Wacky Willard 5-6-22 (With Video)

[TubeDude]

I’m about ready to give up on Willard.  Originally planned to hit it on Wednesday…then Thursday.  Weather forecrash kept changing and was still iffy for Friday but I decided to go for it anyway.  Shoulda stood in bed.
 
Drove through the open gate at the south marina just after 6 am.  A couple of boats on trailers just sitting there and not prepping for launch.  Forecrash was for light breezes from the SW.  But there were whitecaps on the lake and a 15 to 20 mph “zephyr” blowing out of the NW and right up into the channel.  Gee.  That’s the first time the weather folks ever missed.  Ha.
 
I figured (hoped) it would lay down after daybreak so I leisurely prepped my tube for launch.  Air temp and water temp were a tie score…both 54 at launch.  The air warmed up to just over 70 and the water temp topped 60 by noon departure.

I’d like to think my mama din’t raise no fools.  But I put that silly notion to rest by launching my tube and powering out to the marina entrance into the main lake.  Some 3’ waves pushed me back inside.  So I decided to fish in the channel until Mama Nature got back on her meds and settled down.  But several trips up and down the channel showed few fish on sonar and produced nary a sniff on anything I offered.
 
Finally, about 8:30 I could detect a decrease in the steady wind.  And the waves were no longer crashing on the rocks at the channel entrance.  So I pushed out into the main lake.  Lots of rocking and rolling still, and the bottom on my sonar screen looked like a vicious saw blade from the up and down motion.
 
There were at least a dozen boaters that had pulled into the launch area but had kept their craft on trailers up to this point.  Now they all got launched and powered off to distant hot spots.  I could hear the roar/wham cadence as they crashed over the waves. 
 
Fortunately, the wind and waves gradually diminished and I was able to work a succession of worm harnesses, crank baits and plastics…through all depths from about 4 feet out to almost 13 feet.  Saw very little on sonar and even less on my line.  Had hoped to find a couple of stray wipers or walleyes but it was looking grim.  Was starting to smell the striped kitty by 10 am. 
 
Soooooo…I broke out the deadly fligs and chub meat.  But in spite of my optimism I got no love in the previously productive depths and areas.  Water temps were starting to go up…about 1 degree every half hour.  When they reached 57…and after I had allowed my craft to cruise out into over 12 feet of water…I went bendo on my first kitty.
 
For the next hour and a half I stayed out in 12 foot depths and managed to bring another five or six cats to net.  Got almost all of them on the tandem flig rig…with an orange tiger flig on the bottom and a blue back silver flig two feet up.  Got fish on both.  In fact, one of those silly kitties ate both jigs on the same rig.  Fished a succession of other colors and rigs on my second rod but only had a few pop and drop hits.  Even the normally deadly pink tiger color failed to get a hook up.
 
Hit the ramp about noon.  There were a few bank tanglers fishing inside the channel.  Talked to one of them and he said they had been catching a few wipers.  Also said there were some crappies showing inside the south marina at a couple of places.  But two of the boaters I talked to as they were coming in said they had caught nothing.  At least I got to bend my stick and stretch my string…even if it was only on some catfish.  I got no pride.


LINK TO VIDEO

[Freakyfisherman]

I’m about ready to give up on Willard.  Originally planned to hit it on Wednesday…then Thursday.  Weather forecrash kept changing and was still iffy for Friday but I decided to go for it anyway.  Shoulda stood in bed.
 
Drove through the open gate at the south marina just after 6 am.  A couple of boats on trailers just sitting there and not prepping for launch.  Forecrash was for light breezes from the SW.  But there were whitecaps on the lake and a 15 to 20 mph “zephyr” blowing out of the NW and right up into the channel.  Gee.  That’s the first time the weather folks ever missed.  Ha.
 
I figured (hoped) it would lay down after daybreak so I leisurely prepped my tube for launch.  Air temp and water temp were a tie score…both 54 at launch.  The air warmed up to just over 70 and the water temp topped 60 by noon departure.

I’d like to think my mama din’t raise no fools.  But I put that silly notion to rest by launching my tube and powering out to the marina entrance into the main lake.  Some 3’ waves pushed me back inside.  So I decided to fish in the channel until Mama Nature got back on her meds and settled down.  But several trips up and down the channel showed few fish on sonar and produced nary a sniff on anything I offered.
 
Finally, about 8:30 I could detect a decrease in the steady wind.  And the waves were no longer crashing on the rocks at the channel entrance.  So I pushed out into the main lake.  Lots of rocking and rolling still, and the bottom on my sonar screen looked like a vicious saw blade from the up and down motion.
 
There were at least a dozen boaters that had pulled into the launch area but had kept their craft on trailers up to this point.  Now they all got launched and powered off to distant hot spots.  I could hear the roar/wham cadence as they crashed over the waves. 
 
