Willard Kitties 06\10

[FatBiker]

Spent the morning fishing out of the south marina . Temp 50 and water temp 66 at 8AM. Pretty slow day. Worked the marina channel with cut bait and throwing a wolly bugger with my fly rod. Turned north and worked close to the dike for half a mile, still no luck. Setting back out into 17 FOW and headed back towards the marina. Still no luck. Worked the dike going south for half a mile. No luck. Moved out into a little deeper water and headed back to the marina. Bingo, a dumb one struck the bugger. Five minutes later and no skunk for me. Entered the channel and worked it pretty good. Nothing. Back at the ramp at noon. Temp was 60 and water temp up to 68. One kitty for the day. I think the cold spell put the fish down. Tomorrow and especially Friday should be better. Other than only one fish and eating a ton of midges, it was still a pretty good time.

Larry

[WingNutt]

Spent the morning fishing out of the south marina . Temp 50 and water temp 66 at 8AM. Pretty slow day. Worked the marina channel with cut bait and throwing a wolly bugger with my fly rod. Turned north and worked close to the dike for half a mile, still no luck. Setting back out into 17 FOW and headed back towards the marina. Still no luck. Worked the dike going south for half a mile. No luck. Moved out into a little deeper water and headed back to the marina. Bingo, a dumb one struck the bugger. Five minutes later and no skunk for me. Entered the channel and worked it pretty good. Nothing. Back at the ramp at noon. Temp was 60 and water temp up to 68. One kitty for the day. I think the cold spell put the fish down. Tomorrow and especially Friday should be better. Other than only one fish and eating a ton of midges, it was still a pretty good time.

Larry

Thanks for the report. I'm worried the cold front coming this weekend will shut them down...

[TubeDude]

Spent the morning fishing out of the south marina . Temp 50 and water temp 66 at 8AM. Pretty slow day. Worked the marina channel with cut bait and throwing a wolly bugger with my fly rod. Turned north and worked close to the dike for half a mile, still no luck. Setting back out into 17 FOW and headed back towards the marina. Still no luck. Worked the dike going south for half a mile. No luck. Moved out into a little deeper water and headed back to the marina. Bingo, a dumb one struck the bugger. Five minutes later and no skunk for me. Entered the channel and worked it pretty good. Nothing. Back at the ramp at noon. Temp was 60 and water temp up to 68. One kitty for the day. I think the cold spell put the fish down. Tomorrow and especially Friday should be better. Other than only one fish and eating a ton of midges, it was still a pretty good time.

Larry

Thanks for the report. I'm worried the cold front coming this weekend will shut them down...

Shouldn't be too bad.  Willard is deep enough that it takes several days of colder or warmer temps to make a big change in water temps.  And a high in the mid 70s on Sunday probably won't even make it flicker.  The low pressure and the winds are all in a normal day's events on Willard.

Also, right now most of the mature cats have other things on their mind besides molesting fishermen.  They are rolling in the rocks making baby catfish.  Haven't been a lot of cats being caught in many areas normally good producers.  But by the first to middle of July it will be wide open kittyfest all over the lake.

The other species are doing fine right now.  Water temps are in the ideal range for the predators.  But once they reach the 80s you can look for a slowdown...with fish staying deeper during the day and many feeding more at night.

Another upcoming fishing factor will be the blooming schools of micro shad.  As soon as the shadlets grow beyond about an inch they become a buffet style meal for everything in the lake.  If the fish are patterning on small fry it helps to show them smaller lures for a while.  And be prepared for some frustrating days if the fish are staying well fed and don't wanna chase that silly stuff you are showing them.

Simple...but not always easy.