Willard 6-20-15

[wiperhunter2]

Hit Willard yesterday with Wiperslayer, launched from the South marina. They are still letting water in but not as much as they have been and the water level looks like it has started dropping. Got out to the fishing grounds and started getting everything set up to troll. Water temp at 7:30 am was 76 degrees. Started setting out my first line and BAM, fish on, before I could even put my side planner on, then it got better, with fish after fish, a triple and several doubles but most were small 16 or 17" wipers and no eyes[crazy]. Eye fishing has been off the hook this year but it appears to be slowing down. We found a few good groups of wipers but we were looking for eyes. so we kept moving. Gave a shout out to Reelfast and Bearclaw on the marine radio and they reported back that they were catching eyes, so we headed toward them. When we got to the spot, we caught our first eye of the day, followed by 3 more but then the eye catching shut down for us, even though the wipers kept hitting. We finally caught a big wiper and it turned out to be the largest of the year for us at 23". This big boy was hungry and totally swallowed the whole lure, it was bleeding so bad we had no choice but to keep it[]. We noticed what looked like terns diving on what I guess were young of the year shad and we were marking a lot of them. From the looks of the skinny 23" wiper we caught we might be seeing some boils starting soon.[:/] We ended the day around 1:30 pm another good day on one of my favorite lakes.
WH2
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[mtncat1]

you did real good out there the heat and humidity must have been tough to take though .
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[wiperhunter2]

Humidity wasn't bad and we had a good breeze in the morning but once it went away, it really heated up. Hope the Gorge isn't too hot for you guys next week, sounds like the koke fishing is good in the mornings there.
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[mtncat1]

thanks I think its gonna be a great trip. we usually fish for lakers most of the day then switch over to kokes in the afternoon or evening.
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[albinotrout]

My daughter wants to go after the wiper. Once I get the new fuel tank I will take her up and see what we can pull in. Good to hear they are still willing to bite.
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[wiperhunter2]

They will bite all Summer as long as you can still get your boat on the lake. Now that it is getting hot, the water level will start dropping quick. What will happen in the next few weeks is that the shad will get to a size where the wipers and walleye will start targeting them, when that happens, the big numbers of fish being caught will be over. Fish will still be caught just in lower number and what they are hitting now will likely change as they target smaller fish.
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[WaveWolf]

[quote wiperhunter2]What will happen in the next few weeks is that the shad will get to a size where the wipers and walleye will start targeting them,

Yeah, and then they will get big and fat for next year.
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[HD7000]

Good to hear the heat hasn't slowed down the wiper! I need to get back out there but I think I'm getting addicted to chasing kokes in the higher elevations! lol
The problem with this time of year is that when ewe go out to Willard, my kids are more concerned with being in the water than pulling fish out! Soon, I'll be out there chasing the groups of birds hoping for boils!
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[wiperhunter2]

Me too, I'm keeping my fingers crossed at least that we will see boils this year[].
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[wiperhunter2]

[quote WaveWolf]
Yeah, and then they will get big and fat for next year.[/quote]
That is what I'm hoping as well, it was seeing that big 23" wiper being so skinny, for a minute, I was thinking it was a striper[].
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[fishinfool]

Great report! Bet it was fun day.

Thanks for sharing.

fnf[cool]
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[wiperhunter2]

Yes it was and little to no bugs and that is always a plus.
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