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Well, went to Willard and drew a blank last night. Fished out of the South Marina. There were several boats there. Water in the marina area was about 2 1/2 feet deep and it was real easy to run up on 1-foot of water at any time. I did get a ding in my prop on the way back in, so my suggestion would be to stay to the west of the warning bouy on the way in and out. I trolled just about every shad imitating lure I had without a strike. Tried speeds between 2.5 to 3.3 mph and no hits. The water was choppy all over. Fished the north side near the light pole and down the west dyke from about 6:00pm to 9:30pm. Terns started to hit the water pretty hard all around me at about 9:00, but still no hits. I think that they were just messing with me to see if I'd stay if they started to dive. "Stupid Humans!" Don't know what happened to the fishing. I was doing well at Willard this year until this trip. Oh well, I guess you have to take the bad days with the good days. Good luck and enjoy!
Fisch R. Mann
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Hey,FischRMann
Did you notice any white egrets on the west dike,They are usally easy to see from a distance and indicate a good number of shad againest the bank,thanks for any info.
TIGHT LINES
Tony[cool]
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Did you do any casting or just trolling.
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Hey Fishinfool, no, I dind't notice any egrets on the edges. I didn't even see that many pelicans. Only the Terns and Seagulls, and a bunch of Merganzers, and of course, all of the Black Ibis flying by who were just likely going between fields. I thought that the Terns hitting the water would be a positive sign of Shad in the water near the surface, and fish eaters following the shad, but never got a bump on the line, so maybe I was wrong. I've never seen a shad boil, so I was hoping to get my chance, and it didn't work out that way. Oh well, maybe I was just out there on the wrong day.
Fisch R. Mann
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Hmmmmm,This is strange.
As poncho was saying,did you do any casting,last fall you could troll 100 ft from the bank and not catch a thing,but troll 15 feet off the bank and catch a boat load,thats when I like to start casting to the dike,But if there are no birds on the bank,there's no shad there and is probably not going to work to good.Keep your EYE's open,and appreciate the info.
Thanks,Tony
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Hey thanks for the advice Poncho and Tony. I did cast, but it was probably less than 20 times and it was when I trolled near the shore. I varried the distance from the shore quite a bit. I was marking more fish about 300-600 feet from the north dike about 1/4-1/2 mile east of the light pole in the corner. I saw a lot of blobs on the fish finder and then it marked fish around the blobs, but I never hit any fish there either. I will take the tip and cast toward the egrets next time I do see them along the bank, I just don't remember seeing any this time. I also stopped to cast near what I think is "the island", but nothing there either. I was just off that day or something. Anyway, thanks for the tip!
Fisch R. Mann
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My son and I were out on the lake yesterday afternoon, we lost to whipers near the boat. We managed to boat one catfish near the north dike.
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still a bit early for the shad boils fishcrmann. wait till end of august september they will be in numbers then. small boils right now and for short durations.
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. . . And so it is noted. Thanks for the Info X, I am glad I'm not missing something. Now we can all hope we have enough water to launch by then, otherwise I'll have to wait another year or so. thanks!
Fisch R. Mann
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The area you were fishing is some of the deepest in the bay and has been holding good numbers of fish for over a month now. If you can find what the fish want you can catch some big in that area. The depth you are fishing is also important, if you are seeing balls of shad on your fish finder you need to stop and do some casting in that area. Try and vary your retreive, count as the lure falls. WH2
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Cool! I'll try that too. I wasn't sure if it was balls of shad or weeds or what, but it couldn't hurt to try casting in and around it. Thanks for the advice!
Fisch R. Mann
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