09-15-2011, 12:45 PM
[quote goose_716]I have a question i heard the wipers boil early in the year like in may and then in the fall again. I thought they only boiled later in the year.[/quote]
[cool][#0000ff]You can't make any rash generalizations about wipers. They do what they want...when they want...and for their own reasons. It ain't possible to put a mark on your fishing calendar and then go catch them doing anything in particular. Every year is different. Heck, every day is different.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The boiling is mostly a food chain thing. If what they are eating is on the surface they will gather up and chow down...boiling. Since about the only thing they boil on is baby shad...or other fry...they boil mainly after the shad or carp spawn. Those fish spawn from May into June...most years...and the fry appear in large schools by July. That is about the earliest that true "boils" start appearing.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]But...it is all about the shad...not the wipers. When it is warm enough to suit the shad they will come to the surface to feed. If the water is calm enough to allow the little fry to swim around and feed without getting dispersed by wave action they will be all over the lake. But when the winds blow them into the shore they will be found more along the dikes where the wind pushes them. And the wipers will be wherever the shad are.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]So, if you want to find wipers you need to look for shad. If they are near the top the wipers will boil on them when they are hungry. If the wipers are full, or in an inactive mode, they will suspend at mid depth or just cruise around in the open lake. But when the wipers hear the dinner bell they will move quickly in schools, looking for shad. When they find them they will glut.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Studies by DWR biologists show that wipers do not even feed on shad until after the spawn. Previous year's shad are several inches long by early spring of the following year...and too big for the average wiper in Willard to comfortably eat. So they have to rely on stored fat and whatever crawdads or other food they can find until the annual shad feed. I have found lots of crawdads and several species of smaller fish inside wipers during the early months of the year.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Boils in the spring? Likely not wipers. I have never seen one nor heard of any from "reliable" sources. More likely carp splashes. Another possibility is large shad feeding on surface insects...like a midge hatch. I HAVE seen that. Gizzard shad get over 18" long and they are silvery in color. From a distance their splashy rises might look like a wiper boil...especially if that is what you WANT to see.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Right now the boils are predicated on the weather. The water temps are still hovering around the 70 degree mark. A little over 70 and the baby shad will come back to the surface...and the wipers will follow. But as the water temp drops to 65 and lower the boils almost disappear. The shad go deeper in colder water and there is no reason for the wipers to come to the top to make splashes for the silly fishermen.[/#0000ff]
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[cool][#0000ff]You can't make any rash generalizations about wipers. They do what they want...when they want...and for their own reasons. It ain't possible to put a mark on your fishing calendar and then go catch them doing anything in particular. Every year is different. Heck, every day is different.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]The boiling is mostly a food chain thing. If what they are eating is on the surface they will gather up and chow down...boiling. Since about the only thing they boil on is baby shad...or other fry...they boil mainly after the shad or carp spawn. Those fish spawn from May into June...most years...and the fry appear in large schools by July. That is about the earliest that true "boils" start appearing.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]But...it is all about the shad...not the wipers. When it is warm enough to suit the shad they will come to the surface to feed. If the water is calm enough to allow the little fry to swim around and feed without getting dispersed by wave action they will be all over the lake. But when the winds blow them into the shore they will be found more along the dikes where the wind pushes them. And the wipers will be wherever the shad are.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]So, if you want to find wipers you need to look for shad. If they are near the top the wipers will boil on them when they are hungry. If the wipers are full, or in an inactive mode, they will suspend at mid depth or just cruise around in the open lake. But when the wipers hear the dinner bell they will move quickly in schools, looking for shad. When they find them they will glut.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Studies by DWR biologists show that wipers do not even feed on shad until after the spawn. Previous year's shad are several inches long by early spring of the following year...and too big for the average wiper in Willard to comfortably eat. So they have to rely on stored fat and whatever crawdads or other food they can find until the annual shad feed. I have found lots of crawdads and several species of smaller fish inside wipers during the early months of the year.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Boils in the spring? Likely not wipers. I have never seen one nor heard of any from "reliable" sources. More likely carp splashes. Another possibility is large shad feeding on surface insects...like a midge hatch. I HAVE seen that. Gizzard shad get over 18" long and they are silvery in color. From a distance their splashy rises might look like a wiper boil...especially if that is what you WANT to see.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Right now the boils are predicated on the weather. The water temps are still hovering around the 70 degree mark. A little over 70 and the baby shad will come back to the surface...and the wipers will follow. But as the water temp drops to 65 and lower the boils almost disappear. The shad go deeper in colder water and there is no reason for the wipers to come to the top to make splashes for the silly fishermen.[/#0000ff]
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