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Haven't made it out fishing in a few weeks due to hunting and keeping up with the kids schedules. I am going out to Willard Saturday evening. The boat has a 175hp and no kicker, so trolling is out. What has everyone been using for a jig or casting set up lately? In the past I have used Flat fish, Shad raps and rattle traps all in silver or silver and blue combos and seemed to have the best results. I haven't ever really done any jigging at Willard so I don't have a clue what to use.
As soon as I think I 've got the secret figured out the fish change their minds and I can't catch a thing. I love fishing, everything about it, but when it comes to catching fish, it is a love hate relationship with me. So any info from some of you hardcore Wiper Anglers would be greatly apperciated from my son and I.
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Drift with crawler harnesses. Cats, eyes and wipers will hit them.
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Get a couple small poppers and some maniac minnows and go catch some wipers.
Good luck!
James
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Thanks for the information gentelmen, I will give both a try. Do they sell Maniac stuff at Smith and Edwards?
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[cool][#0000ff]Minnows work better for me...on all species. I just froze up another 75 bags of "long dozen" yesterday. I'm ready.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I'll be hitting Willard early Friday. I'll try to get a report up before too late.[/#0000ff]
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How are you fishing with the minnows, jigging, drifting?
Thanks you all again for the information... That is what I love about this place is everyones willingness to share knowledge and fish tales....
Thanks
Bass turd
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[cool][#0000ff]I probably fish them by dragging along the bottom about 90% of the time. I have a two pole permit so I rig an unweighted minnow on one rod, throw it about 50 feet out behind my tube and then slowly stop and start as I move along the dikes, casting a lure in to the rocks on my second rod.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I catch mostly cats on the dragged minnows, but I also get more than a few bottom scrounging wipers and some walleyes when they are foraging in close. The walleye and wiper count increases as the water cools and the shad go deeper. The predators tend to follow and are used to picking up shad that seem to have a die off when the water cools.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If you are drifting a little faster, in a boat without a trolling motor and unanchored, try "drop shotting" a minnow a couple of feet off the bottom. Rig the minnow with a nose hook and a tail (trap) hook to hang the fish that "hit and run". I sometimes use a short length of plain old clothes hanger, with a loop in one end, to tie on the end of the line for drop shotting minnows and even unweighted tubes or twisters. There aren't many snags on the bottom of Willard, but the clothes hanger wire bounces over them better than costly drop shot weights.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You can also do well by rigging a minnow on a plain jig head and "bottom bouncing" right below the boat as you drift. Don't give it a lot of action. Just raise and lower it a few inches at a time and even "dead stick" it a lot. Let it touch down on the bottom once in a while to maintain proximity to the bottom.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Still another effective way to fish them is below a bobber. If you are drifting slow...or not at all in the rare calm periods...you don't need any weight. If you are moving, then pin the minnow on a plain jig head or add a split shot a foot or so above the rigged minnow. Again, it is sometimes necessary to rig with a "stinger" hook to hang the fish that munch only the tail and then boogie.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Big walleyes and cats often like large minnows this time of year. However, since this year's crop of baby shad are still under 3", small minnows might sometimes be necessary to get the bite. I have had days when wipers seemed to prefer either the larger or smaller minnows. It is good to have several sizes in your cooler. Silly old catfish aren't usually too proud. They will choke down any size minnow you offer.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The areas inside the marinas can be very good for dragging bait during the fall months. I have taken some really nice walleyes inside both the north and south marinas after the first big cold fronts in the fall. I think we just had one of those. I have also been taking both wipers and cats (and a few smallmouths) inside the marinas through August. Crappies also start moving inside about now.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If the breeze is light, and blowing in the right direction, use it to drift parallel to the rocks along the dikes...trying both deeper and shallower until you find the fish. The whole length of the dike north from the south marina to the corner past the feed lot is a good drift area.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The area out off the "outlet" structure on the north dike, north of the north marina, is also a good drift area. The bottom is irregular out there, with an old roadbed and some depressions and humps caused by the dredging they did when they were scooping out the lake and building up the dikes. Sometimes the fish hold in the deeper spots. Other times they come up onto the humps. A good sonar wlll help you find them and then you can either anchor and cast to them or drift over them. Having a couple of marker buoys can help.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The weather forecast for Saturday is good at this point. Hopefully Mama Nature will cooperate and the fishies will come out to play with you.[/#0000ff]
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