Willard B North 1-04-2023

[Bduck]

Took a ride out to Willard Bay yesterday. North marina is all soft going out into main body. Noticed 1 truck & trailer in parking and a boat out on east side most of lake is capped but appears to have some fishing access. Launching is possible with something small and at your own risk. Water level is low.













Next, I noticed construction at the front gate entrance area and leading into Willard Pond. Assuming this expansion of campgrounds

[wiperhunter2]

Thanks for the drive by photos Roger, I've been hearing the same info from three other members yesterday. This will be as early as I can remember being able to get on Willard. Of couse it might not last but it really is amazing what a little warm weather can do to a thin ice cap. Yes, they are expainding the North end of the camp ground and they are also expanding the South end day use area past Pelican beach. With the higher fees they are charging I guess they can afford to made improvments.

[RockyRaab2]

I read in the Substandard Exaggerator that the water powers diverted 23,000 acre-feet of water to the GSL that would have gone to Willard last year. That is a huge amount of water. Or would have been for Willard, but is merely a spoonful to the GSL.

May the storms continue!

[wiperhunter2]

I read in the Substandard Exaggerator that the water powers diverted 23,000 acre-feet of water to the GSL that would have gone to Willard last year. That is a huge amount of water. Or would have been for Willard, but is merely a spoonful to the GSL.

May the storms continue!

Not sure how everyone else feel about it but I'm of the opinion that putting any extra water into the GSL is a waste of our water and our tax payers $$ to fun any projects that even looks into how they plan to fix it. It is what it is and what ever we do won't be of any benifit until Mother Nature starts putting more snow in our mountains. We are getting a good start to our snow pack season and if it continues we will be on our way to more water in all our lakes this year. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow, at least in our mountains

[RockyRaab2]

Now there's some idiot environmental group who says we should empty ALL our reservoirs to help fill the GSL. Idiots.

[dubob]

Water decisions are made based on many factors, including some factors that aren't favorable to recreational water users - like us fishing folks.  This quote would seem to apply in this case.  

"You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time."

[wiperhunter2]

Now there's some idiot environmental group who says we should empty ALL our reservoirs to help fill the GSL. Idiots.

LOL, I wonder where they think our water comes from to drink and bathe, those people have no brains.

[dubob]

Now there's some idiot environmental group who says we should empty ALL our reservoirs to help fill the GSL. Idiots.

We are in total agreement on this one my friend; one issue zealots can be idiotic to an extreme as is the case here.  

[RockyRaab2]

Any truly dedicated enviro type would pledge to give up their water to the GSL. No bathing, no flushing, no drinking. Report back in three weeks.

[FishfulThinkin]

KSL posted an article today with this title: [font="Nunito Sans", sans-serif]Great Salt Lake set to vanish in 5 years, experts warn Utah lawmakers in dire report[/font]

[font="Nunito Sans", sans-serif]https://www.ksl.com/article/50551165/gre...ire-report[/font]

It seems that Chicken Little has arrived and the sky is now falling regarding the GSL. Hundreds of millions of tax $ are already allocated by our legislature for GSL and water conservation. Also, the friends of GSL are campaigning for the "Lakes right to exist" but make no mention of our right to exist? Anyway, pretty crazy times when mankind is insane enough to believe that we can end a drought through legislation and tax dollars etc. I say pray for snow!

[TubeDude]

Water decisions are made based on many factors, including some factors that aren't favorable to recreational water users - like us fishing folks.  This quote would seem to apply in this case.  

"You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time."

In my work of "Famous Quotations Nobody Has Ever Heard Before" I have shortened that observation to "You can only please some of the part time people."  And there are plenty of those.

[WET1]

I read in the Substandard Exaggerator that the water powers diverted 23,000 acre-feet of water to the GSL that would have gone to Willard last year. That is a huge amount of water. Or would have been for Willard, but is merely a spoonful to the GSL.

May the storms continue!

Not sure how everyone else feel about it but I'm of the opinion that putting any extra water into the GSL is a waste of our water and our tax payers $$ to fun any projects that even looks into how they plan to fix it. It is what it is and what ever we do won't be of any benifit until Mother Nature starts putting more snow in our mountains. We are getting a good start to our snow pack season and if it continues we will be on our way to more water in all our lakes this year. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow, at least in our mountains

 It's the next The Sky is Falling and we need all your $$$$$ and resources grab.

[wiperhunter2]

I read in the Substandard Exaggerator that the water powers diverted 23,000 acre-feet of water to the GSL that would have gone to Willard last year. That is a huge amount of water. Or would have been for Willard, but is merely a spoonful to the GSL.

May the storms continue!

Not sure how everyone else feel about it but I'm of the opinion that putting any extra water into the GSL is a waste of our water and our tax payers $$ to fun any projects that even looks into how they plan to fix it. It is what it is and what ever we do won't be of any benifit until Mother Nature starts putting more snow in our mountains. We are getting a good start to our snow pack season and if it continues we will be on our way to more water in all our lakes this year. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow, at least in our mountains

 It's the next The Sky is Falling and we need all your $$$$$ and resources grab.

Agreed

[catdaddygar]

Has anybody heard of there stop building and limiting growth plan. Please keep me updated.

[joatmon]

As I sometimes do, I have been looking at water levels for local lakes. A few observations along the Weber River (also see photos in same order as discussion - note not at same scale).

Rockport - up 10 feet since early October

Echo - up 10 feet since mid September

Willard Bay - up 0.3 feet (~4 inches) since October, but still slightly down since September


Good news is that the snow water equivalent in Weber - Ogden Basin is 166% of normal (see map). Hopefully it stays high so the trickle gets down to Willard Bay. 

