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fished willard today with yper in my boat launched about 10:30am and trolled the ice line north and south of the north marina. not even a bite, water temp was 43* and the deepest water we found was in the marina at 8ft. the shad are in the north marina spawning and there where a couple guys on the ramp when we came back catching them they caught a bunch as we where talking to them one of the guys hooked into on and handed his pole to yper and let him reel it in and did the same to me on the next on all the shad they caught where fowl hooked and released to live another day. ice was only pulled away maybe 50yrd on the east shore but couldnt make it around the lake to troll the west end ice was still up to dike on the north end
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Thanks for the report. I know everyone is waiting to hear when we can fish it.
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what was the water temp in the marina?
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I had heard someone was seen on willard. I am going to scheck it out today
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Very interesting.
Your info sounds like a shad spawn, but the circumstance goes against what I know about gizzard shad.
Heres a quote from my research for you.
"Gizzard shad are random, nocturnal, group spawners in shallow bays, coves, or sloughs with no care given to the young. Eggs are released near the surface of the water from late april or early may to early august at 50 to 70 degrees F. The eggs are adhesive and sink. The females are prolific, producing up to 400,000 eggs that are about .03 inch in diameter."
I have seen where gizzard shad spawn in mid march, but its usually in southern waters where the temp reaches 50 degrees much sooner than here in utah.
Our shad spawning season should be a shorter one due to the water temo taking longer to reach 50 degrees, and also due to the water temp reaching over 70 very quickly in summer. gizzard shad will spawn into august if the water temp and situation allow for it, but in willard bay specifically, it shouldnt last that long.
So, its very interesting to see shad in the shallows in groups, behaving like spawners, but with the water temp only being 43 degrees, and knowing they will have a lot of time to spawn in the coming months, its very interesting.
If you want info on the only way I have been able to get wipers at this time of year, send me a pm. Its not very productive, you wont have a 25 fish day, but I have been able to get a few while theres still ice on the lake in years past.
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]Man I'm surrprised you weren't catching fish (other than shad) because you would think other fish would be there to follow the spawn and eat the eggs.Or maybe the small mouths,wipers and walleye don't eat the eggs like other fish do?