in your arsenal just in cast you have to wake the fish up a bit.
I know how it is to want to create a masterpiece of illusion...something that looks exactly like the food item you are trying to imitate. I've wasted many hours at the vice in that pursuit. But when it comes to Willard Bay fishies, close enough is usually good enough. Some of the best days on flies I have seen have been on some of the simplest patterns. These include some years-old white wooly worms with red tails and some plain old quick-tie white streamers with silver tinsel bodies.
That being said, there is a growing legion of fly flingers who are adapting to the religion of UV materials in their flies. Have had a couple of good reports this year already and several from last year from tier/anglers who incorporated white UV stuff in their patterns.
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Over the years plain white patterns have probably produced the most fish at Willard...wipers, walleyes and cats...and crappies...and smallmouths. Crystal buggers, zonkers and clousers are all on the fishies approved list. Adding eyes also seems to give a fly a slight edge over one without.
At this time of year wipers are feeding heavily on bottom dwelling invertebrates...like crawdads. So green/brown patterns on the bottom can produce. Shad spawn in June and by July there are baby shad all over the place...about 1 to 1.5 inches. That is when the wipers start chasing them and the first surface boils start happening. Fishing a small white pattern imitating the size of the prevailing shadlets is your best bet. And stripping it fast will get more bites than a slow retrieve.
By August into September the fast growing young shad may be 2 to 3". So you should be tieing and fishing larger flies to "match the hatch".
All that being said, wipers and walleyes both show a liking for "hot colors"...chartreuse, hot pink, hot red and hot orange. These colors are especially effective during cold water months and during periods of murky water. And you will usually fish them with a deeper and/or slower retrieve. So it is always a good idea to have some bright stuff in your arsenal just in cast you have to wake the fish up a bit.
I know how it is to want to create a masterpiece of illusion...something that looks exactly like the food item you are trying to imitate. I've wasted many hours at the vice in that pursuit. But when it comes to Willard Bay fishies, close enough is usually good enough. Some of the best days on flies I have seen have been on some of the simplest patterns. These include some years-old white wooly worms with red tails and some plain old quick-tie white streamers with silver tinsel bodies.
That being said, there is a growing legion of fly flingers who are adapting to the religion of UV materials in their flies. Have had a couple of good reports this year already and several from last year from tier/anglers who incorporated white UV stuff in their patterns.
[/#0000FF]
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