Record wiper

[JArner]

That’s a monster wiper, thanks for sharing.

[wiperhunter2]

@PBH

surprised nobody has posted this yet.  (maybe they did and I didn’t notice?)

https://twitter.com/UtahDWR/status/1415368940805492736

Nice fish for sure.

Only 23 plus inches and over 15 lbs, that thing is a pig. A bunch of us have caught them that long or longer from Willard, just goes to show what deeper water and plenty of food will do for growing monster wipers. 
Seems like you or your brother said something about this fish or one even bigger that was caught back in April or May but you said you did not think you could post a pic of the fish without permission or was that a different fish? I know it happened about the same time as this fish was caught, back in May.

[PBH]

@wiperhunter2

Only 23 plus inches and over 15 lbs, that thing is a pig. A bunch of us have caught them that long or longer from Willard, just goes to show what deeper water and plenty of food will do for growing monster wipers.

Seems like you or your brother already posted about this fish but you said you did not think you could post a pic of the fish without permission or was that a different fish? I know it happened about the same time as this fish was caught, back in May.

It was 29 1/4 inches!  (the picture shows the tape).

Yes, this is the same fish (I think).  It just took a while for it to be “official”.

I think the biggest problem with Willard is food.  You have a lake that is full of predators, with very little prey.  That’s a bad balance to have.  Compare Willard to other waters with wipers (Otter Creek, Minersville, New Castle, numerous others) -  they all have chubs, or shiners, with few other predators (smallmouth bass).  The ratio of predator vs. prey is opposite from Willard.

[wiperhunter2]

@PBH

@wiperhunter2

Only 23 plus inches and over 15 lbs, that thing is a pig. A bunch of us have caught them that long or longer from Willard, just goes to show what deeper water and plenty of food will do for growing monster wipers.

Seems like you or your brother already posted about this fish but you said you did not think you could post a pic of the fish without permission or was that a different fish? I know it happened about the same time as this fish was caught, back in May.

It was 29 1/4 inches!  (the picture shows the tape).

Yes, this is the same fish (I think).  It just took a while for it to be “official”.

I think the biggest problem with Willard is food.  You have a lake that is full of predators, with very little prey.  That’s a bad balance to have.  Compare Willard to other waters with wipers (Otter Creek, Minersville, New Castle, numerous others) -  they all have chubs, or shiners, with few other predators (smallmouth bass).  The ratio of predator vs. prey is opposite from Willard.

LOL, I was looking at the girth, 29" sounds better.

[Therapist]

In addition to the golden shiner problem at Newcastle, it has a HUGE crayfish population. I would guess that the Wipers are mainly feeding on the crawdads to put that kind of weight on. Congrats to the lucky fisherman who caught it !!

[Anglinarcher]

@Therapist

In addition to the golden shiner problem at Newcastle, it has a HUGE crayfish population.  I would guess that the Wipers are mainly feeding on the crawdads to put that kind of weight on.  Congrats to the lucky fisherman who caught it !!

I agree.

[PBH]

surprised nobody has posted this yet.  (maybe they did and I didn’t notice?)

https://twitter.com/UtahDWR/status/1415368940805492736

Nice fish for sure.