A Great Morning on Willard

Utah Fishing Forum Utah Fishing General
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Pizzaman_288 took me up on my open seat in the boat this morning and he, my long-time friend Larry Larsen, and I launched at the Willard south marina arouind 6:15

It was odd to see how many boats were there that early in the morning. Generally, I am a lonely man on the ramp. But not today. Come to find out, Rocky Mountain Anglers was holding a walleye tournament this morning.

Larry, pizzaman, and I put out 4 poles today; two on planers, and two straight back. We did alright. We caught 7 wipers and 6 walleye. We were just targeting wipers but got those 7 nice surprise walley too. All but two were caught on the planners. Man, how did I ever catch fish in Willard back in the day when I didn’t run planner boards!

We found the best trolling speed to be around 2.6 – 2.8 MPH GPS.

We had hits on everything from Lucky Craft to lipless cranks to bargain basement junk. We didn’t try any soft plastics. However, I think they would have worked too. What’s interesting is that the lures that typically produce well for me (rattle traps and tail dancers) didn’t do squat. Yea, I know, when it comes to lure selection, those wipers can really keep you guessing from year-to-year.

It sure was a nice day to fish the Bay; a slight cool breeze, no bugs, and lots of line-clicker buzzing. The catching was pretty steady and regular till about 11:00 when the switch went off. We called it quits at noon.

Water temps today were around 64 degrees.

Here are a few pics of today’s spring time recreating and the ones we kept:

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Curt and I got 6 wipers to the boat and I kept 3. Curt doesn’t ‘do’ wipers. No eyes. Damn.

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it sure was fun out there today and was nice meeting you cant wait to do it again theres so much more i can learn from you on fishing willard i will definitely have to get a set of planer boards

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Bob, was there any size to your wipers? Ours were all medium to small.

I looked for you a little but didn’t see you guys.

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Great report, thanks for following up. I want yours’s guys job! (yeah, I know - dues to pay yet).

Sounds like good fishing and good catching. Plus - the cleaning station functioning to boot, eh?

Maybe it’s time I come down and try washing more lures!

Surprised no kitties came to play, but maybe you weren’t playing their game.

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Me and my boy had a better than average day as well. Boated in the neighborhood of 30 to 35 wipers a couple of them hefty Momma’s. I was starting to think dubob and WH2 was my good luck charm. Almost every time we’d pass their boat we’d hook up with at least one fish if not doubles. Got my first triple of the year today as well.

Also got a couple bonus walleye as well. NICE :sunglasses:

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Very nice, sounds like everybody had a good day. Wish I could have been there. Fish tacos sounds really good. Good job and thanks for the post. Later J

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Glad you could join us. Speaking of learning from others, you are definately the master of lead core line. I picked up a few nice subtle tips watching you and will probably always bring a rod with lead core line each trip to Willard from now on.

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I’ve never fished for Wipers before. How are they at tablefare?

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Nice job guys,looks like you still have the know how to put fish in the boat Ralph. [sly]

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Bob, was there any size to your wipers? Ours were all medium to small.

I looked for you a little but didn’t see you guys.I looked for you a little but didn’t see you guys.We made a dash to the restroom about 11 and saw your boat heading towards the island. When we came back out we went straight over to freeway bay.

All of ours were on the smallish side.

And WiperMac, glad we could help out with YOUR catching because ours sucked compared to everybody else.

:slight_smile:

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Nice collection of fillets there. Did you bleed 'em out first? They look purdy clean.

So what’s your cooking method of choice, if ya don’t mind my asking? Just got a hold of my new Turkey Fryer, so I think fish is on the menu this weekend!

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My opinion is that you MUST bleed’em prior to consumption. Popping a single gill makes all the difference in how they turn out on the table. The nasty red bloodlines that wipers are famous for is cut in half by doing this. If I was at work I’d attach a picture of two wipers filleted side by side, 1 bled out and one not, the difference is amazing.

I perfer my tacos blackened but my wife joined me tonight so I fried them up instead. Fresh homemade salsa, fresh greens out of the garden, wiper, goooooood!