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[#0000FF] Apologies to Britney Spears, but oops...I did it again. Went fishing on Sunday. Decided to risk hellfire again just to try to outsmart Mama Nature in betwixt hissy fits.
Got it right with the weather. Fishing? Not so much.
Launched my red ride at the north marina just before 7 am...but after about 20 boats had already launched. Reminded me why I prefer to go during the week.
Air temp was mid 40s. Water temp 54 inside the marina and 52 outside...warming to 54 outside and 55 inside by noon departure. Good water clarity. And the depth is staying way up there. good.
Figgered there should be some fish inside the marina. Figgered wrong. Worked the heck out of it for over an hour and saw little on sonar...even less on the end of my line. Zilch. None of the bank tanglers and dock dunkers appeared be getting any fishy love either.
Headed outside the marina. Fished some fave spots near the mouth...with no results. Headed for the back end of Eagle Beach...watching for fishy marks on sonar. Precious few. Dragged a minnow on one rod while pitching tandem tube jigs on the second rod...my standard prospecting routine.
First inquiry came on a blue/clear sparkle crappie jig at 8:30. A "whiskery crappie"...a small catfish. Skunk begone.
No love on the minnows all day. But I did get some tentative taps on the small plastics. Had one nice crappie almost to the net...before it arranged for an early release. Had another about half way in and it did the same thing. A couple of other possible tweaks and that was it.
I saw two or three crappies caught from passing boats, but nothing else. And any of the boaters I chatted with...on the water or back at the ramp...all said pretty much the same thing. Still a bit cool and the fish were just plain not active yet. Most had nothing for the morning. Some no bites at all.
Finished with another quick shot inside the marina. Shoulda gone home a half hour earlier. Still zip for the inside. Didn't see any of the bank tanglers doing anything either. Shoulda knowed that if the shoreline was not lined with crappie cru ers that the fish weren't in yet.
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Great report. I fished the marina this morning for 3 hours and no bites. Didn't see any active fish hitting the surface so I figured it was an off day.
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[#0000FF]Seems like it. Only hope it gets better.
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I don't feel so bad then, it's been a tough year so far. We have had only that one good day this year, when I thought it was going to turn on, then right back to two fish per trip. It's got to change soon, at least I hope so. May is usually the month where there is some major changes and my guess thats when we will see it all turn around.
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[#0000FF] A wet winter with lots of runoff...and continuing storms moving through...has kept the lake from warming at the rates it has during lower water years. My logs show that water temps are about two weeks behind the last two years.
The fish are not " ". They have no memories of what it was like in other years. All they know is that they are looking for food and comfort, something to eat and warmer water. Anglers just gotta try to figure out where those things might be and look for the fish in those places.
The annual cycles of fish are only partly determined by the lengthening of daylight hours. A whole lot more is determined by water temperature. Warmer water kicks their metabolism into higher gear and they move faster and eat more. And for spawning fish their eggs and milt don't finish developing until the water is warm enough to hatch the eggs.
Hope the shad bring off a good spawn this year. Lots of hungry mouths in Willard that need a good feed.
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Yup. I had planned to make my first trip out today. But when even TD can't catch 'em, they ain't to be caught.
At this rate, I'll be doing my annual shakedown cruise at the flotilla...
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[#0000FF]You are too kind.
But by announcing your plans so far in advance you have likely doomed the event to a cold washout.
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At least I'm successful at something, huh? Hey, my magic worked for the last two, why not a three-fer?
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Hay fishing brothers, (ladies too) maybe we should rendezvous at Lake Powell this time of year I'm sure the fishing's good down there now, maybe we should think about it for next year. Make a good plan. Even if it has wet weather can stay warm to fish between the storms. Look at the fish options there. Bass are big, unlimited walleye. If we spread out and report back success ful spots we can all find fish.
What do ya think??😁
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Trolled Willard 4/23 with my dad and the kids. Pretty tough. We launched from the North Marina about 10:45 and fished til 4:15 Worked that side (mostly open water - 13-22 FOW) from the North Dike to the far corner of freeway bay. 1 Crappie, and 1 Walleye on a lipless crank and one Wiper on a traditional crank right at the buzzer. Natural white-gray colors. Speeds were 1.5-2.1. Tried to target 1.8. Water temp 55. Overall success, but still fairly frustrating results vs. effort. Read all the other reports though, and it sounds like we couldn't have asked to have done much better.
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Looking at the weather forecast we are in for another cold wet week this week. Looking ahead it shows that the first few weeks of May should bring some warmer weather and bring the water temp's up a bit. Strange year.
Mark
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Nice chatting with you at the beginning and end! I can finally scratch off "meet tube dude" off my fishing bucket list! Ha 
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[#0000FF]It was a pleasure meeting you as well. Liked your rig. Too bad the fish didn't show us more love.
That was a good day for me meeting BFT board visitors for the first time...some registered...some "lurkers" only. But I sometimes cringe a little when they walk up and say "Are you the infamous TubeDude?"...or the "legendary" TubeDude. It is especially ranklesome when you can hear the "quotation marks" on either side of their terminologies.
It is always good to meet new dedicated anglers, no matter whether or not they have come to the dark side and become BFT members. Anybody who likes fishing can't be all bad. Right? Well, there are some exceptions but DWR can't catch them all.
Here's hoping the weather mellows out a bit and the water gets warmer. Might see you up there again. But I seldom fish the weekends. The last two weeks, during the wild weather sessions, were exceptions.
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Thanks! I like your rig as well! Gets us out of the shore but didn't help much in catching fish! Still a better day than just sitting at home. Now that we met I'll call you but your real name now! there were a lot of people fishing that day no surprise somebody was able to recognize you. You better stay fishing on the weekdays or else you might need body guards to keep the fans away! Haha cheers!
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I dunno, some fisherman can be real jerks.
At least when the bites are hot. [  ]
Just heard about a seagull being saved from a mass of fishing line tangled around it's head.
Some anglers could learn to pack it out!
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[#0000FF]There is a saying that "Any man can become a father. But not all fathers are 'dads'."
Same thing with fishermen. Anybody can try to catch fish, but a true fisherman/sportsman cares enough about the environment and ecology to try to take care of it...including cleaning up his messes.
About that seagull. Are you entirely sure all that fishing line got there by accident. More than a few anglers are not fond of gulls and might try to "decorate" them with whatever is at hand.
One of the funniest things I ever saw happened on the fishing pier at Santa Cruz, CA. An old "pier rat" was being robbed of his bait anchovies by a seagull that would swoop down and snarf one every time the old guy wasn't watching.
So the vengeful dude hid all his anchovies except one. He put a hook in it, along with a length of monofilament...and on the end of that he tied about a 1 pound fishing weight. Then he put the weight on top of the wooden railing and the last anchovy a few feet to the side. As he turned his back and started walking away, the gull swooped down, gulped the anchovy and started flying out away from the pier...until the line came tight and the sinker pulled him squawking down into the briny below. The angler about had a heart attack from jumping up and down and laughing.
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We had to give the mistress a try so took off from the North end about 8 yesterday morning , only to be slapped down by the wind and then later the rain , no fish love . Best part was the ole boat made a perfect return from her long winters nap and started and ran great.
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