2021 Willard Bay Trip # 33

[Tin-Can]

Made it back out to WB South yesterday.  There were 5 other rigs in the lot on my 0800 arrival. Air temp was 56 and went up to a pleasant 80 on departure at 1300.  Water temp 67.6 and creeped up to 70.5.  
Water levels are still dropping, but not quite as fast as 2 weeks ago.  At the end of the middle ramp with boat still on trailer my sonar showed 1.8 fow and at the outside edge of the dock only a little better at 2.0 fow. 



The main body of the marina struggled to show 3-3.5 fow and the channel 4-5.5 fow.  Just at the opening to the main body of the lake, there is a sharp "hump" created by the dredging done several years ago that comes up to just over 2 fow, then drops back to 4 fow.   

SERIOUS RECOMMENDATION: KEEP YOUR MOTOR TRIMMED UP UNTIL YOU GET WELL PAST THE BUOY MARKERS.  LIKE MAYBE 300 TO 400 YARDS. Once well past the buoys it's 8-10 fow. 




Motored out to my Cat hunting area where the water was 10 ft. deep and showed quite a few possible bait takers.  Most of the morning had a nice 4-5 mph breeze out of the north that allowed me to drift at .30 to .60 mph . Got my 2 baited lines out, and had almost immediate hits on both. But they were hit & strip with no hook ups.  After the first couple minutes of excitement, I settled into a steady drift and return for over an hour before first kitty decided to take bait and hook.  Then the average was one Cat boated per hour, with lots of hesitant nibbles and tugs in-between.  Not my best day on Willard this year, but sure as heck not my worst day.   Last cat caught on last piece of bait, so called it a day and was off the water by 1300.
 

       

All Cats released.    Not sure what he was doing, but a DNR maintenance guy was working on something at the cleaning station.  I know the station was working cuz another angler was cleaning fish while I was getting boat stowed for the road.  But with the water situation, and Labor Day next week, it's possible he was getting ready to shut it down.