Chilly Willard 10-16-20

[TubeDude]

Met up with FatBiker this morning at the north marina.  Still dark at 7 am launch.  Air temp mid 30's and water temp down to 57.  Getting there.  This was supposed to be a perch search but not quite cool enough for their liking.
But the everlovin' kitties came out to play.

Got my first feisty kitty within the first half hour.  Surprised at how frisky it was in the cooling water...as were most of the other volunteers today.  Best offering turned out to be a brightly colored fire tiger flig in those chilly conditions.  And either a whole or half small chub minnow.   Also got quite a few cats on the always popular "chartreuse perch" fligs.  I briefly tried some plastics and worms...hoping for perch or crappies.  Nada, zip, zilch.

FatBiker might be eligible for a new handle.  Seems like he made a deal with Rocky Raab and now fishes from Rocky's former kayak.  Do we call him "Fat Rocky", Rocky Biker or???  I'll settle for Fat Yakker...although he is kinda skinny...at least compared to me.  Anyhooters, he likes being up out of the cold water and he brought a few kitties up to join him.  So the ride is properly broken in for him.

He fished all over the place...depthwise...catching fish in shallower water only a few feet off Eagle Beach...and up to the deeper water I fished most.  I got most of my fish between 15 - 17 feet deep.  And we both caught fish inside the harbor which was only about 8' deep.

Fishing was not blazing hot...but consistent enough to keep me from dozing off in the warming sunshine.  I had caught about 10 cats working off Eagle Beach, when I decided to move back and fish the area right out off the entrance to the north marina.  It can be productive this time of year for multispecies.  Not today.  But the kitties showed up and I quickly released another half dozen whiskery wipers/perch/walleyes.

Not seeing anything encouraging on sonar, I motated back inside the marina...just to see what denizens might be lurking there.  I did recognize a couple of those denizens...CowboyPirate and Cookie.  They had caught a couple of cats bank-tanglin'.  And I caught a couple more eager kitties while cruising around the usual more productive zones inside.  Finally gave up on ABC (anything but cats) about 11ish.  I had kept 3 for a small fish fry.  The rest all got exercise and experience...and still swim in wunnerful Willard.

[Cowboypirate]

Pat it was good to see you getting a good soak in the Willard Hot tub this morning. Also good to know the cats treated you well. We had Cookie's brother and his family down from windy Wyoming as they wanted to partake in a catfish fry. The water was pretty cold in the marina this morning so the cats were not as active shallow as they have been. I will post a video later, but the nephews (trisquit triplets) and niece (granola girl) managed to get slimy and take some fillets home.

I though I recognized that yak but not the yakker I was expecting

cheers.

[doitall5000]

Met up with FatBiker this morning at the north marina.  Still dark at 7 am launch.  Air temp mid 30's and water temp down to 57.  Getting there.  This was supposed to be a perch search but not quite cool enough for their liking.
But the everlovin' kitties came out to play.

Got my first feisty kitty within the first half hour.  Surprised at how frisky it was in the cooling water...as were most of the other volunteers today.  Best offering turned out to be a brightly colored fire tiger flig in those chilly conditions.  And either a whole or half small chub minnow.   Also got quite a few cats on the always popular "chartreuse perch" fligs.  I briefly tried some plastics and worms...hoping for perch or crappies.  Nada, zip, zilch.

FatBiker might be eligible for a new handle.  Seems like he made a deal with Rocky Raab and now fishes from Rocky's former kayak.  Do we call him "Fat Rocky", Rocky Biker or???  I'll settle for Fat Yakker...although he is kinda skinny...at least compared to me.  Anyhooters, he likes being up out of the cold water and he brought a few kitties up to join him.  So the ride is properly broken in for him.

He fished all over the place...depthwise...catching fish in shallower water only a few feet off Eagle Beach...and up to the deeper water I fished most.  I got most of my fish between 15 - 17 feet deep.  And we both caught fish inside the harbor which was only about 8' deep.

Fishing was not blazing hot...but consistent enough to keep me from dozing off in the warming sunshine.  I had caught about 10 cats working off Eagle Beach, when I decided to move back and fish the area right out off the entrance to the north marina.  It can be productive this time of year for multispecies.  Not today.  But the kitties showed up and I quickly released another half dozen whiskery wipers/perch/walleyes.

Not seeing anything encouraging on sonar, I motated back inside the marina...just to see what denizens might be lurking there.  I did recognize a couple of those denizens...CowboyPirate and Cookie.  They had caught a couple of cats bank-tanglin'.  And I caught a couple more eager kitties while cruising around the usual more productive zones inside.  Finally gave up on ABC (anything but cats) about 11ish.  I had kept 3 for a small fish fry.  The rest all got exercise and experience...and still swim in wunnerful Willard.

