Willard Wednesday

[RockyRaab]

Spoke with a "dawn patroller" who was leaving as I arrived at 8:30. He reported catching nine crappie in the north marina, keeping only a few of the largest. There were isolated clouds of fish, but as none were biting they may have been shad. I ended up strolling my kayak over to the north dike, where the action was immediately on.

Hooked 15 or so nice smallies and kept six. Also had some nice crappie (12" size) volunteer to become fillets. A TD special wobble jig with a 2" paddletail plastic was the ticket. Steady retrieve or small pumps along the rocks in 6" of water got it done. No camera along today (and no lunch either - I was famished when I left at 2 pm.)

Bad news report: the fish cleaning station is already jammed up and clogged into uselessness. Morons canNOT seem to understand how to use it.. There were some monster wipers crammed in there, right to the top. Disgusting. I reported it at the gate.

Hardly a boat on the glass-like water. 68° at the surface when I left.
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[doitall5000]

Way to go those smallies sure are great fun. Did you hit the willows off the beach?
Those rocks on the north duke can on a particular day can be good for small mouths.
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[RockyRaab]

I bypassed the willows along the old roadway, mostly because there was already a boat there.
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[AlexB]

I noticed several boats at freeway bay as I drove by. I need to get out there. Have not made it this year.
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[SkunkedAgain]

Thanks for the report Rocky, I'll give it a go later today, hope I can find a few as well... nice report... Sounds good to hear of a great day on the bay... Thanks J
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[FishinFool53]

It was good to chat with you again. Glad you did so good at the north dike.
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[Tin-Can]

"Bad news report: the fish cleaning station is already jammed up and clogged into uselessness. Morons can NOT seem to understand how to use it.. There were some monster wipers crammed in there, right to the top. Disgusting. I reported it at the gate. "

Thats a cryin shame. I have found it like that a couple times last year. In my experience, reporting it to the young person at the gate (a young lady at the time) kind of went over her head. I got my long needle nose pliers out of my boat, reached in and pulled all the crammed in fish parts out, started the water and the grinder with nothing in the hopper, then fed in one carcass at a time. Worked great. Of course it isn't our responsibility to maintain those machines, but it IS EVERY USERS responsibility to use it correctly.
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[RockyRaab]

It was not only crammed full, but the water wouldn't run, either. The grinder did, but nothing got down to it. I tried holding the hose and pushing fish down, but that didn't work. So I stopped before I made things worse.
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[amik]

Thanks for sharing Rocky. I gave it a try today with similar results throwing a Texas rig up shallow. Caught 3 on my first 4 casts and quit counting after that. Kept a limit plus a wiper and a couple of crappie and just got done with a family fish fry, tasty little critters.
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