Willard Hotness 5-6-21

[TubeDude]

A pretty fair crowd of tanglers descended upon the Willard south marina this morning.  Lotsa boats and a few bank tanglers...including Pirate and Cookie.  I'm sure they will post a report.  Don't know how they did since they were gone when I returned to the ramp a bit before noon.


Air temp 42 at 6:45 launch...warming to 80 by noon.  That's a hotness.  Water temp 58 at launch...warming to 61 by noon.  Not hot but should help the fishing get hotter.

Fishing didn't start off so hot.  Dragged cranks and crawler rigs for over an hour without interruption.  Covered a pretty wide area...from 8' up to 17' without seeing evidence of many fish on sonar...or my line.  Finally put out a blue back silver whirly flig with a piece of minnow on one rod and started pitching a "pistol Pat" wobble head with a white gulp minnow on the other.

Game on.  Went through a "long dozen" minnows...catching a catfish on just about every one.  Kept a limit of 8 for a couple of fish frys.  And during breaks in the action I managed 3 wipers on the Gulp minnow rig.  One was a keeper 16"er.  The other two were footlongs that got a release to grow bigger.  No walleyes anywhere out from the east dike...at least none that I molested.

Headed back to the ramp a bit before noon.  When I lifted my fish basket out of the water, I noticed that the limit of 8 I had kept was reduced by a few.  And there was a catfish head sticking out of a hole in the wire mesh of my fish basket.  Three had escaped but the fatty that got stuck evidently kept any more from getting away.  My fault for not checking those fish for wire cutters before putting them in my basket.


Nice day.  A break from the "breezes".  But I guess it ain't gonna last.  

[Freakyfisherman]

A pretty fair crowd of tanglers descended upon the Willard south marina this morning.  Lotsa boats and a few bank tanglers...including Pirate and Cookie.  I'm sure they will post a report.  Don't know how they did since they were gone when I returned to the ramp a bit before noon.


Air temp 42 at 6:45 launch...warming to 80 by noon.  That's a hotness.  Water temp 58 at launch...warming to 61 by noon.  Not hot but should help the fishing get hotter.

Fishing didn't start off so hot.  Dragged cranks and crawler rigs for over an hour without interruption.  Covered a pretty wide area...from 8' up to 17' without seeing evidence of many fish on sonar...or my line.  Finally put out a blue back silver whirly flig with a piece of minnow on one rod and started pitching a "pistol Pat" wobble head with a white gulp minnow on the other.

Game on.  Went through a "long dozen" minnows...catching a catfish on just about every one.  Kept a limit of 8 for a couple of fish frys.  And during breaks in the action I managed 3 wipers on the Gulp minnow rig.  One was a keeper 16"er.  The other two were footlongs that got a release to grow bigger.  No walleyes anywhere out from the east dike...at least none that I molested.

Headed back to the ramp a bit before noon.  When I lifted my fish basket out of the water, I noticed that the limit of 8 I had kept was reduced by a few.  And there was a catfish head sticking out of a hole in the wire mesh of my fish basket.  Three had escaped but the fatty that got stuck evidently kept any more from getting away.  My fault for not checking those fish for wire cutters before putting them in my basket.


Nice day.  A break from the "breezes".  But I guess it ain't gonna last.  

I was temtped to join you this morning, but life got in the way and my morning became too busy. Highly doubtful I could keep up with your motor vs my foot power. But I guess we could have fished together in the same general area. Maybe next time Pat. Looks like you did okay. Nice report.
Gabe

[doitall5000]

Good to hear the cats are winding up. You don't like "breezes " when it's hot and buggy I love it. What's your best speed when running a whirling fligs.?

[TubeDude]

Good to hear the cats are winding up. You don't like "breezes " when it's hot and buggy I love it.  What's your best speed when running a whirling fligs.?

For basic cattin' I only run about .5 mph...with occasional brief speedups to about .75.  But I slow down and/or stop once in a while.  And I get hits on all of the above.  The key with the little whirly blades is to impart some kind of motion.  Those propeller blades spin with the slightest movement so you can go very slowly and they are still spinning.

Because they are spinners, I also run them at up to about 1.5 mph...especially when baited with Gulp minnows.  That worked well on wipers and walleyes last year.  And yesterday I had a BIG wiper on the blue-silver whirly and a whole small minnow while running faster.  But alas, he pulled free after a long tussle.  

The key is the weight.  I use only about 1/4 oz. weight most of the time.  It bounces on the bottom at lower speeds but not at the higher...so the whirly rises up a few feet above the bottom.  I am still experimenting with other weights for even higher speeds. 

A couple of the colors worked well during June last year for all species...with the Gulp goodies.  I did not have the motor I have now...or sonar with GPS speed readings.  So this year I am fine tuning my presentations with more exacting weight/speed variables.

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I was temtped to join you this morning, but life got in the way and my morning became too busy. Highly doubtful I could keep up with your motor vs my foot power. But I guess we could have fished together in the same general area. Maybe next time Pat. Looks like you did okay. Nice report.
Gabe
[/quote]
It would have been good to see you again.  But you are right.  I had to run a long ways and cover a lot of water before I finally found some fish.  I could have never done it without motorized assistance.  My big series 27 battery was the lowest I have ever run it when I got home and put it on the charger.

Maybe we can "hook up" on Deer Creek next month.