Utah Lake,,, Sunday

[walleyebob]

Lots of boats launched Sunday. Twice as many as Saturday, during the tournament. Most of them stayed around the "L". It was pretty crazy. I left and got away from everyone and pulled jigs behind a side planer. Put my jigs in 5' and kept the boat out in six feet. Had a big eye pull a board under and bite my line off. He took six inches of line. Caught one 20" eye and had two others on. Boards are a pain in the,,,,,when you're fishing by yourself. But they do work well.
You guys should try boards along the dikes at Willard. With jigs. NOW!! During pre-spawn. I couldn't get a hit by casting up into the rocks and working my jigs back to me. Something about a jig moving parallel to the rocks. And you can cover water and throw bouys when you get bit. Then go back and work the area by casting.
Back to Utah Lake. Water temp got up to 44 for a while. The trollers got a couple nice eyes. One of my friends got a 8.3 pounder on a firetiger Thin Fin. Most folks still got skunked. Another three degrees and the spawn should be in full swing. Probably next weekend if the weather stays stable.

c-ya

walleyebob
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[wiperhunter2]

Hey Bob, when you are using a side planer close to shore how do you know how much line to let out? Do you just let out five feet of line before attaching the board in 5ft of water? WH2
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[walleyebob]

Hey WH2, this is how I do it. If you want to run jigs on bottom in say,,,five feet of water. Go up into that depth and cruise at the speed you plan on running. Let out enough line to barely tick bottom with your rod tip touching the water. Pick up your rod and mark the line with a marker, or just put your planer on. Set the planer in the water and speed up while you go out deeper with the boat. Keep your planer the same distance from shore where you set your depth or follow a set of bouys marking the right depth. When you get the boat out as far as you want, stay in that depth and troll. Keep a close eye on the planers, sometimes they will barely drop back and start to buck a little when a fish is on. If the fish pulls it clear under, he's a biggun, shut the motor down and work him in real easy.
Thats it. Easy huh? Pain in the butt by yourself, but sometimes its a good way to reach fish you dont want to drive right over. Or if you don't want to bust up your boat in shallow rocks. Or if you want to use heavy jigs in skinny water, or,,,well,,,lots of reasons to use them. Try it, its way more frustrating than regular fishing.


good luck

walleyebob
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[Xman]

hey walleye

i have been debating going to willard for some walleye from shore. i was wondering during the prespawn will they stage up close to shore in the rocks? i am a jig fisherman exclusivley but not real sure what jigs work best consistantly for walleye. would lets say a chartreuse curly tail work well? or white?

i have some shad plastic jigs 3 1/2 various colors. do those work well that you know of? and for presentation. does it work best to let it sit on bottom and work very slowly and jerk occasionally as if a hook set is being performed? i have vertical jigged for walleyes with great success at starvation but looking to fish from shore and actually catch one this way. thanks for any info.
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[TubeDude]

[cool]During the walleye "silly season", fishing from the bank or a tube almost works better than from a boat. Yes, they do hug the rocks, looking for willing mates and suitable spots to drop their eggs. So the most effective presentation is casting parallel to the shoreline and retrieving just above the rocks, at the right depth.

Of course, when everybody in Utah is crowding the shoreline, casting straight out...catching nothing...it makes it hard to fish properly. That's why launching your tube and getting away from the crowd is a good idea. It also makes it easier to retrieve snagged jigs...and you will snag up a lot, if you are fishing right.

Almost any color will catch fish, on occasion. The most universally successful colors and sizes are 3" plastics...in white or pearl...twisters or shad bodies. I used to doctor my plain pearl shad bodies with a dark blue line down the back, with a permanent marker. They work better than the pale blue store bought ones.

You don't have to cast far...and shouldn't. Working close means more touch, more control and fewer snags. Work short stretches of shoreline, on both sides of you, thoroughly, and then move down. If the fish are not there or not biting move until you find willing fish. If you stay in one place, and the fish are moving, sooner or later you will get a hit, but I like to chase them, as I know you do.

Making your own jigheads can really help when fishing Willard walleyes. First, you can make the colors that work best...hot red or white with a hot red eye for the white plastics. Second, you can pour smaller heads on the hooks balanced for larger plastics. I prefer 1/8 or even 1/16 ounce heads on about a size 1 or 1/0. Those hooks are large enough to get a good hookset, without snagging too much. And the light heads let you swim the plastics slow, without plummeting into the rocks like the 1/4 and 3/8 oz. heads that the "uninitialted" cast a 1/4 mile straight out.

Let the swimming action of the plastics provide the action. Reel slowly and steadily, allowing the jig to just tick the rocks once in awhile. A hit will be anything from a chomp to just a "rubber band" feel. During the brighter daylight hours you will have to fish deeper. At daybreak and dusk, the males sometimes cruise fairly shallow, and you may even see fish rolling against the rocks...where there aren't too many people. Those active ones are good targets for reaction bites. Drag a well cast jig by them and they will often chomp it in their anxiety of lust.

One of the best times to fish is after dark, on bright moonlit nights. The spawn often takes place during the full moon/ But, you can catch them in pitch black too. At night, the white still works, but you can integrate some chartreuse and even black. I have also done well on occasion with purple.

By the way, X...your jigs should work well too. Try hanging a 2" or 3" plastic trailer off a white marabou. I caught lots of wallies on big white marabou flies on a sinking line in Willard...and even more along the banks on marabou crappie jigs.

Unfortunately, the spawning fish are not available inshore much during the day. Fishing after the sun is high, or much before it drops in the west, will only leave you frustrated. The fish retreat to deeper holes in the lake during the day, and can sometimes be found stacked up and inactive. A vertical presentation, wiggled right in front of their noses is about the only way to get bit until they get restless in the late afternoon.

That's my input.
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[Badger]

Walleybob

Where did you go to get away from all the people?
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