08-12-2004, 12:39 AM
[url "javascript: addTag('cool')"][cool][/url][#0000ff]Had enough unpacking boxes. Needed some fish therapy. TubeBabe and I trucked our Fish Cats to the Southwest corner of Willard early this morning. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Hit the water just after 6 AM. Air temp around 55, water temp 73. Started out calm but quickly started blowing from the north. Powered out against two foot chop and wondered about my sanity. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The water was quickly turned murky by the wave action. Saw some fish marks on the sonar about mid depth, but they were either the wrong species, inactive or negative. I suspect that sight feeders like the wipers probably just shut down to wait for cleaner water to chase shad. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Threw every kind of plastic and hardbait I could come up with. Fished fast and fished slow. Zippo. Saw some strange looking dude walking with his dog along the shoreline. Turned out it was Petty, who said he might look us up. He was too bashful to wave, so I didn't get to shore to do the howdies.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Finally decided to go with the flow. Put on a double jig rig...two different flavored bait bugs. Tipped them with a piece of crawler and began prospecting for walleyes or cats. Finally started picking up some 12" to 13" channels. Got one small yellow perch, about 6 inches.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I walkie-talkied the pattern to TubeBabe and she picked up some kitty-ettes too. Better than blanking, especially on light tackle. We released a few but kept about 10 for the fry pan. First batch of fillets was done "scampi style" (sauteed in garlic butter) tonight and was as toothsome as anything we have had for some time.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It was interesting. The lake is a catastrophe. The water level is so low that the deepest spot I could find was only 11.5 feet. I am sure there are a couple of holes deeper, but not near the SW corner. In days of old, that would have been a 20 foot hole with summer walleyes laying on the bottom for someone who knew how to fish them.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It was a reinforcement of a couple of things I have preached about fishing and tubing over the years. First, you can't catch them where they ain't...or where they ain't bitin'. Second, while tubes are great for fishing in "fish country", they severely limit your ability to prospect large waters to find the fish. Willard is a boaters lake, even though the fishing can be fantastic from a tube or toon when you are fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If anybody else is interested in chasing the little kitties, they started out biting in about 8 feet of water and then moved shallow as the water warmed. By the time we got off the water, around noon, the water temp had warmed to about 79 and we were getting the scrappy little tykes in about 4 feet of water.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Also. After the blow of early morning, the water layed down and became glass calm. Terns could be seen picking off the stray shad that were feeding on the surface, but there were no boils or other evidence of predators working the shad. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]One last note: I wish I had brought a bow. The skinny water around the edge of the lake was FULL of carp moving along with their mouths gulping stuff off the top. On several occasions there were huge groups of them covering a large area. When we went into the shallows to get out, the carp were swimming all around us. They are not spawning still, but they are hanging in the shallows, as easy targets for those who like to perforate them with arrows.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We didn't get towed by wipers, but we had a good trip. It is good to be back in Utah. That was good enough to sustain me through opening some more boxes.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Hit the water just after 6 AM. Air temp around 55, water temp 73. Started out calm but quickly started blowing from the north. Powered out against two foot chop and wondered about my sanity. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The water was quickly turned murky by the wave action. Saw some fish marks on the sonar about mid depth, but they were either the wrong species, inactive or negative. I suspect that sight feeders like the wipers probably just shut down to wait for cleaner water to chase shad. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Threw every kind of plastic and hardbait I could come up with. Fished fast and fished slow. Zippo. Saw some strange looking dude walking with his dog along the shoreline. Turned out it was Petty, who said he might look us up. He was too bashful to wave, so I didn't get to shore to do the howdies.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Finally decided to go with the flow. Put on a double jig rig...two different flavored bait bugs. Tipped them with a piece of crawler and began prospecting for walleyes or cats. Finally started picking up some 12" to 13" channels. Got one small yellow perch, about 6 inches.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I walkie-talkied the pattern to TubeBabe and she picked up some kitty-ettes too. Better than blanking, especially on light tackle. We released a few but kept about 10 for the fry pan. First batch of fillets was done "scampi style" (sauteed in garlic butter) tonight and was as toothsome as anything we have had for some time.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]It was interesting. The lake is a catastrophe. The water level is so low that the deepest spot I could find was only 11.5 feet. I am sure there are a couple of holes deeper, but not near the SW corner. In days of old, that would have been a 20 foot hole with summer walleyes laying on the bottom for someone who knew how to fish them.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]It was a reinforcement of a couple of things I have preached about fishing and tubing over the years. First, you can't catch them where they ain't...or where they ain't bitin'. Second, while tubes are great for fishing in "fish country", they severely limit your ability to prospect large waters to find the fish. Willard is a boaters lake, even though the fishing can be fantastic from a tube or toon when you are fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]If anybody else is interested in chasing the little kitties, they started out biting in about 8 feet of water and then moved shallow as the water warmed. By the time we got off the water, around noon, the water temp had warmed to about 79 and we were getting the scrappy little tykes in about 4 feet of water.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Also. After the blow of early morning, the water layed down and became glass calm. Terns could be seen picking off the stray shad that were feeding on the surface, but there were no boils or other evidence of predators working the shad. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]One last note: I wish I had brought a bow. The skinny water around the edge of the lake was FULL of carp moving along with their mouths gulping stuff off the top. On several occasions there were huge groups of them covering a large area. When we went into the shallows to get out, the carp were swimming all around us. They are not spawning still, but they are hanging in the shallows, as easy targets for those who like to perforate them with arrows.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]We didn't get towed by wipers, but we had a good trip. It is good to be back in Utah. That was good enough to sustain me through opening some more boxes.[/#0000ff]
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