Tough day at Willard 9/21

[obifishkenobi]

This is my first post I have been reading this forum since April and have appreciated all of the good reports, so I thought I should start contributing. Went out to Willard this morning, hoping the Wipers would be active ahead of the thunder storms foretasted for this afternoon. I got on the water at 7:30 am from the north marina and headed across to the light pole and pulled a Shad rap and a rattln rap along the west dike using s turns varying the speed no love, but marking lots of fish on my graph. I then switched up to worm harnesses and got one small catfish. I saw a couple short boils out of my casting distance. Around 10:00 am the wind started to pick up and by 11:00 was blowing hard making 3 foot rollers and I decided it was time to leave. It was a wet bumpy ride back to the ramp.
[signature]

[wiperhunter2]

Welcome to the site and thanks for posting your report. This is a tough time of the year at Willard. With the water temps dropping it makes for some tough catching. What was the water temp today? We have been seeing a little surface activity as well but is very short lived, hope it improves but it is not likely this year.
WH2
[signature]

[albinotrout]

Welcome to BFT and thanks for posting. I guess any day on the water is better than sitting at home and you didn't come away smelling like skunk either.[cool]
[signature]

[obifishkenobi]

I have an old fish finder with no temperature on it sorry, but it felt pretty warm as I was getting sprayed on my way back in. Im hoping to get a new one for xmas that has GPS. The boils I saw lasted less than a minute.
[signature]

[wiperhunter2]

It was pretty warm on Wens but I figured it had cooled down by now, good to read you saw a little more surface activity than we did, maybe they will go into a full on boil this year. [:/]
[signature]

[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks for the update and post, good to have you here. Sounds like you did what I would have tried, how fast were you trolling? Curt what speed are you finding the most success lately? You still running hot around 3 mph? Can't believe they take it that fast, but you can sure cover some area at that speed. Been wanting to try the bay again. Thanks Guys. J
[signature]

[wiperhunter2]

When the water temp drops below the mid 60's I slow it down some but anything above that I troll at 2.7 to 3 mph. I even troll worm harnesses that fast, using lead core line. Last Wens that is what was working the best, they were right on the bottom.
[signature]

[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks Curt,
That is really great info... Is it worth a trip to the bay these days... My walleye and wiper supply has long since disappeared, so I'm needing a new fix... if there is a chance of catching a few that would be great... Got some fresh taco fixens from the garden so I don't think fish tacos get much better than this time of year... Thanks again for the intell.... Later J
[signature]

[wiperhunter2]

Jeff, it is hard to say, I'll be out there again on Thurs and I'll get a better idea but here is how my last three trips have gone. Caught 8, then caught 1, then caught 4 on the last trip, of those four, one was a walleye, one was a wiper, one was a cat, the last one was a foul hooked carp that was around 10 lbs. Sure not consistent but that is Willard in the Fall, all I can say is that it will likely go down hill from here, if the cool weather continues. On good years, when the water level is high and it stays warm into Nov we have had good catching all the way up till Thanksgiving but that was because the wipers were boiling. I really don't see that being the case this year but I'll likely keep trying because Willard is so close.[]
[signature]

[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks Curt, guess its always a fishing trip and ya just never know how it will turn out ahead of time. Thanks for the great intell that will certainly help. Later J
[signature]