06-26-2024, 10:43 PM
Man. I'm going bonkers. Cain't get in my tube and chase any fishies. Still battling my left eye problems and will be stuck at home as caregiver for a while. Wife just got out of the hospital after surgery and is coming along well but has a ways to go before she can be left alone.
Been reading and "interpreting" the relatively few Willard reports lately. From past experience I might offer a couple of thoughts. On any given day you can catch something somewhere on Willard...using almost anything. On some days, though, it can seem like there ain't no more fish left in the lake. The big thing to keep in mind now is the changing food chain.
Until the last couple of weeks, all the predators were hungry and roaming around looking for food...any food. And if you found fish you could usually tempt a few to bite. That was before the hatching shad reached a size big enough to put on their menus. Now, mind you, shad spawn over a several week period of time. And a lot of the clouds of shadlets we see on sonar are still too small to tempt larger fish to munch them. But some of the earliest to hatch are now reaching 1.5 to 2". And the hungry predators are finding it easy to chow down by just swimming through a school...mouth open. But they also look for singles that have been separated from the pack and attack them savagely.
That is why a lot of knowledgeable Willardites downsize their lures for a while. You can still catch a few fish on the 5s and 7s. But the little 2" mini cranks will often get more attention. That's for trolling. But you can also slow troll small plastics...in white or pearl. And casting and retrieving these small plastics or 2" to 3" Gulp minnows can produce too.
Not saying to give up all your other stuff. Just saying that having optional plan B...small stuff...might pay off on some days.
![[Image: RATTLIN-RAP.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/hJmp5J6S/RATTLIN-RAP.jpg)
![[Image: WEE-RAP-WIPER.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/JDWPVrCj/WEE-RAP-WIPER.jpg)
![[Image: WIPER-ON-SHAD.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/Hc43TqTR/WIPER-ON-SHAD.jpg)
![[Image: WALLEYE-ON-GULP.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/14sJv3HQ/WALLEYE-ON-GULP.jpg)
Been reading and "interpreting" the relatively few Willard reports lately. From past experience I might offer a couple of thoughts. On any given day you can catch something somewhere on Willard...using almost anything. On some days, though, it can seem like there ain't no more fish left in the lake. The big thing to keep in mind now is the changing food chain.
Until the last couple of weeks, all the predators were hungry and roaming around looking for food...any food. And if you found fish you could usually tempt a few to bite. That was before the hatching shad reached a size big enough to put on their menus. Now, mind you, shad spawn over a several week period of time. And a lot of the clouds of shadlets we see on sonar are still too small to tempt larger fish to munch them. But some of the earliest to hatch are now reaching 1.5 to 2". And the hungry predators are finding it easy to chow down by just swimming through a school...mouth open. But they also look for singles that have been separated from the pack and attack them savagely.
That is why a lot of knowledgeable Willardites downsize their lures for a while. You can still catch a few fish on the 5s and 7s. But the little 2" mini cranks will often get more attention. That's for trolling. But you can also slow troll small plastics...in white or pearl. And casting and retrieving these small plastics or 2" to 3" Gulp minnows can produce too.
Not saying to give up all your other stuff. Just saying that having optional plan B...small stuff...might pay off on some days.