I’m thinking taking my boat to Willard in the morning for some walleyes. I have never caught one there before. Can anyone give me some advice for how to go about it in these conditions? Sure would appreciate it. Thanks![:p]
CSL[fishin]
99% chance you won’t catch one right now. One of the best walleye anglers in the state has been out there all day and only caught 1 small catfish. I just got off the phone with him. Watch for his report later tonight.[;)]
If crankem went out today he should be able to give you a decent report on if there biting or not.He uses bottom bouncers and his on home made worm harnesses.There are some others on here to but not sure if they have been out to willard within the last few days.
I would use use chartruse 1/8 oz jighead with 1/2 a nightcrawler.near the inlet or around the shoreline in that area.could also try chartruse holgraghic maniac minnow with an orange jighead tiped with crawler casted into the rocks with a slow retrieve trying to keep it close to the bottom.
LOL! well Brody know him better than most. there’s your answer.
Post up and let use know how you do.
Later fnf 
Simply because a BFT guy goes out and doesn’t catch any doesn’t mean walleyes cant be caught.
Try slow rolling some crankbaits, they’ll out fish a crawler harness this time of year hands down. And by slow I mean, when you think you’re reeling slow enough, slow down some more.
Yeah!!! Slow your retrieve down, slow enough to where your crank bait doesnt even get to the bottom for the Walleye to see or where your sinking crank bait just flops around like an UN-likely fish, good idea!!!
TS
So walleyes can’t see above them?
I dont recall that being said in my post!!! But thanks for asking, I dont think I have to answer that question. Anyone who ACTUALLY knows something about Walleye around this time knows what I am talking about!!! Have a horrible day!!![:p]
TS
Thanks for everything so far fellas. Keep it coming in. I’ve never used the teminology slow rolling before. Is that just casting out and retrieving slowly? Would casting be a better bet than trolling? What about areas? Do I need to stay close to the south marina and the channel?
CSL[fishin]
Yeah!!! Slow your retrieve down, slow enough to where your crank bait doesnt even get to the bottom for the Walleye to see
TS
This statement implies anything not in front of a walleye’s face is invisible to them.
As for slow rolling, definitely casting. You can start out with a few hard cranks to get the bait down deeper, then slowly retrieve it, tick the bottom every now and then. Slow and steady catches the fish.
Cast the spots the bank fisherman hit. I wouldn’t bother trolling. Too early for that.
People say they don’t do well with walleyes this time of year, perhaps that is because they do the same thing year in and year out during this time period.
Well in my opinion Willard IS a different lake. I fish 3 or 4 different states and lakes for walleyes during the early spring.
The majority of the time I can catch eyes on the pre spawn early bite out of the boat “EXCEPT” for Willard bay. I normally do well off the bank at Willard pre spawn and during the spawn but not out of my boat and not with cranks.
Darned if I know what the differance is. I’ve been trying to figure it out for years.
And by the way, cranks are one of my favorite ways to fish for eyes.
I agree a slow rolling presentation with cranks running lead core, line counters and snap weights or running a long leader off a bouncer will produce fish " EXCEPT AT WILLARD" during the early spring.
Believe me I’ve tried it many times with out much success.
Willard bay is probably the most exasperating lake I’ve ever fished for constantly producing eyes. Seems like feast or famine on that piece of water.
If you want to catch eyes this time of year your best bet is off the bank either at the mouth of the S. marina or the S. & W. banks early morning or just before and after dark pitching jigs with a 3 in. twister tail.
All the above are just my obsevations. Take it for what it’s worth.
Crankem,
Just curious here, have you ever just casted cranks along the areas you’ve described with a simple spinning rod. No trolling, no lead core, no bouncers, just straight up mono or braid or whatever your fancy?
Another option to try is a dropper weight with a floating jig head. Works better if you could use live minnows.
I’ve never heard that terminology used for slow trolling cranks before either, I usually associate that term with slow rolling spinner type or big blade type baits. Never too old to learn new terms I guess. I hope along with Crankem that the low water the last couple years has not hurt the eye population. Glad you didn’t have any equipment problems today Rog. Picking my boat up tomorrow but I’ve got a tailgate party and a football game to go to in the afternoon so I guess I won’t get on the water until next Friday.
Pointer,
Im curious about the dropper weight rig you mentioned. Do you mean like with a three way swivel and leaders to both your weight and floating jig or like a drop shot rig for bass? How do you fish it?
