LSS at Willard 10-19-23

[TubeDude]

Just hadda hit Willard again...in another fruitless perch search.  Launched by 7:30 at the north marina.  Air temp was 44...warming to about 65 by noon.  Water temps were 58 both in the marina and the main lake...only coming up about 1 degree by noon.  Still too warm for a shad dieoff but should be dropping again after next week's weather.


Began by working the area just outside the marina.  Saw a few fishy marks but found no active fish.  Motored and sonared my way over to the area off Eagle Beach, where I scored a couple of cats last week.  Got two more.  One only about a footlong.  The other was a decent 19" and went in the basket.  I have cat fillets in the freezer but figured I would keep a couple for a fresh fish fry.  I caught both of those fish on a new chartreuse LSS flig...Low, Slow, Small.  And I got those on worm sweetener.  Seems like worms often work well early in the day.


Had no more love by about 10 am so I decided to try inside the marina.  Was going to start there but changed plans.  Saw quite a bit of fish life on TV but nothing on the end of my rod.  Stopped to vertical jig a small group of perch marks.  Hooked and lost two porky perch before the marks disappeared.  Hopefully more will come inside the marina this year with the higher water.

Went back to slooooow dragging my new LSS lures...at only about .3 mph.  Had one rod rigged with pink tiger and the other with orange tiger...both sweetened with small whole chub minnows.  Missed one good hit on the orange tiger.  Then got first a 24 incher...which I added to my basket...and then a brawling 25 incher that I released.  Both of the bigguns took the pink tiger LSS.
 

Saw Jeff & Jill in their boat...briefly at launch.  They were going to try fishing "normal"...with cranks, bottom bouncers and planer boards.  Didn't see them again before I left so I don't know how they did.  But I did talk to a couple of other boaters and they both smelled skunk.

Couldn't have asked for a nicer day on the water.  Still some fall colors left on the mountains to the east.  But like other Willardites I am hoping for some cooler water and hotter fishing.  At least I got some tugs and managed to have a couple of dinner guests crawl in my basket.

[wiperhunter2]

Glad you got a few cats and that 25 incher is a good one, too bad about the lost perch though, from what I understand there are a few being caught but you have to find that location and so far I'm not seeing them in the normal spots, hope that changes soon. I haven't been using crawlers much but it sounds like I should give them a try.

[TubeDude]

Glad you got a few cats and that 25 incher is a good one, too bad about the lost perch though, from what I understand there are a few being caught but you have to find that location and so far I'm not seeing them in the normal spots, hope that changes soon. I haven't been using crawlers much but it sounds like I should give them a try.

From "other" sources I have heard that there are small groups of perch scattered around the lake.  But only those with systems like "Live Scope" are able to find them easily.  And they are moving around a lot...not massing up in one area like they have in past years outside the marina.  That will come.  My temp readings from better times are usually 40 degrees or less.  

Crawlers?  I had mostly given up on them after the heyday in June too.  But there have been a few trips since when the fish have shown a liking for them...especially early in the day...and on something with chartreuse in them...like fire tiger or the spotted chartreuse pattern.  The one big perch I caught last week was on the spotted chartreuse and crawler...first drop, right outside the marina.  And my first cats on most trips also show a liking for the chartreuse and worm.  I have stuck with that because I have also caught some fall walleyes in the past on that combination and I keep hoping.....

[lovetofish]

Hard to pass up fishing days when the weather is so nice. I love fishing this time of year. I fished Echo Wednesday and caught 3 bass and 4 trout and released them all. The lake was like glass or just a little ripple the whole time I fished until noon. I'm still searching for those elusive crappies. They are on my bucket list to harvest. I'll keep trying.

Great report TD.

[TubeDude]

Hard to pass up fishing days when the weather is so nice. I love fishing this time of year. I fished Echo Wednesday and caught 3 bass and 4 trout and released them all. The lake was like glass or just a little ripple the whole time I fished until noon. I'm still searching for those elusive crappies. They are on my bucket list to harvest. I'll keep trying.

Great report TD.

Thanks.  You are right.  When the weather is that nice you need a real good excuse to NOT go fishing.  

I know there are crappies in Echo.  Here are two pictures.  One is from a bunch caught by another BFTer.  The other is from the only crappie I have caught there.  There does not seem to be a large population but with good electronics and a bit of luck you can find them.
 

[doitall5000]

I've been itching to do gunlock for crappie. Never been there but hear good stuff. Large fish and easy to find.
Can anyone share some stories about there experiences? Best seasons and baits

[jjannie]

Well Pat, you out caught us once again, but we're not surprised. Once we got too far away from you the walkie talkie didn't transmit far enough to talk with you. It must need new batteries.... So, using our 'normal' way of fishing we only managed 1 22" cat and 7 of those very young wipers. We covered the whole east side, trolled faster and slower, and doing S turns as well. So, no skunk for us but we had hoped to have better success than our last outing and I guess we managed that by getting the 1 catfish, LOL. We occasionally could see some marks we felt were a few perch so we'd circle through to give them ample opportunities to bite but that that didn't work.  Still, we had a nice day none the less. 

Our offerings of a FT (fire tiger) worm harnesses on bottom bouncers worked best for the catfish and most of those baby wipers on them. We put a FT flicker shad and FT Model A and only caught the wipers on it one time. Other than that, not much else to report.

