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Decided it was time to try out the new float tube and waders I got for my birthday, so after making a quick PVC rod holder and rigging up the fish finder. I was off to the North access area. I was only going to be out for a few hours and did not want to pay the ten bucks to launch from the marina.
I walked down the road to just before the outflow/spillway, got the tube down the rocks and into the water easily enough. Got seated and started pushing off towards deeper water. The first thing I found out is that I can't take my whole tackle box with me as the tube was nose diving and my tackle bag started filling quickly with water. So I head to shore and unload, all but the essentials.
Okay great still have an hour of sunlight to play around so I head back out. There was a very slight breeze blowing NE and as I slowly made my way back out I realized I really gotta get a set of fins... I kicked my @$$ off and could not get into water over 5 ft deep. I felt like I was on the treadmill at the gym.
By this time I noticed my perfectly mounted rod holders had shifted and my back rod was half way submerged and my middle rod holder was pointed right at me. After messing around for awhile I concluded that they need more work.
All in all it was an okay first outing, aside from losing a really nice fillet knife and not getting to fish much...never did make into water deeper than 10ft. kept looking for a drop that never came. I am going to try to get the kinks worked out and be back on the water this weekend.
Water temp ranged from 45 to 43 degrees.
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[cool][#0000ff]Glad you got out but sorry you had to "endure" so many of the prerequisite "experiences" we all have to go through to become official tubers.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It ain't as easy as it might seem. But if you work on it you will find that it is worth the effort. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You gotta come over to the[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/forum/gforum.cgi?forum=81"] float tube forums[/url] to refine your system and your techniques.[/#0000ff]
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Yep you really do need fins if you are going to tube...Tube Dude has numerous posts on some of his PVC innovations and he has been at it for errrrr...awhile[laugh] Glad a bigger breeze didnt come up can be really hard moving without fins on a calm day...wind would be horrible. Look at some of Tube Dudes Rod holder posts they will help you a lot
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Just keep at it. That is one of the more enjoyable ways to fish. I just finally broke the Willard curse on myself when I took my tube out. First fish there. Now I can't wait to get out again.
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A couple of us took our pontoons to bountiful lake last weekend and had fun. We were gonna try Willard but it would be a first time there. Where would you suggest launching from and what do you fish with?
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[cool][#0000ff]I launch out of both the north and south marinas. I make my decision based upon weather forecasts and fishing forecasts...and past experience. Nothing concrete.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]This is the time of year when the weather is changing a lot and the fish have not really settled into any kind of pattern. It can be different every day. No matter what you know or how good you are you usually have to look hard to find fish and even harder to get them to bite. If you get lucky you find active fish fast and catch a lot. But more folks have different results until the weather calms and the water warms...usually about mid April into May.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Right now the water is too cold for fast moving crankbaits. Slow moving plastics are best if you are fishing lures for walleyes, cats or crappies. In fact, fishing small jigs...plastic or feathers...under a bobber is sometimes the best way to pick up crappies and the occasional wiper.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I almost always drag a minnow behind my tube on one rod while throwing a tandem rig with small tube jigs or single plastic swimbait or grum on the other. Plastics work best in white, pearl or chartreuse. But sometimes a two tone in bright colors is easier to see in muddied water or is more attractive in cold water or low light conditions.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It is tough to make accurate suggestions to anybody who has not fished the lake enough to know the "standard" spots and how to fish them during different times of the year. Willard is definitely a lake that can be very good...or very frustrating. Even the guys who have fished it a lot for a lot of years don't catch lots of fish on every trip. Skunk happens on Willard...a lot...especially this time of year.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If I were to make a recommendation it would be to launch in the north marina. Then use your sonar to look around along the far eastern shore inside the marina...looking for suspended fish (crappies) or fish near the bottom (walleyes or wipers). If you see little or nothing, try fishing next to the docks for a little while, to prospect for crappies. If there is nothing doing than power back to the channel entrance. Drag some baits slowly back and forth inside the channel on your way out and then angle slowly to the NW as you come out. Work from 12' depth out to about 20 feet. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If you don't see anything on sonar or don't get any hits within 100 yards of the marina entrance, power over to the Eagle Beach area. If they have the buoys in place, fish both inside and outside the buoy line. The water should be at least 10-12 feet deep. Drag a bait on one rod and either fish a tandem jig rig with small plastics or slowly drag a bobber and jig setup with about 5-6 feet of line between the jig and bobber. Best way to prospect for crappies on the light gear and other species on the bait rods. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If nothing happens there, drag the baits straight out to the west for a couple of hundred yards...into 15 to 16 feet of water...and then work north to the NE corner of the lake. When you get even with the campgrounds, work back into the big cove with all the brushy stickups along shore. Drag your bait on one rod and fish the crappie stuff with the other. When you get into water shallower than 12 feet, you can switch to two crappie rigs on bobbers and move slowly...giving the rods a little twitch once in a while and watching the bobbers for the slightest movement. Sometimes they will go under but often they just move sideways an inch or so on the bite.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If you do not find anything in that area, move back out into 15-16 feet and drag bait first over to the outlet area and then in and out along the north dike...from shallow to deep. There are often good numbers of walleyes, catfish and wipers in that area.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Yeah. That's what I would do. Talkin' about it has got me ready to go. See ya out there.[/#0000ff]
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Thanks for the encouraging words. I was some what expecting an interesting trip, so I took my debacles with a grain of salt. I have been visiting the FT forum and will make a post when my craft is a little more sea worthy. I copied a simple rod holder design from your post showing several different designs. I am thinking I want to build an independent PVC housing, that gives me some extra back and gear support along with two arms for rods and accs. I found strapping the pole holder to the tube to be a pain, once I am in the water and my weight pulls the tube arms inward.
Hopefully, soon I will be back out there.
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Yeah I have been fishing willard from an old aluminum boat for a few seasons now. I know the south part of the lake well and can typically pull something out of their. The north side is on my agenda this year and hope to find a few good spots. I think I am going to like tubing. I can't wait to get up to Causey to try for some kokes.
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I got you on that one. My first "tubing" experience was awefull. I went to Willard when there was a drought. I went to the south dike. Coming from Arizona I thought about using 5 and 6 inch minnows. I had no idea that most of Willards cats are small. I was thinking big like in Arizona. Not only was Willards bottom featureless, the low water level and small cats required worms not 6 inch long minnows.[shocked]
Along with that a trip to the clinic to get shots and antibiotics from all the mosquito bites! Luckily I went out to my car in safety but it was too late. I got so many bites my ankles were swollen pretty bad.
My second use of the tube at Willard the tube went flat! Right out in the water! Luckily I caught 2 cookie cutters and some small ones off the bank. I wound up injuring myself when the tube went flat. Bummer.
Oh well as TubeDude says you go through the trial and error , but for me a $500 dollar internet purchase of a narrow inflatable boat that is fairly heavy duty PVC does the trick.
I get a trolling motor and troll at about .5 or .7 miles an hour, and with a small drift sock and that does the trick, the Willard cats love a moving crawler or small piece of chub. And so do Wipers if the crawler is long enough for them.
Sorry TubeDude but float tubes are for one thing and thats well I can't think of one. Bummer I hate tubes.
But TubeDude proves time and time again that a tube fisherman can be competent. Like for sure dude.
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