[SkunkedAgain]

I fished Willard today, was able to launch very easily.... Fishing was slow, but I did miss the skunk by pulling in a 10.5" perch... Ice was opening up with a lot of ice flows breaking off and floating around... Water was open over to the north dike and out in the pond a half mile or further towards the west.. Starting to open into the north end of freeway bay... Side finder showed lots of fish around, however I don't have my eye calibrated well enough to identify species yet... Was fun to fish Willard in the boat in January... Guess I've fished Bear Lake in the winter, but first time at willard for me in January... Wind blew me off about 12:30 and I didn't get there until 9:00... Pat's fligs were the winning combination for me today... Later J

[danell]

I fished Willard today, was able to launch very easily.... Fishing was slow, but I did miss the skunk by pulling in a 10.5" perch... Ice was opening up with a lot of ice flows breaking off and floating around... Water was open over to the north dike and out in the pond a half mile or further towards the west.. Starting to open into the north end of freeway bay... Side finder showed lots of fish around, however I don't have my eye calibrated well enough to identify species yet... Was fun to fish Willard in the boat in January... Guess I've fished Bear Lake in the winter, but first time at willard for me in January... Wind blew me off about 12:30 and I didn't get there until 9:00... Pat's fligs were the winning combination for me today... Later J

I've been really debating and waiting for the right opportunity to get the boat out at Willard. Think it's called an itch.. lol Thanks for the report.

[doitall5000]

I fished Willard today, was able to launch very easily.... Fishing was slow, but I did miss the skunk by pulling in a 10.5" perch... Ice was opening up with a lot of ice flows breaking off and floating around... Water was open over to the north dike and out in the pond a half mile or further towards the west.. Starting to open into the north end of freeway bay... Side finder showed lots of fish around, however I don't have my eye calibrated well enough to identify species yet... Was fun to fish Willard in the boat in January... Guess I've fished Bear Lake in the winter, but first time at willard for me in January... Wind blew me off about 12:30 and I didn't get there until 9:00... Pat's fligs were the winning combination for me today... Later J

I've been really debating and waiting for the right opportunity to get the boat out at Willard. Think it's called an itch.. lol Thanks for the report.

I'm not surprised it was you out there. Thanks for reporting.  How deep was the water out in front of the mouth channel?

[SkunkedAgain]

I fished Willard today, was able to launch very easily.... Fishing was slow, but I did miss the skunk by pulling in a 10.5" perch... Ice was opening up with a lot of ice flows breaking off and floating around... Water was open over to the north dike and out in the pond a half mile or further towards the west.. Starting to open into the north end of freeway bay... Side finder showed lots of fish around, however I don't have my eye calibrated well enough to identify species yet... Was fun to fish Willard in the boat in January... Guess I've fished Bear Lake in the winter, but first time at willard for me in January... Wind blew me off about 12:30 and I didn't get there until 9:00... Pat's fligs were the winning combination for me today... Later J

I've been really debating and waiting for the right opportunity to get the boat out at Willard. Think it's called an itch.. lol Thanks for the report.

I sure like an outboard motor, so I can keep the boat available through the winter.... Just wish I had a better place to store my boat out of the weather, but my cover does a great job of keeping things dry and protected... Not sure the fishing was worth pulling a boat out of storage to go and do, but if it's easy to get at, then it's a fun change when ice fishing hasn't been very good for me this winter..  But glad to contribute to scratching that itch... Good luck.. J

---

I fished Willard today, was able to launch very easily.... Fishing was slow, but I did miss the skunk by pulling in a 10.5" perch... Ice was opening up with a lot of ice flows breaking off and floating around... Water was open over to the north dike and out in the pond a half mile or further towards the west.. Starting to open into the north end of freeway bay... Side finder showed lots of fish around, however I don't have my eye calibrated well enough to identify species yet... Was fun to fish Willard in the boat in January... Guess I've fished Bear Lake in the winter, but first time at willard for me in January... Wind blew me off about 12:30 and I didn't get there until 9:00... Pat's fligs were the winning combination for me today... Later J

I've been really debating and waiting for the right opportunity to get the boat out at Willard. Think it's called an itch.. lol Thanks for the report.

I'm not surprised it was you out there. Thanks for reporting.  How deep was the water out in front of the mouth channel?

I was the second boat out there, Kent Davis was there the day before me, talked to him at the ramp and he tried to discourage me from going so I assumed that must mean the fish were really biting good... Well not really, but I wanted to go try it anyway...

As far as depths in the channel mouth, I don't remember exactly, but I did notice it got down into the 3' range as I was exiting the marina for the main lake... I was watching fish on the sidefinder and trying to keep my trolling lures from snagging so I didn't pay close attention to the exact number, but I did notice the 3 and was a little surprised it was that shallow there... One thing I was surprised at, was a big bunch of fish in the channel as I was going out.. wish I could identify if they were good fish or bait fish, but I didn't expect that many in the shallow marina area... I cast a flig at them and dragged it past them, but nothing seemed to grab ahold, but I was hoping they might... Could have been I was under main motor propulsion at the time and probably moving at 2 mph or better, so I was probably too fast for winter fish to catch up to it... Hope that info helped, I know it's not very exact, but at least it wasn't in to the 2' range.. Later Jeff

[Bduck]

I understand some boats are a real PITA when comes down to winterizing. My boat is on 24/7 standby since it stays in my garage without a cover. I have a cover for it finding it doesn't do much good when it comes to project management or even an occasional mesmerize daydream.   These days any day fishing is better than a day at WOKE. I've been accused and still to this day of using foul language when mentioning the other 4 letter word known as WO*K.