Ira and I got up to Willard again this morning, launching from the North marina, just to try a different location. We fished the North dike, because the wind was blowing from that direction and because we have done ok in that location before. Another slow day but we did pick up 8 cats, the largest being 26.5", and a 19" wiper. As is normal for us, for this time of the year, we used fligs, 3 dot chartreuse did the best, followed by a orange tiger, tipped with chub meat. Water temp was 66 degrees and it never got above 67. Several other boats out there but no power squad.
Sounds good Curt, big cats and wiper to boot not a bad day… You seeing any perch at all? I know it’s a month plus early, but just curious… Later J
Thanks Jeff. We always see some on our side scan that look like perch plus some tap tap perch type bites but none ever get a solid hookup. That being said, we are not seeing any groups, like we do in Nov
I keep wondering if the perch will hold on and keep from crashing… It would be so cool to have a lake end up like Cascade that holds decent fish for more than a year or two before the cycle starts over again… Hoping Willard is big enough that it might be able to buck all the other utah lake trends… May not with the up and down water levels, but I’m going to keep hoping some better than 8" fish survive… Later J
The water levels have been going up and down for years, close to 10 years by my count. We will have to wait and see but I think it was a good idea pulling a limit on them. If too many are taken each year, it would be bad for the fishery for sure
Seems like with all those eyes and wiper in there, I’ll bet Willard won’t be in any danger of a perch over population like some ponds get, so I agree a limit is a good idea… I didn’t see what it is, is it like 10 fish? Hope it isn’t any higher than that… If I catch two or three I usually feel like I’ve got enough to feed my crew… At least all that will eat fish…
The limit is 15 perch.
Maybe in Nov. we will get a better idea of how they are doing.