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Willard
#1
Hit the Willard today with a fellow BFT'er. Got on the water around 7:30ish. Fished hard till around 1. I landed 2 smallish cats, while my buddy hooked one smallmouth that unzipped at the boat. Later in the day my partner beat the skunk off with a Walleye and a dink wiper. Interesting day. The worst I have done non-post front all year. We raked the bottom with bouncers, and hit the mid depths with the whole arsenal of cranks. Varied speeds, and depths. No love from the Target wipers or eyes, save a loaner eye in the inlet. To rough for boils . The shad appear to be flourishing as the graph was non stop. Must be well fed buggers. Could have been worse. Got to figure something out mid-week, or else I am going to have to start eating trout again.... Oh well.
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#2
[cool][#0000ff]You've been catching too many walleyes anyway. You needed a reality check and a bite of humble pie. Willard is never nice to ANYBODY...all the time.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Ya gotta taste the bitter to appreciate the sweet.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Good to hear the shad are showing up well again. The last couple of years it has seemed that they suddenly just filled the lake...and the fishing sorta got tougher about the same time. Might be a correlation there. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]On Willard and other waters I have found that when food is plentiful the feeding patterns change. The fish tend to glut for a short time once or twice a day and then go inactive while they digest their big meals. Gets harder to figure out where and when they will go on the chew and to be there when they do. Very frustrating to show lots of promising marks on the sonar without going bendo.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As the shadlets get bigger the potential for boils gets better. But it seems that only the smaller wipers wanna play on top this year...so far.[/#0000ff]
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#3
I got beat up pretty good on 7-28-12 at Willard myself. Left my house at 5 am to beat the power squad. 8 hours of fishing only produced a 4lb. wiper on a trolled Thin Fin at 2.1 mph, a 1/2 lb wiper on a bb'er, 2 smallies on a bb'er, a bluegill on a bb'er, and one smallie on a jig. The bb'ers were trolled between .9-1.2 mph. I lost 2 other fish under the boat. The 4lb. wiper was the treat of the day.
At least you caught an eye which is all I went there for!


* Welcome home TD.
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#4
(The following words taste like vinegar) You are right about the good with the bad.... But humble pie still keeps you fed and going back for more. Next weekend planning on hitting fish lake. I am hoping for a monster splake or 2. Interesting thought though. Last year when the shad kicked in, I went nocturnal and kept the fridge stocked. Wiper numbers do appear to be a bit down this year, but the little ones will get bigger. As always good advice.
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#5
How do again, SBennet. Glad you cauhgt a hefty wiper at least. They always make a bad day good. As for going there for he eyes, try some night (or really early morning) bb. That did the trick last year during the shad inundatiin. Gonna make it out after work Wednesday to see about te start of boiling, should be something happening by then, I hope... Good luck!
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#6
Howdy back at ya.
Mike picked up a couple of eyes but unfortunately I just couldn't find one. The two I lost under the boat were most likey a smallie and the other felt like an eye so I can only blame myself. I was trying to fish the north dike but the wind/waves made it difficult on me and I was horsing the fish in too quickly to avoid ending up on the rocks.
I kept running across big schools of something on my fish
finder, probably at least a dozen times last sat. It did not dawn on me at the time they could have been shad. I kept waiting for my poles to snag up on big chunks of moss or something but they never did. I guess they were shad?
On another note, what are the two buoys marking east of the south launch? Is that where the christmas trees were placed?
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#7
The buoys to the East of the South marina is the location of the coffer dam that was put there when the lake was drained a few years ago because of the leak at that location.
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#8
Thanks! I always wondered what was there.
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#9
I've often thought it was a good location to fish because of the added underwater structure but so far I haven't spent the time to check it out.
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#10
I am trying to think where east of the south marina is?
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#11
If you go out of the South marina and follow the dike toward freeway bay, you will run right into it. It is just past the Feedlot.
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#12
Aahhhh... North of the south marina. I am sure you are right about the coffer dam, I heard that was where they were dumping he silt from the dredging as well, I have heard that from a few fishermen, but have not witnessed it my self.

Thanks.
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#13
You could be right but I'm not sure why they would spend the time to haul that much silt that far, to dump it, when in past years they have just took it to the shore right by the bank and dumped it there. Have you ever noticed that big pile of dirt along the right hand side of the road as you drive into the South marina? That came from the channel the last time they Dredged it.
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#14
Thanks much for the input. I saw no reason to haul it that far either. I will make it a point to find out for sure.
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#15
Are they dredging it now? Thought I heard the S Marina was closed?

It gets pretty shallow around those markers - I tried fishing the shoreline to either side. There was quite a bit of weeds out from the rocks. Got into some perch, bluegill, but no bass. I was pitching for bass, but just got nibbles, so I nipped it down (gulp leech) then got hookups.

Saw a guy flyfishing the same area, and he told me later he'd caught quite a few Wipers (on a fly!)
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#16
They have been dredging it for months, I think they finally got to the marina area of the channel and that is why they closed it during the week.
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#17
So is the south marina closed now? I was planning on heading out there this evening to give it another try. I gotta get this old boat jinx off of it. So far 4 trips out in the boat and not one single fish.
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#18
I guess I'm a little late but yes the South marina is closed during the week but according to one post I read it will be open Fri Sat & Sun.
What have you been using? Have you tried trolling worm harnesses?
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