Willard 7-17-10

[Northman]

I fished Willard for the first time with my wife and kids on Saturday. We trolled around the South East corner of the resevoir from 3pm to 7pm and we were targeting Wipers. I saw approximatly 15 boils during this time but it shut off about 6pm. I don't know if this is typical or if they start back up after the sun goes down. Water temp was 76.5 deg. We ended up with three wipers for our efforts. All of them were caught on blue/silver lipless crankbaits trolled at 3-3.5mph in 18-22ft of water. The first two spooled off the reel clear to the knot. I couldn't belive as hard as they were pulling that the knot held, but it did. We were using 15lbs line. This was our first encounter with the wipers but we are definatly going back for seconds. I am still wraping my mind around how hard they fight. It was like snagging the bottom and then reeling it in. And they don't give up a inch the whole way. I will post some pics tommoro when tech support (my wife) can help me.
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[Marathonman]

I went with my wife and got there at around 7:30 pm. Trolled for 1.5 hrs. I was hoping that the power squadron would be gone. WRONGO! I couldn't believe how many boats were out, messing up the water. Oh well, If I had a skiboat, I'd do the same.

Anyway, didn't see any boils, No fish. Try again. Congrads on your fish. I see you're hooked.
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[wiperhunter2]

Sounds like you hit it just right and did great for your first trip out for the wipers. Yea, when you fishing for wipers you need a good drag and you need to crank it down a little, not so tight that no line goes out but tighter than you had it for sure. There have been many new folks that have been spooled by a wiper and lost there entire line and lure and a few that have lost their rod and reel because they were not in a rod holder. Most of us wiper folks can't get enough of those hard fishing fish but it has been slim pickings up till now so it is always great to hear that someone is catching them[].
WH2
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[lordCrappie]

I too went out to Willard on Saturday with Jaybird77 and we fished from 3:30 til dark. Managed 1 crappie on DT firetiger, 1 walleye on red Wally Diver, and 2 ten inch tiny wipers on a popper. Pwr Squadron was horrific on a windless day. Once Squadron left, we saw some small boils and managed those two wipers. Kinda disappointed. We have had better days. LC
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[Northman]

Pics added.
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