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[cool][#0000ff]I hate fishing busy lakes on weekends. But, fishing buddy road and I cancelled two previously planned trips because of weather, and his work situation no longer allows midweek trips. So, we decided to hit the north marina. Actually, we were going to hit the south marina but changed our minds on the way up the road.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Launched our tubes about 6:15...along with half the boats in Utah. A lotta folks headin' out early this morning. Nice and warm, dead flat calm and water temp 74 at launch. Hardly even cool to the touch. No waders today.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Not far out of the marina I had my first wiper...temporarily. Hard hit, long run and a big wide sweep that turned my tube around in a circle. Never got the fish closer than about 25 yards. The hook just pulled loose. Stupid inexperienced fish. Also, last shot at a wiper today, that I know of.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I was dragging a minnow on one rod and throwing crankbaits on the other. No hits on hard plastic so I switched to a tandem rig of two small tube jigs. Instant kitty action. I caught several in fast succession on the small jigs, and even caught a double at one point. First double on kitties...on jigs...for a long time. They were ACTIVE today.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Marty got into the cat-ettes too. He was using a crawler harness for walleyes and all he got were the whiskery walleyes. Lots of them though. Kept him busy and entertained. Later he progressed to throwing some small crankbaits and the kitties voted for those too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We saw lots of "interesting" fish on sonar, but nothing was interested in our varous crankbaits, plastics and minnows but the catfish. Even caught a couple under a bobber in deeper water. We each kept a few for the table but threw back a grundle...maybe a grundle and a half.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Stayed nice and calm until a little after 10. Then there was a howling plague that hit the water...the PWC navy. Once they began ripping over our fishing spots it was GAME OVER. I fished another hour and a half, on the way back in, without a single bump or bite on either bait or lures.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We can't complain though. It was nice and quiet for a weekend up until the power squadron cranked up. We really appreciated them letting us use their lake for a little while, before they were ready for it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Water temp was over 78 going back in at noon. Had to fight our way through the boats coming and going in the "dockless" marina. Everything was working well, however, and we did not get to witness any bloodshed or mayhem. Did have a cute little PWC princess pose for me, while she waited for her daddy to come take her for a ride. Cute, but someday she will no doubt grow up to become another EVIL member of the dreaded power squadron.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Nice weather, good company and fun fishing. Three out of three ain't bad.[/#0000ff]
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WOW!! Looks like those kitties up in Willard have been eating really well..
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[inline 100_0885.jpg]I was out there today and couldnt seem to get my motor running well enough to troll so I settled for some cats and here they are
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[cool][#0000ff]Most of them are roe-laden females. They should have spawned by now, but no rocks for them to spawn in.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There is little food in their stomachs.[/#0000ff]
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[cool][#0000ff]I can NEVER get my motor running well enough to troll...from my tube.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Nice catch. They are really good eating.[/#0000ff]
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[cool]Nice catchin Pat. Did you sweeten your tandem jigs for the whisker fish or not? That looks like fun. Especially the double. Might head up tomorrow and give em hell.[angelic]
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[cool] Either way they are going to be yummy food in your stomach!!
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Great pics and post, Pat!
[#0000ff]"We really appreciated them letting us use their lake for a little while, before they were ready for it.[/#0000ff]"
Yeah, that's nice of 'em to let us fisherfolk 'borrow' their lakes once in a while. We should probably pay 'em some sort of fee for letting us use their waters. You know, just to show our appreciation for their generosity. [  ]
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Do you think that those kitties could be caught from shore or are they a little further out?
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[cool][#0000ff]I generally add about a half inch of crawler when I fish the jigs. I use 1 1/2" tubes on 1/16 oz. heads, on size 4 or 6 hooks. I caught them on several colors today, but I was fishing "light" colors...imitating baby shad...white, clear sparkle, blue/clear sparkle, confetti...trying for wipers. I have caught quite a few wipers on the small stuff when they are hitting the newly hatched shad.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If I was fishing just for the kitties, I would use fire tiger, chartreuse, hot pink, red/chartreuse or other bright colors. [/#0000ff]
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[cool][#0000ff]We were fishing out in 10 - 12 feet of water early in the morning, looking for wipers and wallies. But, as we moved shallower we caught LOTS more cats. They were hitting jigs, minnows and crankbaits in water only 5 - 6 feet deep. Hard hits and good fights too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The simple answer is YES, you can catch them shallow. The more complex answer is that they are not everywhere around the lake in shallow water.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]PM me for a marked map if you are planning to go up there. There is a gravel bar out in front of the campgrounds and there are a couple of deep troughs in the bottom that come within easy casting distance of shoreline. Some of our fish today came by casting almost onto the shoreline and getting hits within a few feet of the waterline. Those spots are ideal for "bank tanglin'". Also a lot of small smallmouth and occasionally a wiper chasing bitty shadlets in close.[/#0000ff]
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Sounds like you had a better day out there than I did. I made the nasty drive around the west side. Spent about an hour out in my tube. One rod dragging a worm, throwing cranks with the second. Not even a bite. The big boats decided to start trolling down that side, so I went in and set up from shore. Caught four cats in about three and a half hours, all on a worm about 3 feet under a bobber.
