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While PineviewFisher and I were on Willard yesterday, we went to fish the island and couldn't see the buoy marker. I didn't have my hand held GPS so I couldn't pin point the location exactly, so we trolled around the area where I thought it was or should have been , but never ran across it.
I was thinking a Burmuda Triangle/Twilight Zone moment, or somehow I completely spaced the location of it - maybe I was having a brain cramp. We(both of us) even used the binoculars and scanned the whole lake for it and didn't see anything that even looked like a buoy anywhere - except for the navigation buoys in the enterance of the South Marina.
I'm feeling kind of stupid for even asking, but, is it still there ? Anyone seen it lately ? I'll rightly be embarrassed if we somehow missed it.
Anyone know if the buoy was removed because of the higher water levels or if it broke off and floated away ?
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It was there 2 weeks ago. I will have to hit it again and look.
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Yeah, I anchored right next to it about 3 or 4 weeks ago and caught a couple of catfish, then trolled around it for an hour or so and got a wiper there too. I wish I had brought my hand held GPS - it has lots of fishing spots marked on it - including the island. But, yesterday, I was trying to find the island by braille(sonar) - and had no success doing it, however, I did graph a lot of fish in the vicinity of where I "thought" it coulda/shoulda/woulda been.
Both PineviewFisher and I were joking about it being kind of like the legend of Atlantis ! LOL !
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I was there yesterday also. I had the island marked on my gps and it lead us to within 50 feet, which I thought was pretty good since I pulled the location off one of the maps posted here on BFT.
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I guess that means you guys didn't notice a buoy marker either - if you had to use your GPS coords to find it. What was the shallowest depth you saw on your fish finder out by the island ? Did you catch anything out there ?
Any one know what happened to the BUOY ?
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The buoy is still there, Wiperslayer and I were out there Sunday afternoon in his boat. It can be hard to find at times but this might help you. Keep the South marina boat ramp in sight and keep going North until you see the buoy. WH2
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Hey wiperhunter2,
Thank you ! I don't know how we missed it. We came from the north west dike area by the light pole and went straight across the lake to the south marina and somehow missed it entirely - even though both of us were looking for it. Usually, I go right to it - I've been there lots of times. Oh well.[crazy]
What kind of boat were you in ? We did see one fair sized boat out there kind of around where we were looking and it may have just been in the way so we couldn't see it - I steered way clear of it so as to not disturb anyone's fishing and that may have been you guys and the buoy might have been hiding behind that boat.[blush] Anyway, we didn't waste too much fishing time looking for it.
I guess I'll have to go out again next time with my handheld GPS so I don't get lost out there - I'd hate to not be able to find the marina too [shocked] ! LOL !
If I can get them in my boat, Maybe I'll take my hounds - they can find anything !
Well, I feel better now - sort of. LOL !
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We were in wiperslayers 17 ft Lowe, it is white with kind of a zig zag red stripe across the sides. It is an open bow with an electric motor on the bow, both the main and the kicker motor are black Mercurys. The buoy is about 3/4 of a mile out from the south marina. The next time you are out there, take a look back and you will be able to see the ramp in the marina. We were fishing North and East of the Island so the boat you saw wasn't Wiperslayers but you are right it might have been blocking your view of the buoy.
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Just out of curiousity, what the water levels at Willard like??? How far is the island submerged?
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Teroy, you would not believe how full Willard got this year. The water levels were as high as I have ever seen them. They have dropped a few feet but most of the lake is still 20 to 21 feet deep. I can't tell you how deep it is at the island but you would not hit your prop if you went over it. How are things going with you? I guess it's still a couple of months until you report to your new station, is that going as planned?
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