I don’t know what it is about Willard. No matter how many times I go home empty handed or manage to get a “pitty fish”. I just can’t stop trying to figure that place out. Today it finally paid off.
Been spending way to much time at work, so the boss told me to take the day off. I decided I’m a glutton for punishment so why not try Willard again. Talked my girls into going out with me so we didn’t get as early as a start as I would have liked. Got on the water about 8am and put out 2 bottom bouncers and 2 cranks. There was a boat where we were planing on starting so we decided to try out about 100yards from the rocks. About 30 minutes into our first loop one of the bottom bouncers went off. Our first wiper of the year, they do exist. A few minutes later the other bouncer took off, another wiper. We switched out the cranks for 2 more bouncers and spent the next 3 hours making up for all the slow Willard days I’ve grown accustom to. By 10:30 we had caught 21 wipers, 8 walleye, a catfish, and a crappie.
We had to get a friend back to the dock so he could make it back to work. With the cold front blowing in and knowing it would probably shut the fishing down for a few days. The girls twisted my arm and we headed back out again. I couldn’t even get the line clipped into the planner board before it was fish on again. In 10 minutes we were already up to 12 fish. Twice we fish on all 4 poles. The wind picked up and controlling the boat became much more difficult. We ended up shutting the trolling motor off and drifted with the wind back towards the marina. We picked up a few more and decided to call it a night. We ended up catching 49 fish in about 6 hours. It was a day i will not soon forget and may never be able to duplicate again. I’m glad my girls were there to share in the fun. Can’t wait to try it again!
I know what you mean about the frustration and attraction of Willard. A day to remember for sure and to have your girls along is double good. Way to go! Were you using night crawlers on those BBs? Any color/pattern work better than others?
Great report, the best I’ve read in a number of years. I’ve had days like that there too but they are very few and far between, it’s been at least 4 years ago for me but it is why I keep going back. Did you launch from the North or South marina? Were most of the wipers those smaller 12 to 14" variety or those bigger 18 to 22" size? Sounds like you found a sweet spot:sunglasses:, it sure is nice when a plan finally come together and all the stars aline like that, congrats.
Green/Black and Green/Pink tipped with a worm. We fished out of the north marina. Most of the wipers were smaller than in years past but there were a few that were around 21”. Man they put up a good fight. It’s quite the goat rodeo when you have 3-4 on at the same time.
WAY TO GO !!! I have been fishing Willard since 2004. I have had great days (not as great as yours) and some so-so days, and then the past 2 years I have had more days of taking home a skunk from WB than any other body of water I have ever fished…yep you have truly joined the ranks of all the rest of us “glutton for punishment” Willard Bay anglers.
Ahain, great day, and great to see a report like that again from WB. [fishon]
I should have been more specific, the bottom bounce was just the plain lead weight. The worm harness blades were green/black and green/pink.
We we’re trolling them anywhere from 1.6-2.5mph
The crappie was caught trolling. We ended up dragging him halfway across the lake. We saw him bite but couldn’t tell there was anything on.
We went back on Sunday to see if the cold weather had put a stop to the catching. It took awhile to find them again but once we did it was pretty fast catching. My wife caught a 22” wiper and my youngest caught a 24” walleye. We caught a bunch of 6-8” walleye and wipers. Good to see all the different age classes, hopefully it will be good fishing for years to come.