**I was planning a trip to Bear Lake, for some whitefish…but TubeBabe left town and my only potential ride share fell through. Also, the forecast for extreme chill and breezes cinched the deal. I headed to Willard all by my lonesome.
Didn’t figure I would do much, but wanted to put it to bed for the year…tubingwise. 25 degree air temp at 8 AM. Water temp at launch was 37 inside the marina and 39 outside. There was skim ice on the south side of the north marina…some up to 1/2 inch thick. I actually had to break out though some thin stuff leaving the channel.**
Water was like glass. Not a ripple until the first boat came out. He looked colder than me. Just before the sun came over the mountain it created a “cloudbow”…a rainbow in the ice crystals of the high clouds. Cool. The attached pic does not really capture the beauty.
Saw nothing much on sonar until I passed 11 feet of depth. Then, not much. No serious schools or even anything more than a few singles and doubles. Probably mostly carpkind.
Played the usual game. Dragged minnows on one rod while throwing every size, shape and color of plastic jig knowed to fisherfolk. Had one whack on a small white plastic and almost got about a 20 inch walleye to the net. Almost. That was the last bite on plastic all day.
**Once the sun hit the water the cool cats came out to play. Starting about 9:15 I began getting “pop and drops”. That progressed to bait stealing short runs. Once I figured out how to hook the minnows and when to go for the hookset, I started whacking the kitties. Got lots of bites but only brought about 10 to the tube. Kept 7…from 15 to 17 inches. **
**Just before 11, the cold westerly breezes started moving across the water. I had to put my gloves back on and blow on my fingertips once in a while. Didn’t have much else to do. Once that breeze came up, the fishies quit calling. Hit the ramp and made an early return home. **
Water temp was still just a notch over 40 when I beached my tube. A few cold nights without too much wind and at least the marina will ice over. Might be longer for any part of the lake.
Saw several boats head out to the north dike and the west side, but none of them came back in for me to check their results.
LOOKIN GOOD.jpg (156 KB)
BIRD INVASION.jpg (141 KB)
ICE INSIDE MARINA.jpg (155 KB)
SUNRISE RAINBOW CLOUDS.jpg (76.4 KB)
WALL TO WALL GLASS.jpg (132 KB)
FIRST COOL COOKIE.jpg (171 KB)
COOKIE ON GLASS.jpg (178 KB)
MELLOW YELLOW.jpg (205 KB)
COOL CATS.jpg (365 KB)