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Fished the open inlet channel at Willard Saturday and got skunked. I didn't see any wiper action at all, some carp being caught, I heard of some bass being caught. It seems like in the last few years the inlet has gotten slower, has anyone else had the same experience? Does anyone know why they have raised the limit on Wipers? I did catch some bows at Lost Creek off the shore, they were hitting blue fox spinners (gold mostly) on friday afternoon.---LICKER
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The wiper limit was raised in an attempt to keep the number of wipers in balance with the dwindling number of their prey, the gizzard shad.
Looks like you fished the inlet just in time as it reopened to fishing Sat-24.
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Hey man, I was discussing this with a friend just this weekend, then I had another conversation about it today.
The days of shoulder to shoulder fishermen lined up along bolth sides of the bank with everyone catching fish are gone.
Not just slowed down, gone. I havent seen action enough in there to bring anglers like that in more than a few years.
As best we can figure, its been 3 or 4 years since the fishing in there has been OK, and five years since it has been good.
Much the same as reports out on the lake. Each year numbers tend to decline.
But what do you expect from the raised limits, and the massive increase of fishing pressure on wipers in the past four years?
You are not alone. Lots of guys have noticed.
The limits on wipers was raised due to the poor shad production. But even with years of good shad production the DWR has not lifted the six fish limit. The results of wich will be seen this year. Most guys wont notice but some will.
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ive noticed. never use to see wipers filleted out on the banks till this and last year.
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Amen to that, selective harvest is what it's about. What about the walleye situation, has anyone noticed the same situation or not, I don't target them enough to really notice.
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The walleye catching has improved for me at least, in the last few years I've caught more walleye at Willard than I have in all the years before combined. I mainly troll for wipers but it seems for whatever the reason(of course I have some theories) the walleye catching has started picking up, the lures as often the same as the ones I use for wipers. In the last couple of years, in the spring and into the early summer I've caught 50% eyes and 50% wipers on a normal day of trolling. WH2
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Does bottom bouncing seem to work for you at Willard, or do you mainly run cranks for the eyes?
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Yes, I've caught walleye at willard with bottom bouncers but most are caught trolling cranks. We have caught them trolling as fast as 3 mph but of course they do not fight or hit anything like a wiper, so it is easy to tell what you have on right off the bat. WH2
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