Chilly Willard 4-9-24

[TubeDude]

Glade to hear you got out, and caught a fish!! I'm sure others have been fishing,  but no one wants to post a skunk.
That's interesting they had large crawdads. Maybe there is not a lot of food now. Just larger shad or other bait fish.
Good luck at the eye doctor I hope you have a quick and easy recovery with great success.  Here's hoping for lots more 20 inch eyes!!

From now until the young-of-the-year baby shad  reach 1 1/2 - 2 inches, all the predators will be foraging for whatever food they can find.  Still some 5-6" shad survivors but they are scarce and stay well up in the water column to avoid predators.  Some walleyes and wipers will go up after them...if they can find them.  But catfish are going to feed mostly on any dead shad that sink to the bottom...or crawdads...or any other edible tidbits they can find until the summer glut.  

At various places around the lake there are still residual populations of log perch and spottail shiners from experimental plantings years ago.  And it's surprising how many predators will slurp up the baby catfish.  You'd think the sharp little spines would fatally injure the eaters, but don't seem to.  And don't overlook the newly hatched perchlets...and baby carp.  Those both spawn early and provide groceries for a time before the shad are up to size.  Ditto for baby crappies, bluegills and green sunfish.  There is a lot of food available in Willard for those predators that learn how to scrounge for it.

It's amazing but catfish will even feed on midge larvae for a while in late spring early summer...when there are clouds of them just above bottom getting ready to go to the top and hatch out into the swarms hated by anglers.  I have caught quite a few cats over the years at that time that are stuffed with the little invertebrates.  But I don't think a fly flinger would do very well fishing a single midge fly on an indicator.  When the cats are feeding on them they are like whale sharks...swimming through a mass of them with mouths open.  

I learned a long time ago to look inside the fish and pay attention to what they were eating.  Kinda gross sometimes but always educational.


We still gotta get in a minnowing trip too.  I ain't fergot ya.