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Fun Monday on Chilly Willard 10-21-13
#1
[#0000FF]Hitting Willard in the late fall has been overdue on my list. Weather, low water and other convenient excuses have kept my tube off that lake. Silly me.

Hit the north marina area this morning. Launched at 7 am. Still darkish. Getting lighter later. Air temp 35 and water temp 51...warming all the way up to 52 by the time I left about noonish.

Water is way down but still not as far as when they drained it for dike repairs about 5 years ago. 4 feet of water off the ramp and 5-6 feet in the channel going out. But you need to stay in a straight west path for a hundred yards or more after leaving the marina to avoid shallow bars and rocks.

No other boats on the lake I could see this morning. But heard a few airboats on the other side of the dikes. Not much shooting though.

Started working plastics around the humps and bumps outside the north marina. Mostly too shallow for any great expectations. But once I worked out past 6 or 7 feet deep I began to see some fishy marks on my sonar screen...little fishies with closed mouths and upraised middle fins. I suspect some were crappies but maybe some shad.

Nary a bump for the first hour on plastics. Finally put out a minnow on one rod while continuing to pitch plastics with the other. As I reached my never fail kitty zone I put up the plastics and began fishing two bait rods.

Just after 8 am I got my first minnow munch and brought in my first cookie cutter kitty. Surprising fight in the cold water. A short time later I had another runner and set the hook in another kitty. While bringing it in the second rod went off. I hurried to net the first cat and then fought the second one in...to join the first one in the net. Double time.

As I continued to move toward the north dike, dragging my baits behind me, I had a couple of other tentative inquiries but I had gotten out of the ZONE. But I knew I could come back if I didn't find anything along the dike.

The first thing I found at the dike was that the tide was way out. Lots of exposed sandbar between the bottom of the rocks and the water's edge. No casting to the rocks today.

However, I did manage to pick up a couple more cats...intermittently. One on a minnow and the second on a orange and chartreuse tube jig with a piece of crawler on it. Then it went quiet in that area and I motored back over to the ZONE.

As soon as I got a minnow out on one line I made a cast with the jig. MUNCH on the minnow and POW on the jig. A couple more kitties. These were followed by several more on both minnows and jigs. I was pleasantly surprised at how hard they hit the jigs and how hard they fought in the cold water.

I had set a goal to be off the water by noon...or when I had a limit of cats for the hot oil. I had released a few cats and had kept 7 and then it got quiet. I wondered if I would leave with that number. Then I got the last one on a jig and was on my way back to the ramp by 11:45.

A solitary bank tangler was soaking bait off the south point of the marina entrance. He claimed that he had several bites and had one nice catfish almost in...before losing it. But he was only fishing in about 3 feet of water so I wonder...??? I was unable to get any hits in water shallower than 7-8 feet...and I had to cover a lot of underwater real estate to find a precious few fish.

Praise be to Mama Nature. She is staying on her meds this week. I might just hit a couple more fall spots real soon.
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#2
the island south of the marina holds a lot of specks this time of year.
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#3
[#0000FF]Pretty good spot under the ice too...in normal water years.

I didn't get down that direction to check conditions but I "speck" that the fish are wearing tennis shoes this year.

If I had brought my bobbers and finesse stuff I am sure I could have coaxed a few to play.
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#4
[font "Calibri"]Good to see you’re still bring the bacon; I mean kitty fillets home to mama. No wonder she loves you, you found the “zone”.[cool][/font]
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#5
[#0000FF]Lovely sentiments but not quite reflective of actual circumstances. TubeBabe is on another extended trip visiting her daughter in California. But I'm sure she will be happy to help dispose of some of the frozen results of today's excursion after she returns.

Funny you should refer to catfish as "bacon". We sometimes enjoy a "CLT" (catfish, lettuce and tomato). When kitty fillets are fried up properly and introduced to a nice chunk of bread they make a dandy sammich. A good alternative to tacos.

Oh yeah...there are "zones"...and there are "zones".

How's the wounded finger coming along?
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#6
The CLT sounds like a great alternative, I'll have to try it. Lord knows after last Tuesdays adventure I have ample taco materials. Do you use tartar sauce or mayonnaise has the spread?

Unfortunately I find the finger turning more purple everyday but thank you for asking.
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#7
Good to read that Willard treated you good today, a lot better than last fall[Wink]. So how long was the big kitty?
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#8
[#502800]I noticed in your last picture that all the nasty fins had been operated on with a sidecutter....... Is that called reciprocal retribution?[/#502800]
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#9
"Do you use tartar sauce or mayonnaise has the spread?"

[#0000FF]Mayo is good for lotsa stuff, but when it is a fish dish I prefer a good tartar sauce.

Gotta admit I have also used a horseradish seafood cocktail sauce. Have also shook on a few drops of Cholula sauce or even Sriracha. Anything to relight the pilot light in my heartburn.