CSL[fishin]
Get yourself a Lindy wolf river rig sinker (others can work, but Lindy sinkers work best) and some slip bobber stops. Slide the sinker on, the put the bead from the slip bobber rig on and then the sliding string from the slip bobber set up. Pull the strings tight so you can slide the stop up and down the line to desired lengths. Tie on a floating jig and cast out. These rigs work better in rivers (hence the wolf river rig name) but you can cast them a good ways and slowly bring them back in mimicking the current. I like this rig with minnows, but that is frowned upon out here.
Ah Pointerpride sounds like another cheese head to me [;)]
Me to if your from Wisconsin. Your in Utah now, set your clock back 50 years as far as fishing regs go [frown] Live minnows are a big no no here. God forbid they might interfer with Utahs precious chubs, June suckers and carp [crazy]
I grew up fishing the Fox & Wolf rivers, lake Winnabago not to mention numeous flowages for eyes.
If you fish Willard enough I think you’ll see the eyes in there didn’t take Walleye 101 as far as eye behavior goes[crazy]
I have caught a few in the spring pitching cranks off the bank but not many. Jig and a curly plastic allways seem to work better on pre spawn and during the spawn. The crank bite usually don’t turn on till the water temps hit about 50 degrees. Willard is a goofy lake !!!
Welcome aboard.
1 16th or 1 8th oz jig head with a three inch curly tail
I Like white and pearl color jigs and I would fish the inlet where its legal of course or try the west bank.
With these higher waters just cast from the rocks and use a slow retrieve and let your curly tail just tick the bottom occasionally. You will snag up ounce in a while but this is the best way to catch the walleyes this time of year.
hope that helps and good luck!!!
I agree with Crankem, these eyes differ from the ones back home. Until I started fishing them here 30+ years ago I had never caught many walleye during brite sun shine days unless I was fishing in Canada. We use to do our best at sundown and after dark. I have had some of my best days at Willard with the sun beating down and 95 to 100 degree temps and bugs so dang bad that you almost had to wear a face mask to keep from inhaling the critters. Rog you forgot to mention one of your favorite cranks that you use to use trolling, you bugger you bought them all at Cabela’s. I only have a couple left, the rest have broken bills from banging the bottom and the rocks. [:/]
Walleyes are different in all of UT, not just Willard.
Willard is exra tough because it is a vast feature-less dyked off and flooded piece of the great salt lake bottom. Lakes like Starvation, Deer Creek and Yuba at least have typical features that can be fished , but they are difficult pre spawn. Utah lakes and waters are nothing like the east, I’m from upstate NY and fished for and caught walleye year round there. Not so in UT, after 20 years of trying.
I don’t really fish Willard for walleye, I catch them on occasion, while fishing for wipers. I’ve caught them while catfishing at night in front of the N. Marina, but that’s later in the year. Post spawn, early summer until the dog days then again in the fall is walleye time in UT, other than that it can be tough.
Have a good time at Willard, you’ll probably throw it all at them before the days over. I would drift with the motor off alot, set up to drift across what ever tiny piece of structure you mark fish on, I always split the screen to zoom at Willard, and with the calm winds and sunshine, you might get just what you want, at least what you need.
Ah Pointerpride sounds like another cheese head to me [;)]
Me to if your from Wisconsin. Your in Utah now, set your clock back 50 years as far as fishing regs go [frown] Live minnows are a big no no here. God forbid they might interfer with Utahs precious chubs, June suckers and carp [crazy]
I grew up fishing the Fox & Wolf rivers, lake Winnabago not to mention numeous flowages for eyes.
If you fish Willard enough I think you’ll see the eyes in there didn’t take Walleye 101 as far as eye behavior goes[crazy]
I have caught a few in the spring pitching cranks off the bank but not many. Jig and a curly plastic allways seem to work better on pre spawn and during the spawn. The crank bite usually don’t turn on till the water temps hit about 50 degrees. Willard is a goofy lake !!!
Welcome aboard.
Yep, Wisconsin through and through. I know all too well about the fishing regs here. Which is sad because WI is still many years behind when it comes to some of their regs. Fox and Wolf both fun to fish, some jumbo eyes in there. But walleye aren’t much of my game anymore, all muskies.
At least we don’t allow the natives to spear or net them (walleyes) during the spawn here, I guess that is a good thing.[;)]