Slow day at Willard 5/29/20

[wiperhunter2]

Wiperslayer and I got out to Willard this morning, launching around 6:30 am. We headed to a spot I had done pretty good last week. Because the water temps were getting close to 70 degrees, I started putting out a crank bait, with hopes that bite had started. I had let out 60 ft and was getting ready to put on a side planer, when the first fish of the day came a calling and nice wiper.

Alright, I thought the crank bite has finally turned on but that was the last fish on a cranks until our last fish of the day. We continued to troll at 1.5 to 1.9 mph picking up another smaller wiper and an eye but then it went dead, so we moved to another location. When we got there, we had one on within minutes, a decent cat and we went on to catch two more cats and two more eyes. All but two were caught on TD's firetiger blades. Water is much clearer this week. Because of the calm conditions the nats were out in force and we sure were glad when a slight breeze came up later. There were several BFT members out there today, JJannie, Reelfast, Suzukie Blue and Trapper Dave to name the ones I heard from, all had varied success. Hopefully Gene will chime in with his success story. Lots of folks out there today, it doesn't seem like anyone works any more.

[BSF]

I was out there today with my three grandsons. We left the north marina at 830am. We started trolling two cranks out the back and two on planer boards. But after 20 minutes of fighting the gnats we decide to pull the lines in and go for a boat ride and try to out run the bugs.

At one point we motored out to the island to see if anyone was having any luck. We didn’t see anyone catch anything, but I did see Dubob and said a quick hello.

We were over in freeway bay when a little breeze put down the bugs for a bit, so we put the lines back out with cranks, and in about an hour each boy was able to land a fish. We ended up with one Walleye, one Catfish, and a nice 20” Wiper. Trolled cranks at 2.5 MPH.

[reelfast]

Wiperslayer and I got out to Willard this morning, launching around 6:30 am. We headed to a spot I had done pretty good last week. Because the water temps were getting close to 70 degrees, I started putting out a crank bait, with hopes that bite had started. I had let out 60 ft and was getting ready to put on a side planer, when the first fish of the day came a calling and nice wiper.

Alright, I thought the crank bite has finally turned on but that was the last fish on a cranks until our last fish of the day. We continued to troll at 1.5 to 1.9 mph picking up another smaller wiper and an eye but then it went dead, so we moved to another location. When we got there, we had one on within minutes, a decent cat and we went on to catch two more cats and two more eyes. All but two were caught on TD's firetiger blades. Water is much clearer this week. Because of the calm conditions the nats were out in force and we sure were glad when a slight breeze came up later. There were several BFT members out there today, JJannie, Reelfast, Suzukie Blue and Trapper Dave to name the ones I heard from, all had varied success. Hopefully Gene will chime in with his success story. Lots of folks out there today, it doesn't seem like anyone works any more.

Chad and I found a way with catfish.  Two were 27 and 28 inches.  Big fight.

[jjannie]

It was great to know so many BFTer's were out there yesterday, we probably passed by many of you from a distance and didn't know it as we tried hard to keep clear of everyone else due all the planer boards folks had out - guess they helped us keep that social distancing, lol

Those are some nice cats reelfast, bet they were fun ones to bring in.

We ended up with 7 cats, 2 eyes.... some caught on cranks, others on a TD fire tiger and a red worm harnesses.

[dubob]

At one point we motored out to the island to see if anyone was having any luck. We didn’t see anyone catch anything, but I did see Dubob and said a quick hello.

Thanks for stopping by; its always a pleasure to meet other BFT folks.  Well, most of them anyway.  

I trolled fire tiger blade worm harnesses (not the TD versions, unfortunately) for 2 hours at 1.2 mph and 1 to 2 feet off the bottom.  Watched dozens of fish at that depth and not a single one was interested in the nice, fat crawlers I had attached.  A real bummer!  

For the last couple of hours I switched to cranks and let out 75 feet of line.  I controlled the depth with my downriggers and tried 3, 10, 15, and 18 feet down.  Tried different flavors of cranks and speeds anywhere from 1.5 up to 2.5 mph.  I marked lots of fish in those depth zones, but it was zip, zero, nada!  Ended up with my second Willard skunk of the year.  I hope it's the last.   

[TubeDude]

At one point we motored out to the island to see if anyone was having any luck. We didn’t see anyone catch anything, but I did see Dubob and said a quick hello.

Thanks for stopping by; its always a pleasure to meet other BFT folks.  Well, most of them anyway.  

I trolled fire tiger blade worm harnesses (not the TD versions, unfortunately) for 2 hours at 1.2 mph and 1 to 2 feet off the bottom.  Watched dozens of fish at that depth and not a single one was interested in the nice, fat crawlers I had attached.  A real bummer!  

For the last couple of hours I switched to cranks and let out 75 feet of line.  I controlled the depth with my downriggers and tried 3, 10, 15, and 18 feet down.  Tried different flavors of cranks and speeds anywhere from 1.5 up to 2.5 mph.  I marked lots of fish in those depth zones, but it was zip, zero, nada!  Ended up with my second Willard skunk of the year.  I hope it's the last.   

Bummer.  Sometimes the fish at Willard take that anti-social distancing thing too seriously.

If there is any justice in the world, next time you will hammer them.

[Downriggerer]

That's odd.  Fishing was great on Tuesday.  We pounded out a couple limits of wipers in a few loops, not to mention a couple crappie and catfish.

I couldn't hazard a guess.  Maybe the fishing vibes changed frequency or they were just plain being unfriendly.  Hard to know with fish.  Maybe some of them just profoundly dislike associating with other fish in the live well.  Very strange, indeed.

[muirco]

Hmmm, sounds like hit or miss. Thanks for the reports! I will let you know how we do this Tuesday.

[wiperhunter2]

That's odd.  Fishing was great on Tuesday.  We pounded out a couple limits of wipers in a few loops, not to mention a couple crappie and catfish.

I couldn't hazard a guess.  Maybe the fishing vibes changed frequency or they were just plain being unfriendly.  Hard to know with fish.  Maybe some of them just profoundly dislike associating with other fish in the live well.  Very strange, indeed.

Catching 8 total wasn't a total loss for the day but I was really expecting it to turn on with that warmer water temps. There was some type of front moving in and the solunar calendar was saying poor fishing, so I'm going to use those excuses  .

[wiperhunter2]

Way to go Dan, looks like you and Chad ended up with a nice pile of cats and some big ones too.

[wiperhunter2]

I was out there today with my three grandsons. We left the north marina at 830am. We started trolling two cranks out the back and two on planer boards. But after 20 minutes of fighting the gnats we decide to pull the lines in and go for a boat ride and try to out run the bugs.

At one point we motored out to the island to see if anyone was having any luck. We didn’t see anyone catch anything, but I did see Dubob and said a quick hello.

We were over in freeway bay when a little breeze put down the bugs for a bit, so we put the lines back out with cranks, and in about an hour each boy was able to land a fish. We ended up with one Walleye, one Catfish, and a nice 20” Wiper. Trolled cranks at 2.5 MPH.

Yea, they were really bad that morning, after sucking down a few I had to get my head net on. Not sure what the reason is this year but the crank bait has not been very consistent so far, hope that changes soon. The second fish I caught on a crank on Fri was caught with only 50 ft out, behind a planer board, I was pretty surprised it turned out to be a cat. That fish must have been up around 7 or 8 feet deep in 21 FOW.