NBC at Willard 7-29-21

[TubeDude]

Joined Lee at the north marina this morning for “whatever bites”. Turned out to be an “NBC” day (Nothing But Cats). Sokay by me though. They are fun and good eats.

Pirate and Cookie drove up for a chat just before we launched. They set up out on the north point of the boat channel entrance and Cookie had just caught her first fish as I cruised by on my way out. Lee caught a few cats but had to leave early to tend to a cat puncture wound. He posted his own report.

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Air temp at 7 am launch was about 70…rising to just over 80 at noon departure. Water temp was 78 to 80. Just right for kitties but not so much for most of the other species.

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Only a few fishing boats launched this morning…although some play boats and jet skis were getting wet as I left. Couldn’t see what success they might have been having, A couple of them stayed over along the north dike a lot. The three guys in nice Trophy boat came in as I was ramping and said they had only one bite..a nice cat. I filleted it for them at the fish cleaning station later.

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I started out with stuff for non-cat pursuits…like crawler rigs, Gulp Minnows on jig heads, etc. Got a couple of silly cats on the crawlers but nary a sniff on anything else. After an hour or so of fooling around I broke out the LHBE minnows and whirly fligs and went a cattin’. Found a zone out in over 12 feet of water that had some active kitties and they came out to play. Fished two rods with different colored whirlies and caught fish on all the colors I tried. Never had any doubles but the singles came often enough to keep me in tugs.
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Most of the cats were between 20 and 22 inches. One may have been a 2-footer. The last one I caught just before going back to the ramp was about 18 inches…the smallest of the day. I went through a “long dozen” bag of minnows (13-15) and caught a fish on just about every one. Plus the two I caught earlier on crawlers. I only kept 4 for the fillet board. All the fish hit hard and fought hard. Fun fun.

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[jjannie]

Glad the kitties kept you entertained! I bet you have more than those in boats when catching them - LOL The whirlies must have gotten their attention and were too interesting to not at least take a strike at them.

[TubeDude]

@jjannie

Glad the kitties kept you entertained! I bet you have more than those in boats when catching them - LOL The whirlies must have gotten their attention and were too interesting to not at least take a strike at them.

Most of us seasoned “Willardites” have learned that the dog days of summer are not prime for walleyes or even wipers these days. If we want tugs, we gotta settle for cat tugs. The other species start getting more active once water temps drop down to about 65 or so. That triggers the fall feedup and we do better. Then, about the middle of October the big perch start schooling up out off the north marina and that gets interesting too.

The whirlies really do call in the kitties…and did well on walleyes and a couple of wipers earlier too. I only run them at about .5 to .8 mph and even at the lowest speed those little propeller blades really spin. I saw very few fish on sonar today…except a lot of shad. So I know the cats were coming in from the side in response to the vibrations since I didn’t see them before they hit.

My best action came in areas where I was seeing shad on sonar. And I did see a few dead floating shad about 2". So I suspect the fish are being well fed but will still go for something attractive enough.
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[wiperhunter2]

Looks like you did well on the kitties today Pat. I got out there as well this morning but I had to try for some of those other fish you mentioned. Launched a little after 6 am from the South marina. Tried bottom bouncing, nothing, tried trolling, nothing again, finally the last hour I was there, I went to the sure bet, fligs and they did not disappoint. Only one double and none over 21" but they were hanging right where you like to fish, right off the Feed lot where it drops off. Saw two floats tubers fishing right by that coffer dam.

[FatBiker]

“Settle for cats.” Oh my gosh all them other ones are only entertainment until the whiskers come out. Sounds like you found my sweet spot. I’d planned on running up in the morning but they’ll all have have sore mouths.

[TubeDude]

@FatBiker

“Settle for cats.” Oh my gosh all them other ones are only entertainment until the whiskers come out. Sounds like you found my sweet spot. I’d planned on running up in the morning but they’ll all have have sore mouths.

Hey…keep that stuff about catfishing being primetime on the downlow. Otherwise we’ll have Willard covered with boats fishing fligs on 'riggers and Santee rigs on planer boards…all claiming to be fishing for “the other guys”.

And don’t postpone a trip just 'cause I caught a few. If I only"sorelipped" a dozen or so that I didn’t bring home, that still leaves a gazillion or so “virgins”. Surely you can find at least a couple of those. You usually manage to scratch out a good trip even on tough conditions.

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@wiperhunter2

Looks like you did well on the kitties today Pat. I got out there as well this morning but I had to try for some of those other fish you mentioned. Launched a little after 6 am from the South marina. Tried bottom bouncing, nothing, tried trolling, nothing again, finally the last hour I was there, I went to the sure bet, fligs and they did not disappoint. Only one double and none over 21" but they were hanging right where you like to fish, right off the Feed lot where it drops off. Saw two floats tubers fishing right by that coffer dam.

Glad you had some fliggin’ good action on the kitties. Y’know, we really have a good thing at Willard. We can spend the time and money putting together a day on the water with the expectation that there will almost always be some action. Part of the year we harvest walleyes and/or wipers. But the kitties are almost always there and willing to take up the slack when things slow down for Brand A and Brand B.

**I’ll tell ya, there are a lot of places in the country that would love to have a cat pond like Willard. **

[dubob]

Okay, what did you do with the REAL TD? It’s obvious to the most casual observer from the gloveless hand in the picture that you’re not him. Come on; fess up! Whad ya do wid him?

[TubeDude]

@dubob

Okay, what did you do with the REAL TD? It’s obvious to the most casual observer from the gloveless hand in the picture that you’re not him. Come on; fess up! Whad ya do wid him?

He’s fishing down in the winter cold of Tierra Del Fuego right now…where he can still wear his gloves while fishing. I’m just filling in and keeping his catfish exercised until he returns in November.

Glad I wasn’t fishing at the Gorge this week. I hear it was a bit stingy.