Willard

[fast_randy]

Me and Obi got my old friend Kelly out with us today. We went out of the North marina and went most of the way to the south west corner before starting. Trolled cranks for a while with no luck. Switched over to fligs for a while. Trolled all the back to freeway bay. And went back to cranks. Still no luck. At around 1 pm we had decided to give up. Kelly was one of the ones that had gave up on Willard because of skunks. So me and Shawn really wanted to get him some. But we brought all the geer in and the last pole out, on a side planner, hit. The side planner went under and I grabbed it and at first I thought I was hung up on bottom. I was holding on hard waiting for the line to break. And up popped the side planner and the fight was on. A nice 24 inch cat. When we got the side planner off, I was still out 80 feet, we made Kelly real it in. And we sent him home with the filet. We got it on a green fire tiger flicker shad. No skunk today.

[wiperhunter2]

Me and Obi got my old friend Kelly out with us today. We went out of the North marina and went most of the way to the south west corner before starting. Trolled cranks for a while with no luck. Switched over to fligs for a while. Trolled all the back to freeway bay. And went back to cranks. Still no luck. At around 1 pm we had decided to give up. Kelly was one of the ones that had gave up on Willard because of skunks. So me and Shawn really wanted to get him some. But we brought all the geer in and the last pole out, on a side planner, hit. The side planner went under and I grabbed it and at first I thought I was hung up on bottom. I was holding on hard waiting for the line to break. And up popped the side planner and the fight was on. A nice 24 inch cat. When we got the side planner off, I was still out 80 feet, we made Kelly real it in. And we sent him home with the filet. We got it on a green fire tiger flicker shad. No skunk today.

Sorry to hear the catching was so slow for you guys, surprising after Pat did so good yesterday. Were there lots of people there?

[Gone2Fish]

I went out this afternoon for a few hours and picked up 6 cats. Spot locked and vertical jigging. Going to try it again tomorrow weather permitting.

[TubeDude]

I went out this afternoon for a few hours and picked up 6 cats. Spot locked and vertical jigging. Going to try it again tomorrow weather permitting.

What depth were you fishing with the vertical presentation?  I did best on Thursday in about 14 to 16 feet..for the cats.  Right now I think a lot of guys are fishing too fast and too deep...and trolling lures that are too large.  The predators are patterning on slower moving small shad near the bait balls...in shallower water.

[wiperhunter2]

I went out this afternoon for a few hours and picked up 6 cats. Spot locked and vertical jigging. Going to try it again tomorrow weather permitting.

Thanks for the report, were you marking a lot of shad balls in the area you caught the cats?

[Paddler]

Seems to me that Willard will turn back on once/if the shad of the year get all gobbled up. I've been working on fixing some corrosion around my windows, which is very common in aluminum boats used in salt water, for a while now, but would like to get out again. What do you think, will we see a Fall bite?

[TubeDude]

Seems to me that Willard will turn back on once/if the shad of the year get all gobbled up.  I've been working on fixing some corrosion around my windows, which is very common in aluminum boats used in salt water, for a while now, but would like to get out again.  What do you think, will we see a Fall bite?

Once the water temps fall back into the 65 -70 degree range the wipers and walleyes become more active.  And because the shad have grown to about 3" the predators are more likely to hit the larger cranks.  

And then the perch begin moving in to the areas around both the north and south marinas beginning in late September...and really get going in November when the late hatching baby shad start dying off in the cooling water. 

And the shad never get all "gobbled up".  However, they do become less numerous and that helps contribute to the predators hitting lures better.