Willard on the fly

[Freakyfisherman]

I got a chance to hit Willard from the float tube this past Friday. Since I haven't used my fairy wand, fly rod, in quite some time I would go and see if I could fool a fish on it. I was marking fish here and there on the sonar. None of these fish wanted any fly I presented them. These fish were probably full eating all the shad schools I saw on the sonar. So, I decided to get close to the rocks as I was making my way back into the south marina. The first cast landed within a foot of the rocks and I hooked into something solid. My five-weight fly rod was bending quite well and this fish had attitude. I was thinking a big carp was probably what I hooked into. I was wrong. It was my first ever catfish on the fly. One heck of a battle and now I know why you say catfish have cattitude Tubedude.  It took some time to finally get the cat to the net. When I did, my flyrod snapped after the bend straightened back out. I am guessing, since I didn't have a tape measure on me, it was 28 or 29 inches long. I caught her on a brown beaded woolly bugger pattern. I released her to see another day. 
Gabe

[SkunkedAgain]

Wow that's a monster on a 5 WT, I'll bet you had a fun fight... congrats and thanks for the story... Later J

[TubeDude]

Nice.  Glad you got a nice fish for your efforts.  Sorry about the flyrod.

After the spawn and while the crawdads are producing more young...and the young shad also hang in the rocks...it is a good time to plop big white, black, brown or even purple flies right next to the rocks.  Get some good smallies that way too.  Next time take a 7 weight...or even a 9.  Hard to be overgunned with those big nasty brawlers.

[filletedalive]

I just tied some 3 inch Willard wiper buggers!! I’ll have to ties some in brown and hope for a story like yours! Awesome fish.

[joshomaru]

That is most excellent! Congrats on an awesome "first!"

[doitall5000]

I just tied some 3 inch Willard wiper buggers!! I’ll have to ties some in brown and hope for a story like yours! Awesome fish.

why yellow?  i would think white or some flashaboo, shinny crome color.

---

maybe some crawdad colors.

[wiperhunter2]

Actually I think that color would be chartreuse but I'm not sure how well wipers can tell between white and chartreuse, I know they can tell between dark and light colors but chartreuse and white might be the same to them
 I took a member out years ago that wanted to catch a wiper on a fly, I was trolling pretty fast, around 2.5 mph and I did not think it was going to work but he did indeed pull in a wiper, while spripping line, he was using a white streamer, if I remember correctly.

[TubeDude]

Ya gotta remember that the rods and cone cells in the eyes of fish are different than humans...so they see colors differently.  And a lot of times the most effective fly/lure is the one they can see best under prevailing conditions of light, clarity, etc.  And sometimes it becomes more a matter of size and/or shape than actual color of the spectrum.

Over the course of (far too) many years I have had a lot of my prime notions demolished by actual fish behavior.  Never say always and never say never...especially in matters of color.  Otherwise, how can we explain why fish feeding actively on white or silvery prey species will clobber something in bright pink...or orange...or chartreuse.

Back in the late 70's and early 80's there were no shad or wipers in Willard.  The primary forage species for the catfish, walleyes and bass in the lake were YOY crappies...and crawdads.  But my most productive lure...almost year-round...was a 3" yellow twister with a dark red head.  I could fish it all around the lake...casting in next to the rocks...and caught all species on it.  Tried it again last year just for giggles and it still works.  Nothing in Willard remotely resembles that lure combo but the contrasting colors and good visibility under most light and clarity conditions make it visible and attractive.

There are many presentation variables that can be equally or more important than color.  Obviously, the first is fish location.  Ya gotta find active fish first.  Next is presentation...the right depth and the right speed....with the right action. 

In short, it doesn't matter what you use or how you use it if there are no fish present.  But once you find fish you can usually experiment to find the right mix of size, color, depth, speed, etc. to score a few fish.  Simple...but not easy.  That's what drives us wacko and keeps us coming back for more humiliation.