Willard or Mantua

[cdashby]

A friend and I are debating if we should try fishing at Mantua or Willard Bay next weekend rather than bear lake but we haven't go to either on a hard deck. Any recommendations on either place or which do you prefer. Thanks
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[Jordanporritt]

I haven't fished either this year but willard seems like it would be harder to find fish with no structure.
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[finhunter]

I have fished Willard about 7 times since December. Tried N. Marina and outside the N. Marina to the North, West , and South. I have caught one adult shad in all those trips. What kept me going back was finding some crappie, perch or walleye of size. But my enthusiasm is wearing thin. Last trip was a few days ago, Ice is a foot and a half thick with about 10 inches of wet snow on top. So pulling a fully loaded sled around will give you some good exercise.

I have fished Mantua twice and both times caught a mixture of bluegill, perch and trout. There is a ton of 10-12 inchers planter trout in there. Just nothing of great size. You can catch some fair sized blue gill but the majority of them and the perch are small. ice is plenty thick. I do not know the snow/slush conditions as I have not been there since before the last couple of storms.

From the Bear Lake reports if read or heard about, your chances at getting something "big" at Bear Lake are greater, but the "quantity" you catch will probably be better at Mantua. You just have to decide which is most important to you.

Hope this helps.

[cdashby]

Thanks finhunter. At Mantua is it better to go up the east end by the springs adn hump that jets out into the water or along the dam? I am pretty sure that is where we will end up going sunday due to time restraints and the price of gas.
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[hogstalker]

My experience has been that you catch mostly trout by the dam . and a mixture of trout and panfish if you go out closer toward the knoll.We usally drive out along the road on the south side, park there and walk out toward the north east. good luck--we will look forward to a successful report.
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[finhunter]

I would drive out on the south dike road. You will see an area where people park and pull there sled out on the ice. Head anywhere in the general direction of the knoll and fish in at least 10 feet of water. If you don't get bites pretty quick, then move around. It's amazing how moving just 50 feet sometimes can make a huge difference. If you go, please report on how the snow/slush conditions are.

Along the dam (west) seems to be good at first ice-on but then slows way down (at least for me) later in the season.

Finhunter.

[357bob]

As far as slush goes, it was non existent Saturday. Took the snowmobile out and ran into a friend in his Rhino. Didn't find slush anywhere. Mantua only received about a 1/2" of snow Friday night so last Saturday the conditions were very good. The bluegill, that's another story[:/]
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[Jordanporritt]

I went out to willard tonight after work and it sucked! We saw a few small fish on the finder and they wouldn't even react to anything we dropped down. We tried all kinds of different lures, jigs, baits, and scents and didn't get so much as a nibble. Plus we had to walk a longgggg way through the snow to get to where we wanted to go. Definitely not worth it.
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[wiperhunter2]

I bet they were shad[].
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[mike4cobra]

Did you say a foot and a half of ice? It will be frickin april before I can launch[frown].
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[wiperhunter2]

A few more days like today and it won't be long, were you fishing it by this time last year?
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[mike4cobra]

I had my first fish in the boat jan 28 last year. Guess I could get the ice rods out one more time.... []
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[wiperhunter2]

You want to get out and give it a try tomorrow?
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