4/1/17 Slow Day at Willard

[obifishkenobi]

I arrived at the South Marina at 10 am with no wind. I ran over to freeway bay where the water temp was 52 degrees there, I put out a fire tire Berkeley crank bait and a Shadrap under a plainer board. Just a few minutes later I caught my first 20" wiper of the year on the Berkeley crank. Then about 11 I saw the wind and white caps coming at me from the north, And I trolled for another hour then decided to quit fighting the wind and anchored up and soaked mussels for the next 4 hours. First on an old road bed in Freeway Bay and then off of the Hog Farm where it transitions from 16 to 20 ft deep. I caught one 16" wiper there. The wind laid down around 4 pm so, I went back to trolling and picked up my last 15" wiper of the day, on a rattlin rap an hour later near the Island. The water temp dropped to 48 degrees when the wind started blowing and came back up to 49 degrees when I left around 6pm. Over all a pretty tough day, but I will be eating wiper this week.
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[dubob]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]I'm guessing your last picture is at the new cleaning station at the South Marina. Any comments about it? I'm curious to know if it has any outlets to plug in a 120V electric fillet knife. Also, does it have a grinder or just a drop chute for the offal? [/#800000][/font]
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[RILEYFISH]

Bob, I here it has all of the things that you mentioned. I will be going out there this evening, so I will let you know for sure. even if don't get to officially use it. stay tuned.
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[wiperhunter2]

Its the best fish cleaning station I've seen. It has 4 spray nozzles for cleaning off the fish and work surface, one on each side, it has 4 plugs for your 120V electric fillet knife, one on each side and yes it has a super quite grinder. The old fish cleaning station was only a 4" drain, this one is a 6" drain, so they are hoping it does not clog.

obifishkenobi- Nice report and pics, you did good, catching 4, most of us are not doing that good out there but I have yet to see any temp over 50. Now that it is above 50*, I'm sure that helps.
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[doitall5000]

Good news, I hope people learn to turn ON the grinder before filling it FULL of fish. This will make a great improvement, we can all make it better by cleaning up after ourselves and the lazy ones.
DNR is going to need our help, to improve the bay. Boating laws and messy people
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[obifishkenobi]

That 52 degree temp was over in Freeway Bay when I first got there and it was dead flat calm, but as soon as the wind picked up it quickly dropped to 48 degrees but came back up to 49 near the island when the wind quit blowing. hopefully we get some warmer days and the catching will get a lot better. The fish cleaning station is great also the nicest I have used.
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[wiperhunter2]

I agree. Willie, the care taker and camp ground host there at the South marina told me last week that someone had used the fish cleaning station the week before and this was before it was up and running. I guess they figured it out after they gutted the fish but because there was no power or water at that time, they left quit a mess that he had to clean up or they knew it did not work but gutted their fish anyway, leaving the mess for someone else to clean up. Either way, it was not a good way to break in the new cleaning station.
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[familyteacher]

Hey I was just wondering how fast you were trolling this time of the year?
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[obifishkenobi]

I was trolling between 1.5 and 2.3 and caught all three when I was going 1.8 according to my GPS I was specifically targeting Wipers and would probably go a little slower if I was targeting Walleye.
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[familyteacher]

Awesome thanks for the tips I've been out all day and nothing so far
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