Christmas Shopping Willard 12-21-23

[TubeDude]

Did some pre-Christmas shopping at Willard on Thursday.  Hoping to pick up some stocking stuffers in my fish basket.  Actually ended up with several nice gifts.  First, air temp at launch was a balmy 38…warming to almost 50 at noon.  My last few launches on Willard have been in the high teens or low 20s.  Second was the weather.  A bit cloudy most of the day but absolute FLAT CALM…all day.  The third was actually being able to launch my float tube this late in the year.  Latest I have ever tubed Willard.  Usually capped before mid-month in December.   But with the high water this year (and mild temps)  the water was still a non-solid 37 degrees.
 

Met a couple of other jolly old elves…Ira and Alan…who were launching their “sleigh” a bit before I got my “red-nosed” ride on the water.  They got out to “the spot” and had already caught a couple of perch before I got there.  And I got one fairly quickly too.  It was still getting light.  Figured it was gonna be a bananner day.  Figured wrong. 
 

Actually, I didn’t get another fish for about 2 hours.  Wasn’t seeing much on TV and kept moving around searching.  Didn’t see the guys in the three boats doing much either.   So I motored over to my old fave spot I call the “Kitty Condo” out off Eagle Beach.  It is an area of humps and bumps (old road bed) that almost always produces at least some catfish.  And this time of year the perch sometimes hang out there too.  Thankfully, there were some there to catch on this trip.  But no cats.
 
Over the next hour and a half I managed to coax several more perch to join me in my red nosed ride.  Two small ones went back in the water to grow bigger for next year.  But I ended up with 9 in the basket.  Good quality too.  The biggest was right at 14” but there were three others that nosed the 13” mark.  Smallest was still over 11”.  I got them on 3 different “ornaments”.  All were on small chub minnows…pinned on 1/4 oz. “ultra minnow” jigs in pink-silver, blue-silver or holo gold with orange spots.  Most of my fish came from 20-21 foot depth.  But my two biggest came from under a school of shad I found in about 18 feet of water.
 
 

As a final note, I did a little more CSI examining of the “Christmas cookies” I filleted this trip.  I expected to find nothing but a few of the tiniest dying shad in them.  Some had only soupy remnants of meals past.  A couple did have two or three of the newly consumed shadlets.  But others had larger shad…one had a single 5-6 inch shad that had just been eaten.  Guess that fish decided he needed to “floss” with my lure.  Bottom line:  the perch are actively feeding…not only on dead and dying shadlets but on larger schooling shad as well.

[2knots]

Great seeing you out at the pond, glad the last minute shopping went well.

[doitall5000]

Nice Christmas tale with many presents. Many sweet treats.
Glad to see the lakes full of treasures and delights.
It seams the fishing was good early but if you can find their hideouts you can get good action through most of the day. Did the other elves catch as many good presents.? Were there lots of floating shad on the water?

[gofish435]

Thanks for the great report, Pat.  That was a nice haul. 

Who would have thought that you could still be float tubing this time of year at Willard.

Nice to end the year on a high note.

Happy Holidays my friend.

[TubeDude]

Nice Christmas tale with many presents.  Many sweet treats. 
Glad to see the lakes full of treasures and delights. 
It seams the fishing was good early but if you can find their hideouts you can get good action through most of the day.  Did the other elves catch as many good presents.? Were there lots of floating shad on the water?

Just about all of the formerly good (over-pressured) spots held no active fish Thursday.  Like a desert on my TV screen.  So it becomes a "biblical system"...seek and ye shall find...maybe.  There are several of the "regulars" who have boated away from the "traditional" perch venues and have found new hot spots.  Perch are all over the lake and in some places they are still very numerous.  

When I was heading back in about noonish I checked in with elves Ira and Alan.  They had only managed to scratch out about 4 for the boat at that time.  I handed of my leftover minnows and directed them toward where I had been catching but did not hear how they ended up.  

I only saw a very few individual dead shad floating on the water...and no big masses along the shoreline as we have seen in years past.  I think the worst of the dieoff is over and it was not as severe as in former years...when the water was lower and temps dropped faster.

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Thanks for the great report, Pat.  That was a nice haul. 

Who would have thought that you could still be float tubing this time of year at Willard.

Nice to end the year on a high note.

Happy Holidays my friend.

Thanks, my fine float-tubing fudd friend.  I have been enjoying your reports of extended fly-flinging action in your tube as well.  Sounds like our Heat-Holder socks have been getting some good tests.

The year ain't over yet...and the water is still soft at Willard.  Might just get out another time or two.

[fast_randy]

Nice perch Pat. Thanks for that report. I was ice fishing today with obi Shawn, and we spent half the day talking about how much we love Willard.

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Pat, that's a great report... Glad you made it out again... Think I may be there again tomorrow morning... I've been too lucky there I'm afraid my wake up skunking is on the way... Hope not, maybe it's just pay back for the Bear Lake skunk... Sure hope I can get into them tomorrow... Afraid the weather window may be over tomorrow though... thanks for all the info and great report... Later Jeff

[Springbuck1]

Hey Pat, that's a great report... Glad you made it out again... Think I may be there again tomorrow morning... I've been too lucky there I'm afraid my wake up skunking is on the way... Hope not, maybe it's just pay back for the Bear Lake skunk... Sure hope I can get into them tomorrow... Afraid the weather window may be over tomorrow though... thanks for all the info and great report... Later Jeff

Take me with you,  Jeff.  I need to learn some things.

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Pat, that's a great report... Glad you made it out again... Think I may be there again tomorrow morning... I've been too lucky there I'm afraid my wake up skunking is on the way... Hope not, maybe it's just pay back for the Bear Lake skunk... Sure hope I can get into them tomorrow... Afraid the weather window may be over tomorrow though... thanks for all the info and great report... Later Jeff

Take me with you,  Jeff.  I need to learn some things.

You’re welcome to meet me there and come fish today. I’ll text my number and pick you up at the north marina dock. See you there. Jeff

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Steve glad you joined me and showed me how to catch them. Rough day for waves though. I think there was a reason no one else was out today. They were all smart enough to avoid the wind. Later J

[Bubman1]

I made a trip out on Christmas Eve for my present to my self had to hunt for them but managed 6 good fish made a great holiday meal

[SkunkedAgain]

Congrats, they are great fish aren't they? I really enjoyed the ones I took home with me... Later J

[Springbuck1]

Hey Steve glad you joined me and showed me how to catch them. Rough day for waves though. I think there was a reason no one else was out today. They were all smart enough to avoid the wind. Later J

I thought you were teaching me!  We'd have slain 'em, if we hadn't been bouncing around like a carnival ride the whole time!

Pretty rough conditions, but it was good fun and nice to give it a try.  Always something to learn.   Thanks for taking me.

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Steve glad you joined me and showed me how to catch them. Rough day for waves though. I think there was a reason no one else was out today. They were all smart enough to avoid the wind. Later J

I thought you were teaching me!  We'd have slain 'em, if we hadn't been bouncing around like a carnival ride the whole time!

Pretty rough conditions, but it was good fun and nice to give it a try.  Always something to learn.   Thanks for taking me.

You’re very welcome. Wondering if the marina iced up yet or not?  I’d like to go again, but I’ll bet ice is close. Later Jeff

[BoatBallast]

Looks like a nice pre-Christmas treat. Thanks for the report!