Wondering on Willard..

[toadly]

Went down to the freeway bay banks on Willard Satuday morning.. Got there at first light. Walked towards the feed lot and saw zippo.. No activity of anykind. After looking at some pictures from 5 years ago , it inspired me to go look for boils..
So whats the story? I been out of fishing at Willard for a few years now.. Didnt things would have changed that much??
Any thoughts ??
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[Tin-Can]

Willard changes almost daily. Don't think there have been any of the old style boils for at least 3 years, maybe more. Any number of reasons I think: Low water levels for 3 or 4 years, over abundance of shad making it not necessary for the Wiper to "herd" them up into a boil.
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[ReelMasta]

I do believe in boils...
I do believe in boils...
I do believe in boils...

If you say it three times and believe in it, it shall come true!!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]According to my older logs we are in the middle of prime activity (boils) time. But there have been a lot of changes in the ecology since the last decent surface activity season.

1. Fewer wipers overall. DWR has had varying success with rearing their own wipers and the numbers are down from peak years.

2. Variable spawning times and success with shad. From what I have seen on sonar there are not as many shad as in past years. But they are staying deeper and not being pushed to the surface.

3. Water visibility. Boils typically happen when there are both lots of shad and good visibility. Wipers are sight feeders and they are better able to school up, find food and push it to the surface if they can see more than a few inches in the water. The clarity is better than the last couple of years of extremely low water but still not ideal.

I have been out early in the morning three times in the past month...when a lot of boils happen in hotter weather. I am pretty good at reading the birds and in knowing the difference between a wiper splash and a carp flop. I have yet to see any true multi fish feeding boils. I have seen individual isolated surface chomps that were probably wipers.

There are a few wiperologists on the board who have learned a thing or two about them over the years. I have heard from a couple of them that they have given up on looking for boils. Instead, they watch for clusters of grebes (diving birds) that are actively working in an area...and then fishing deeper under the birds. Where there are grebes there are usually shad. And where there are shad the predators aren't far away.

On another note, if you wanna catch some kitties there are a lot of them right in the rocks...all along the shoreline in front of the feed lot. Last week I watched some guys in a boat dragging bait or lures right along the edge of the rocks and scoring quite a few cats. As I recall, you used to do that kind of thing your ownself. Cats ain't wipers but they tug good and eat good.
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[FatBiker]

TD, you're right on. I've fished Willard three or four times a week and have had consistent success this month fishing around the grebes. I get excited when I see diving grebes.

Larry
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[Squawminnow]

A friend and I fished Willard last night from about 5 till dark and did great on the wipers from the north shore. We walked quite a ways west along the dike and stopped at a spot where the grebes were diving just twenty yards off shore. As the sun lowered and the shadows hit the water the wipers begun to slurp right in front of us. I never saw more than two at time at the surface, so no real boil.
They did move along the surface long enough to pitch lures in front of them though. Action was best around 7 pm, shut off dead at dark. We mostly caught fish in the 14-18" range.
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[toadly]

Thanks for the greeb tips.. I will give it a try again soon..
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