Hey fatbiker did you like the yak more than your aluminum ship?  With all the comforts of home.

[RockyRaab2]

I'm eager to hear how it went, Larry. You sure wasted no time!

[FatBiker]

Pat, it's always a pleasure to see you. Even better getting schooled in the fine art of kitty chasing. Rocky, the SS Rocky worked as advertised. A little disappointing not sitting in the water this time of year. Doitall, grumpy knees have kept me out of my tube most of the summer. A pedal kayak send to have fixed that problem. Looks like it's time to put the boat in the barn for the winter and keep the kayak loaded and ready to go. Going to Malad next week and will stop at cowboy pirate's secret honey hole for some suckers. The east side of Bear Lake is calling my name. Vertical jigging on one rod and dragging a chunk of fresh sucker behind me on a Santee Rig, might be the ticket for pre-spawn Macs. Thanks again TD. Yell if you're headed back this way. Shucks, I think I could even find lincoln beach of you should head south.

[Cowboypirate]

Pat, it's always a pleasure to see you.  Even better getting schooled in the fine art of kitty chasing. Rocky, the SS Rocky worked as advertised. A little disappointing not sitting in the water this time of year.  Doitall, grumpy knees have kept me out of my tube most of the summer.  A pedal kayak send to have fixed that problem.  Looks like it's time to put the boat in the barn for the winter and keep the kayak loaded and ready to go. Going to Malad next week and will stop at cowboy pirate's secret honey hole for some suckers. The east side of Bear Lake is calling my name. Vertical jigging on one rod and dragging a chunk of fresh sucker behind me on a Santee Rig, might be the ticket for pre-spawn Macs. Thanks again TD. Yell if you're headed back this way. Shucks, I think I could even find lincoln beach of you should head south.

If them suckers are not nibbling, yell. I have a few extra slabs I can loan to your mac run

[Freakyfisherman]

Met up with FatBiker this morning at the north marina.  Still dark at 7 am launch.  Air temp mid 30's and water temp down to 57.  Getting there.  This was supposed to be a perch search but not quite cool enough for their liking.

Pat, I took my son on the backside of Willard on Tuesday the 13th. Pretty much halfway between Harold's crane and the light pole. We were dunking mussels and trying various jigging stuffs and spoons. He kept getting bites as he would slowly drag his mussel in. I have not mastered his technique. He would have fish follow his mussel in towards the shore and could not hook up with these fish, but what he described sounded perch like. I later showed him a picture as he is just learning my fishing ways and he said that was the fish he could not catch. It makes sense cause the mussels are probably too big for the size of fish he was describing. Also, the octopus hooks we were using probably could not fit in their mouths. All of his hits were like 15 yards off the bank into shore, so I don't know the depths. Not being in the tube I have no idea of water temp but I will assume there are probably a bit warmer on the west side because of the amount of sunlight they receive versus the east side.So maybe perch are on the prowl, just not where you were on the lake.
Gabe

[TubeDude]

Met up with FatBiker this morning at the north marina.  Still dark at 7 am launch.  Air temp mid 30's and water temp down to 57.  Getting there.  This was supposed to be a perch search but not quite cool enough for their liking.

Pat, I took my son on the backside of Willard on Tuesday the 13th. Pretty much halfway between Harold's crane and the light pole. We were dunking mussels and trying various jigging stuffs and spoons. He kept getting bites as he would slowly drag his mussel in. I have not mastered his technique. He would have fish follow his mussel in towards the shore and could not hook up with these fish, but what he described sounded perch like. I later showed him a picture as he is just learning my fishing ways and he said that was the fish he could not catch. It makes sense cause the mussels are probably too big for the size of fish he was describing. Also, the octopus hooks we were using probably could not fit in their mouths. All of his hits were like 15 yards off the bank into shore, so I don't know the depths. Not being in the tube I have no idea of water temp but I will assume there are probably a bit warmer on the west side because of the amount of sunlight they receive versus the east side.So maybe perch are on the prowl, just not where you were on the lake.
Gabe

A couple of possibilities.  1.  Crawdads.  They will peck at a bait without getting impaled.  2.  Young catfish.  The lake is usually full of them this time of year...and they are notorious bait nippers.

When the perch have any size it is surprising how large of a bait they can snarf.  I have caught them on big minnows being dragged for wipers, walleyes and cats.  But, as you say, your large hook might be just a bit too large for even a chunky perch.
EDIT:  In thinking about it, the nibblers could have been bluegills, green sunfish or even small smallmouths.  They are all in there and all will rob bait.  If your son is not well versed in fishy ID then all are possibilities.
Been doing any good at Starvy?