Fortunately, the wind and waves gradually diminished and I was able to work a succession of worm harnesses, crank baits and plastics…through all depths from about 4 feet out to almost 13 feet.  Saw very little on sonar and even less on my line.  Had hoped to find a couple of stray wipers or walleyes but it was looking grim.  Was starting to smell the striped kitty by 10 am. 
 
Soooooo…I broke out the deadly fligs and chub meat.  But in spite of my optimism I got no love in the previously productive depths and areas.  Water temps were starting to go up…about 1 degree every half hour.  When they reached 57…and after I had allowed my craft to cruise out into over 12 feet of water…I went bendo on my first kitty.
 
For the next hour and a half I stayed out in 12 foot depths and managed to bring another five or six cats to net.  Got almost all of them on the tandem flig rig…with an orange tiger flig on the bottom and a blue back silver flig two feet up.  Got fish on both.  In fact, one of those silly kitties ate both jigs on the same rig.  Fished a succession of other colors and rigs on my second rod but only had a few pop and drop hits.  Even the normally deadly pink tiger color failed to get a hook up.
 
Hit the ramp about noon.  There were a few bank tanglers fishing inside the channel.  Talked to one of them and he said they had been catching a few wipers.  Also said there were some crappies showing inside the south marina at a couple of places.  But two of the boaters I talked to as they were coming in said they had caught nothing.  At least I got to bend my stick and stretch my string…even if it was only on some catfish.  I got no pride.


LINK TO VIDEO

You got more action than me. I was there the day before you and I went home like a dog with its tail between its legs. I marked fished randomly with not even a sniff from any of my offerings. I gave it a good 3 hours of using floating jigs tipped with worm, regular jigs with plastics, even chunked some crankbaits. Oh well maybe next time. Nice kittys Pat.
Gabe

[Jmorfish]

Nice job on sticking it out...looks like it paid off...tks for the video -- getting pretty good....if you start throwing in a joke or 2 you might have Hollywood giving you a call !

[TubeDude]

You got more action than me. I was there the day before you and I went home like a dog with its tail between its legs. I marked fished randomly with not even a sniff from any of my offerings. I gave it a good 3 hours of using floating jigs tipped with worm, regular jigs with plastics, even chunked some crankbaits. Oh well maybe next time. Nice kittys Pat.
Gabe

Up until a little after 10 am I was beginning to think I would blank too.  I also marked a fish here and there but generally the individual fish are not as active as when there are multiples...and it gets competitive.  Not many anglers are getting much love from Willard yet this year.  But if the weather patterns ever stabilize a bit and the temps climb above 65 and move toward 70 I think it will really take off. 

It's been a while since we fished together.  I'd love to meet up with you on Willard and see if we can gang up on some walleyes and wipers when the conditions get better.  Shoot me a PM when you can make it and we will do something.

---

Nice job on sticking it out...looks like it paid off...tks for the video -- getting pretty good....if you start throwing in a joke or 2 you might have Hollywood giving you a call !

Thanks fer the kindly comments.  Glad you like the shows.  I have a good time making them and try to include some useful tidbits in each one.  I'm planning to do one soon on "Catfish From Hook To Pan"...videoing several different rigs, baits and techniques for catching them.  And then I will show a couple of alternate ways of filleting them and prepping them for the table.  Finally, I will show several recipes and different ways of cooking them.  I have done a lot of demos at the cleaning stations.  And I have also put on several catfish feeds for some sizeable groups.  Recently, since getting my video camera, I've been getting requests for something on video. 

Hollywood?  No thanks.  I spent a lot of my formative years living in Orange County, California and developed "connections" with some of the Hollywood world.  Saw and heard a lot more than any impressionable young person should be exposed to.  Thankfully, I went the other direction...and settled for being an angling addict. 

Jokes?  I claim to have 3,417 jokes in my humor repertoire...and still have total recall.  (Pornographic memory, ya know?)  You don't wanna be anywhere around when I get on a roll.  But I've always said that a sense of humor is better than no sense at all.

[wiperhunter2]

Too bad the two W fish did not want to play but at least no skunk was involved it the making of your post and video. Hopefully the weather settles down and the catching improves soon.

[TubeDude]

Too bad the two W fish did not want to play but at least no skunk was involved it the making of your post and video. Hopefully the weather settles down and the catching improves soon.

I hope, I hope, I hope.  But this is Utah...where the standard forecast is "warm and calm...with occasionally heavy snowstorms."  Forecast for next Saturday looks good for the gathering.

