Willard Finale 12-31-23

[TubeDude]

I’ve been fishing Willard Bay since 1977.  And I have never been able to launch my float tube after about the first or second week of December.  Always iced up by then.  Not this year.  High water and moderate temperatures have kept it open far longer than usual.
 
I hit the north marina and got launched by 7:30…right behind Alan and Ira…a couple of other diehard perch-jerkers.  By the time I got out to where they were spot locked they had already caught their first perch.  I moved off a ways, found a few fish on TV and sent down my baited jigs.  Had two bigguns in the basket by 8 am.  Figgered it was gonna be a bananner day.  Well, ‘twern’t as bad as some but definitely had to work for them.
 
There was a steady SE breeze that kept moving me off my spot and I didn’t put down my marker buoy because I could sorta use the other boys’ boat as a visual reference.  But every time I hooked a fish and quit maintaining position with my fins I got pushed a ways off the spot and had to motor back.  Then…after about my third or fourth fish, my GoPro froze up and quit working.  Okay, so I took a few more pics with my regular camera.  Did get some shots of a couple of the 13 inchers I got…along with the lures that worked on them.
 

At one point, I got the customary perch tap and set the hook into something much bigger.  Really beat me up with that small perch rod.  Was thinking it might be a humongo kitty but it turned out to have big scales and rubber lips.  A carpzilla.  Netted it, retrieved my jig and released it unharmed.  No complimentary gillectomies in that cold air.
 

The perch on sonar were getting fewer and the bites were coming less often.  So I went on a perch search.  Made big S turns watching sonar as I worked toward the north dike.  Saw occasional small groups of fish.  But just finding fish is not the key.  Gotta find active ones. I scratched out a couple more in the far flung reaches and then headed back to the area that had produced earlier.  But Alan and ira had also moved and were doing their own search.  At one point I looked over at their boat and noticed Alan’s rod had a big bend in it.  Hope he got his money back when he returned it.
 

The dropping water temps and cold air…along with slow fishing…finally convinced me that I would have more fun at home watching football.  So I boogied about 11.  A hot lunch a nice nap and some football games made the rest of my day more endurable.  Doubt I will launch my tube again before late February.  Should be some walleye…and at least some catfish…stirring by then.