Sorry about the finger. A week or more is not uncommon for a cat wound to still be hurting. And when you smack your finger with a hammer the purple takes a while to be reabsorbed by the body.

Hope it doesn't turn out like the old joke. A man had been told that the rare form of STD he had contracted would require that the infected part be amputated. But when he consulted a specialist he was laughingly informed..."No need to amputate. In about a week it will just fall off by itself."

Cheers.
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#10
[quote wiperhunter2]Good to read that Willard treated you good today, a lot better than last fall[Wink]. So how long was the big kitty?[/quote]

[#0000FF]I got one small one at 16". The rest were all over 18". One was just under 21" and several 19" - 20". That was actually a pretty good average for Willard kitties.

Yeah, last fall was tough. Even had a rare (thankfully) skunk day. I have only had about 3 or 4 skunk trips in the last 10 years...since I moved back to Utah. Those have all been on Willard.

I am properly grateful for good trips.
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#11
[quote WaveWolf][#502800]I noticed in your last picture that all the nasty fins had been operated on with a sidecutter....... Is that called reciprocal retribution?[/#502800][/quote]

[#0000FF]I prefer to call it "preemptory puncture proofing".

I use a net to bring ALL cats aboard...on to my rigid apron (sushi board). When they have calmed down enough to attempt a grab I get them in the belly hold, with fingers straddling the two pectoral fins. Then I either unhook and release them or break off the fins before dropping them in my basket.

Most smaller cats have fins that are easily broken off with a pair of pliers. But big ones sometimes take a stout pair of side cutters. The cat you don't prep is the one that will poke a spine through the basket and into you or your tube. Also makes it more difficult for them to damage your basket and easier to handle later while filleting.
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#12
Excellent batch of kitties, and it looks to have been a very nice day too!

Great report as always.
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#13
[#0000FF]Thanks. And yes it was a nice day...both weatherwise and fishingwise. Gotta love it when they come together.
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#14
Put my boat up for the winter last Sunday. I knew we would have some more nice weather, but had to get it done so I can start working on the Holiday decorations, and family gatherings coming up. I just may head up to WB Friday morning and do some banking for a few hours. I can sit and read, not worry about being run over by the power boats, or capsized by the wind (if there is any). May even have the bonus of a few last season Cats to take home.
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#15
[#0000FF]Always better to go fishing than just sit around wishing. But based upon my experience Monday I can't offer a lot of encouragement for bank fishing. I worked a lot of water...from about six feet out to ten feet deep. I didn't get a bite in less than 7 feet and most of my fish came from around 8 feet. With the current low water conditions you will have a tough time finding any place around the shoreline that will have that kind of depth less than a hundred yards from shore. The closest would be from the north dike...a couple of hundred yards west of the outlet. That is where I caught the only cat I caught in that area...in about 7'. And it was within casting distance of the water line.

Good luck. With the week of warming temps it is possible that the fish might move in a little. That north dike is a south facing shoreline so it will warm a bit faster and a bit better.
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#16
Well the day yesterday was beautiful. A bit cool to start, but very nice once the sun got up well above the mountains. I took my camp chair, 2 poles, tackle box, worms, my book and 2 thermoses of coffee. The Carp were snorkeling in the shallows about 10 feet from the edge, and I could see and hear them jumping all over that area.
I was on the north side of the north marina channel where it curves out to the right. Started out on the edge of that small pool between shoreline and main body of lake. Realized was too shallow there, and move around to the outside finger right at the marina outlet.
I had my 10 lb. line rigged trolling poles out of my boat a couple weight rigs with egg weights, and a 2 ft. leader with Mustad bait hook on each rod. Gave me enough weight to make a fairly long cast out to deeper water. Last Saturday when I was in that same general area in my boat, I was anchored out in about 4-5 ft. and I had one good Cat there. Yesterday I got 2 fairly standard Cats out of that spot from the bank. Had about a dozen hard hit, run, reel, lose, episodes I'm sure were Carp. But I had a nice quiet day.
Oh yea, did have just one boat come thru the channel. A X45 Ski boat. They came out nice and slow, sure they were watching the depth there at the marina outlet where it humps up sharply, then they headed straight west to the wall. Didn't hardly hear or see them again till about 2 PM when they were coming back in as I was packing up. As I had several errands to run on my way home, and didn't want the Cats just sitting in the bucket, I released them both.

I already have quite a bit of Catfish fillets in the freezer to give me a taste now and then through the winter.

Now, time to start getting out some of the Christmas decorations that will go on the house. I know it's only October, but if I wait, and it snows or freezes in the next couple weeks, I won't get up on the roof after that.
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#17
Good to hear you were able to get out and catch some cats. What were you using for bait?
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#18
[#0000FF]Glad you were able to get out to enjoy the remnants of our long string of nice weather...and glad you got a couple of kitties to play.

I'd say it was a nice day all around.
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#19
[quote wiperhunter2]Good to hear you were able to get out and catch some cats. What were you using for bait?[/quote]

WH2 Just good ole night crawler worms.
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