[SkunkedAgain]

Yup Pat, we appreciate that order for nice weather for the flotilla... Those past windy rain fests were sort of a bummer... Hoping to get to Willard for my first trip this year... Hope I don't find your furry friend that you avoided on this trip... but it's been a couple years since I've taken a boat over to Willard, so i hope I'll be able to find something... Anyway I enjoyed the video, and those early waves looked sort of sporty for a tube, glad it laid down for you and turned into a pretty nice day... not sure I would have stuck around and waited it out, but looked like it was worth the wait... The size of those cats looked pretty nice, are they about 24"ers? Thanks for the report... J

[TubeDude]

Yup Pat, we appreciate that order for nice weather for the flotilla...  Those past windy rain fests were sort of a bummer... Hoping to get to Willard for my first trip this year... Hope I don't find your furry friend that you avoided on this trip... but it's been a couple years since I've taken a boat over to Willard, so i hope I'll be able to find something...  Anyway I enjoyed the video, and those early waves looked sort of sporty for a tube, glad it laid down for you and turned into a pretty nice day... not sure I would have stuck around and waited it out, but looked like it was worth the wait...  The size of those cats looked pretty nice, are they about 24"ers?  Thanks for the report... J

Glad you liked the video.  The cats ranged in size from 19" to about 22".  And they are fighting a lot better as the water warms up a bit...developing more "catitude". 

I know you like to drag a crawler harness.  I pulled three different models around on Friday...while casting or slow trolling plastics or cranks.  Had one rattle-rattle bite that  could have been a perch...or small walleye.  But I'm betting  that if you can find an area with some walleyes they will hit the crawlers.  Wipers and cats too.  I have never done as well with cats on crawlers as I have with minnows...but they do hit them while fishing for the other guys.  Here are some pics of fish I caught on crawler rigs in May last year and the year before.

 

[SkunkedAgain]

Pat, when are you planning on launching on Saturday? Just wondering if I could put in an order for fligs? If you're going out early, I'd see if i could pick up the fligs before the trip? If you're coming later, I'll just get them at the gathering... if you have some for sale anyway... ( I'd like some of your pink and orange tiger fligs, also like to get a couple of your big cat fligs, not Kong, but the size under them, in a perch pattern, few whirly fligs would be great too, been a while since I stocked up.) Thanks for the tips on tactics too... Thanks Jeff

[TubeDude]

Pat, when are you planning on launching on Saturday?  Just wondering if I could put in an order for fligs?  If you're going out early, I'd see if i could pick up the fligs before the trip?  If you're coming later, I'll just get them at the gathering... if you have some for sale anyway... ( I'd like some of your pink and orange tiger fligs, also like to get a couple of your big cat fligs, not Kong, but the size under them, in a perch pattern, few whirly fligs would be great too, been a while since I stocked up.) Thanks for the tips on tactics too... Thanks Jeff

I probably won't be fishing Saturday.  I'll be bringing my wife and she is no longer able to join me on the water.  So we will probably show up about 11ish and stay around for lunch and socializing. 

I have had a couple of other requests to bring some trinkets so I will bring my stash boxes...with all the usual suspects in all the best colors.

[Therapist]

So I had some non fishing business by Willard yesterday, so I stopped by the south marinato check things out. In looking out through the inlet to the harbor, there was a big mud line right at the entrance, but inside was clear and about 10-15 ft past the entrance was clear. Is the entrance to the harbor shallow? or is something else going on there ?? Never seen a big mudline just across the entrance like that
!!

[TubeDude]

So I had some non fishing business by Willard yesterday, so I stopped by the south marinato check things out.  In looking out through the inlet to the harbor, there was a big mud line right at the entrance,  but inside was clear and about 10-15 ft past the entrance was clear.  Is the entrance to the harbor shallow? or is something else going on there ??  Never seen a big mudline just across the entrance like that
!!

Water depth inside the "boat basin"...with the ramps and docks...is still less than about 4'.  But the channel is at least 10-12 feet all the way out...including the channel entrance.  It was dredged several years ago and remains plenty deep even when the launch area is too shallow to launch boats. 

If you are saying the main lake was muddy, my guess is that the mud line is the result of all the heavy wind and the low water conditions.  The water level has been down below the bottom of the rocks...with muddy shoreline exposed all around the lake.  The water is rising but it is still very shallow over the mud edges and the wind and waves stir it up a lot. 

Or are you saying that the channel itself was muddy but the water inside the basin was clear?  In that case the mud is coming from the canal inlet...a combination of the Weber and Ogden Rivers heavy runoff.  And it is possible for that to be much dirtier on any given day than the unmixed water inside the protected basin.  The water in the channel will also be colder than the main lake and will produce a "plume" of colder and dirtier water out into the lake. 

The good news is that depending on wind speed and direction it is usually possible to find areas of warmer and cleaner water somewhere in the lake...where the fish are more active and conditions are better for effective trolling.

[Therapist]

I was unaware that there was a bunch of mud exposed in the main lake. You explanation of wave action stirring up the shoreline mud make sense. Thanks for the response !! Have fun Saturday !!

[TubeDude]

I was unaware that there was a bunch of mud exposed in the main lake.  You explanation of wave action stirring up the shoreline mud make sense.  Thanks for the response !!  Have fun Saturday !!

Here's a picture I took at "low tide"...before the water started coming back in and raising the water level a bit.  But until the water is at least three or four feet higher than the mud it can still get dirty in a west wind.  If you look up on the rocks you can see the high water mark...about 12 feet above the current water level.



Probably won't be fishing Saturday but hope to be able to meet up with old friends and make some new ones.