[TubeDude]

I've been itching to do gunlock for crappie.  Never been there but hear good stuff. Large fish and easy to find.
Can anyone share some stories about there experiences? Best seasons and baits

Don't know how much you know about Gunlock in general.  It has had it's heydays of great fishing for several species.  But it was rotenoned in 2015 to get rid of smallmouth and some species were replanted.  They have done well, considering the lake has been subject to great drawdowns with the prolonged drought years.  I would check in with the DWR southern division or the Sportsmans fishing reports for that area before going down. (LINK TO REPORTS)

---

Well Pat, you out caught us once again, but we're not surprised. Once we got too far away from you the walkie talkie didn't transmit far enough to talk with you. It must need new batteries.... So, using our 'normal' way of fishing we only managed 1 22" cat and 7 of those very young wipers. We covered the whole east side, trolled faster and slower, and doing S turns as well. So, no skunk for us but we had hoped to have better success than our last outing and I guess we managed that by getting the 1 catfish, LOL. We occasionally could see some marks we felt were a few perch so we'd circle through to give them ample opportunities to bite but that that didn't work.  Still, we had a nice day none the less. 

Our offerings of a FT (fire tiger) worm harnesses on bottom bouncers worked best for the catfish and most of those baby wipers on them. We put a FT flicker shad and FT Model A and only caught the wipers on it one time. Other than that, not much else to report.

Wow.  I thought you guys were probably doing great and didn't want to stop the action to come back in at noon.  Sorry to hear you didn't do better.

About those perch.  I have also tried enticing them with a slow drag near the bottom without much success.  But when I went vertical...in the marina...I did get a couple of quick hits, but lost  both fish on the way up.  I think I am going to do more vertical stuff on my next trip.  That was the only way to score most of the time last year.

Looks like next week is going to bring in some colder conditions and maybe that will help.

[jjannie]

I've been itching to do gunlock for crappie.  Never been there but hear good stuff. Large fish and easy to find.
Can anyone share some stories about there experiences? Best seasons and baits

Don't know how much you know about Gunlock in general.  It has had it's heydays of great fishing for several species.  But it was rotenoned in 2015 to get rid of smallmouth and some species were replanted.  They have done well, considering the lake has been subject to great drawdowns with the prolonged drought years.  I would check in with the DWR southern division or the Sportsmans fishing reports for that area before going down. (LINK TO REPORTS)

---

Well Pat, you out caught us once again, but we're not surprised. Once we got too far away from you the walkie talkie didn't transmit far enough to talk with you. It must need new batteries.... So, using our 'normal' way of fishing we only managed 1 22" cat and 7 of those very young wipers. We covered the whole east side, trolled faster and slower, and doing S turns as well. So, no skunk for us but we had hoped to have better success than our last outing and I guess we managed that by getting the 1 catfish, LOL. We occasionally could see some marks we felt were a few perch so we'd circle through to give them ample opportunities to bite but that that didn't work.  Still, we had a nice day none the less. 

Our offerings of a FT (fire tiger) worm harnesses on bottom bouncers worked best for the catfish and most of those baby wipers on them. We put a FT flicker shad and FT Model A and only caught the wipers on it one time. Other than that, not much else to report.

Wow.  I thought you guys were probably doing great and didn't want to stop the action to come back in at noon.  Sorry to hear you didn't do better.

About those perch.  I have also tried enticing them with a slow drag near the bottom without much success.  But when I went vertical...in the marina...I did get a couple of quick hits, but lost  both fish on the way up.  I think I am going to do more vertical stuff on my next trip.  That was the only way to score most of the time last year.

Looks like next week is going to bring in some colder conditions and maybe that will help.

That'll be nice, hope you're right. We did notice the farther south we traveled the water temp actually increased a couple degrees so we may need to give some more time till the whole lake cools off and perch move into closer in.

[SkunkedAgain]

So my memory isn't that great, but isn't this the time of year that the Pineview Crappie get going pretty well? I know that Pineview is so expensive to launch and unfriendly to fisher folks, but seems like that was a fun trip a few years back.... I remember Pat being pulled around by that tiger that had his tube up on plane.... Just thinking they were getting some nice size crappie through the ice last winter, so I was wondering if the fall bite is going on or not? Wondering if they are big enough to be worth catching this year... Later J

[TubeDude]

So my memory isn't that great, but isn't this the time of year that the Pineview Crappie get going pretty well?  I know that Pineview is so expensive to launch and unfriendly to fisher folks, but seems like that was a fun trip a few years back.... I remember Pat being pulled around by that tiger that had his tube up on plane....  Just thinking they were getting some nice size crappie through the ice last winter, so I was wondering if the fall bite is going on or not? Wondering if they are big enough to be worth catching this year... Later J

This would be prime time...if you could get on the lake.  The last couple of years they close the lake to access when they can't collect their pound of flesh.  So we can't launch for free as in the olden days.

[EyLayo]

Andersons iron ranger was working Friday. Port Ramp was chained. Didn't try Cemetery

[TubeDude]

Andersons iron ranger was working Friday. Port Ramp was chained. Didn't try Cemetery

Used to love Pineview.  Then the power squadron pretty much took it over all summer.  But once the wimps couldn't handle the colder water us tuber types could get out and fish.  And once the concessionaire quit collecting launch fees in late fall it was free launching.  Wunnerful.  Then the concessionaires decided that if they couldn't collect any money they would just chain up the entrance.  End of my fishing Pineview.