Willard Wondering

[Troutster]

Fished last weekend morning.  Caught some cats.
Biggest was 23" and tasty.
Water was stained everywhere due to I'm assuming the low water washing mud in along with last wind storm.
Bottom bounced with worm harness. The big cat came of off #7 shadrap bass colored.

Very cool!  I caught a couple of dandy catfish casting a chatter-bait to the rocks, when there was water, trying to catch smallies.  At what speed do you troll for catfish? Any suggestions on color for a worm harness for catfish?

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Hit Willard yesterday afternoon. Gave a guy a ride over to his boat. His wife got it stuck on the sand bar just S of the ramp in the N Marina.  It was one of the direct drive, can’t raise the prop boats. They were able to just push it off. Closer to the ramp it’s 3.9 to 5 ft deep. Deeper in the channel on the way out.  The ramp is now only 2 boats wide. Baracades keep you to the middle.  The dock is still there but will only accommodate 1 boat per side. I went over to the west end and got skunked.  The water is great for swimming, no bugs (until the sun went down), not many ski/wake boats braving the shallow launch so really pleasant, besides catching zippo.

Will that's too bad, were you trolling cranks or bottom bouncing?

I was bottom bouncing a Flicker Shad on one pole and trolling another FS 90 ft back. I also casted and slowly retrieved some paddle-tailed jigs, a jerk-bait, and a chatterbait through the clouds of bait hoping a predator was nearby.  I was using Livescope, and bait clouds were everywhere! A month ago I could see on my LS, larger fish hanging right around bait balls.  I could cast to them and occasionally catch a wiper or walleye. The only individual fish I saw on Monday were on/near the bottom.  I usually bring night crawlers to bottom bounce but it was a short trip.  The D ring on my boat was loose and I couldn’t tighten it on the trailer. Good excuse to fish for a couple of hours.  I had heard reports of wipers slurping but I didn’t see anything.  Take my fishing report with a grain of salt.  It’s my first year with a boat fishing Willard.