06-29-2006, 11:24 AM
Hit Willard yesterday evening. Except for the wake caused by the skiers, the water was complete glass the entire time I was there.
Started off by throwing a rattle trap. 3rd cast produced a good stike and about a 30 second fight, but the fish won round #1. Founght really hard... must have been a wiper. Continued to throw that same lure for the next half hour so without even a bump.
Changed over to a 3" curly tail with a glow jig head. I started casting from my tube to the dike. 5th cast produced a feisty 10" smallie. Continued casting that for awhile, and landed a cat on it. Then nothing for 45 minutes or so.
Switched over to a maniac jig in the shad pattern. Casted that for about 30 minutes, and finally hooked up on a nice 18" wiper. I know I say it all the time, but man do they fight hard. Continued throwing that for awhile longer with only one more hit.
By this time the power squadron was out in full force. I decided to drag a worm and a piece of shrimp. I could not keep the cats off that. Ended up catching 10 cats in an hour and a half.
Just before the sun went down I started throwing the rattle trap again. Had one wiper jump damn near in my tube with me as it was pursuing the lure. I casted until dark without any more strikes, so I started kicking back to shore. I put on a small Storm swim bait, and about my 3rd kick towards the dike I hooked up with a nice 21" cat. It took me for quite a ride. I was hoping it was a wiper, but I won't complain about catching any fish.
Along the shore there were a lot of small panfish. I'm not sure if they were crappie or bluegill, but there sure were a lot of them. I know they weren't baby shad. There were some kids casting small jigs under a bobber for them, and they were catching them every cast.
I talked to several trollers as they passed by. I don't know if it was anyone from this board or not. It seems that I was having better luck than any of them were. I think one of them told me that they had caught one small wiper and that was it. I didn't see anyone trolling with boards. With the water as glassy as it was, I imagine the boat would spook the fish, and boards probably would have helped their cause quite a bit. IMO.
All fish were released today. I didn't feel like cleaning fish at all. Didn't bring the digital.. I get kinda scared that I will drop it in the water. I am a cluts. The bugs were non-existant until about 8:00pm, then they were almost unbearable. I'm still picking them outta my ears and teeth. LOL.
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Started off by throwing a rattle trap. 3rd cast produced a good stike and about a 30 second fight, but the fish won round #1. Founght really hard... must have been a wiper. Continued to throw that same lure for the next half hour so without even a bump.
Changed over to a 3" curly tail with a glow jig head. I started casting from my tube to the dike. 5th cast produced a feisty 10" smallie. Continued casting that for awhile, and landed a cat on it. Then nothing for 45 minutes or so.
Switched over to a maniac jig in the shad pattern. Casted that for about 30 minutes, and finally hooked up on a nice 18" wiper. I know I say it all the time, but man do they fight hard. Continued throwing that for awhile longer with only one more hit.
By this time the power squadron was out in full force. I decided to drag a worm and a piece of shrimp. I could not keep the cats off that. Ended up catching 10 cats in an hour and a half.
Just before the sun went down I started throwing the rattle trap again. Had one wiper jump damn near in my tube with me as it was pursuing the lure. I casted until dark without any more strikes, so I started kicking back to shore. I put on a small Storm swim bait, and about my 3rd kick towards the dike I hooked up with a nice 21" cat. It took me for quite a ride. I was hoping it was a wiper, but I won't complain about catching any fish.
Along the shore there were a lot of small panfish. I'm not sure if they were crappie or bluegill, but there sure were a lot of them. I know they weren't baby shad. There were some kids casting small jigs under a bobber for them, and they were catching them every cast.
I talked to several trollers as they passed by. I don't know if it was anyone from this board or not. It seems that I was having better luck than any of them were. I think one of them told me that they had caught one small wiper and that was it. I didn't see anyone trolling with boards. With the water as glassy as it was, I imagine the boat would spook the fish, and boards probably would have helped their cause quite a bit. IMO.
All fish were released today. I didn't feel like cleaning fish at all. Didn't bring the digital.. I get kinda scared that I will drop it in the water. I am a cluts. The bugs were non-existant until about 8:00pm, then they were almost unbearable. I'm still picking them outta my ears and teeth. LOL.
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