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Glad you guys ended up with plenty of action, despite the lack of wipers. We saw you just out of the marina around 6:30.
It's nice to see the tube at work.[ ] Nice setup, BTW.
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Well share how did you two do?
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We did pretty well (I think). It was my first time at Willard, so I'm not familiar, but we both got a good walleye each and several wipers.
![[Image: IMGP2439.jpg]](http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii272/justisaurusbucket/IMGP2439.jpg)
I posted a full report here titled: Fatbass and LOAH at Willard.
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Hey thanks for the mouth wateing photo. That looked liked some tasty fish!!!
I posted to soon. I read your post and YES you did very well at Willard. Nice report and pics. But ya got to love those bugs!! [fishin]
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I love to read your reports, and when you show the fish with the lure used to catch it, I enjoy the report even more. You and Marty did well with the cats up there. Sorry you lost the Wiper. Some fish just don't know how to stay on the line!
We have just about eaten all the catfish I caught when I was there. I have never tasted better catfish than the ones caught at Willard.
From your report It appears that you changed the fishing tactics used on this trip so you could hone in on the Wipers. I was surprised that the catfish took the small tubes. Another lesson learned!
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[cool][#0000ff]Thanks Lloyd. I take the pics not only to share info with others, but to serve as a visual archive and reminder to myself also. I keep a file, by species, of what lures work best. I have a lot of pics of catfish on different colored jigs.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]When you and I fished Willard, the water was just starting to reach the magic 70 degree "ambient" temperature...not falling below that at night. That seems to be a magic number for wipers and kitties too. They both get more active. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I always have one rod rigged with a tandem tube jig rig. I may change the colors, depending on water temp and species targeted, but I always throw it a while to see how aggressive the fish are. When the cats are as active as they were Saturday, they sometimes "pop on the drop"...take the jigs as they are falling to the bottom. That is what happened with the double. I must have cast right into a group of "hot cats". I always close the bail and "tightline" the drop...just to be ready for an "inquiry". On that cast the jigs had not sunk halfway to the bottom when I felt the first fish take. I set the hook and the fish dove toward the bottom. Then, I felt a lot more weight and a "funny" fight. I was really surprised to find a double.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We could see fish up off the bottom and when we stopped to work a jig over them, we were usually whacked by kitties...coming up midway into the water column. In fact, I probably caught more cats on mid depth jigs Saturday than I did on minnows dragged on the bottom. You would have had a ball with your new light rod.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We can go again whenever we can "synthesize" schedules. Maybe next Friday? Those kitties really are some FINE eating.[/#0000ff]
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[cool] [#0000ff]I can NEVER get my motor running well enough to troll...from my tube.[/#0000ff]
I have a 55 horse for you, your tube will never be seen again ![[Image: happy.gif]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/images/gforum/happy.gif) and the trolling speed-out standing.......
And I also Lost 2 lures (cheap ones) on two Wipers, are they getting smart or am I getting Dumb (Please don't say) any way there out there, if some one catches them I want my lure back[ ], I think it would be way cool if someone did get a wiper with a lure stuck to it.[sly]
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[cool][#0000ff]Thanks for the kindly offer of the motor. But I can't afford the gas to power anything more than my "two stroke" (fins). [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Sorry about you losing those fish...and lures. I keep saying it though...FISH DON'T BREAK LINES. FISHERMEN DO. Old and/or cheap line, poor knots, bad reels or poorly set drags, impatience, etc. Wipers know how to take advantage of all that stuff.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have a collection of lures I have "recovered" from fish over the years. Some still have lengths line on them...from breaking at nicks or weak points. Most have no line at all...indicating a bad knot.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Those wascally wipers are too mean and too tough to mess around with. You need good gear and good technique or you will donate lures to them. Thanks in advance if I recover one of yours. Consider it cheaper than donating a motor.[/#0000ff]
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