Willard S. Marina...Hot - Not 7-9-24

[TubeDude]

I’ve been “confined to quarters” for the past few weeks…nursing a problem eye and taking care of my wife who is recovering from surgery. My daughter offered to spend the morning with TubeBabe so I could go fishing. Raised that girl right.

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Hit the south marina and launched by 7ish. Air temp 67 soaring to 80 by departure time at 10:30 . Water temps went from 73 to 75. Pretty good clarity in the water.

](WILLARD BAY LAUNCH 7 9 24 — Postimages)

Needed to be home by noonish so I hit it hard and heavy. Started with crawler rigs…behind a buzz blade and behind a crankbait. Got fish on both. Small wipers and a couple of cats. But got a tangle on one cat and due to inefficiency of depth perception with my left eye I just put up the rod rather than fighting the tangle.

](BABY WIPE — Postimages)

Then, my motor stopped. Started checking wiring connections and found the one going into the on-off switch had worked loose. Even with my problem eye, I got it loosely connected…but had to keep redoing it through the morning since I didn’t have any new fittings. Bother.

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Tried trolling some small cranks. Had a couple of hits…prolly from mini wipers. No bendos. Went back to dragging baited lures…some with worms, others with minnows. Got more of the usual suspects.

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Finally got around to throwing and dragging a tandem rig…with two gulp minnows on different jig heads. Got more wiperettes…including one double that felt good until I saw what it was. That rig also got my last and biggest cat…about 23”…just as I was heading in to the ramp. That was also my largest cat. I had kept 3 but when I got to the ramp that last one was the only one left in my basket…and his head was stuck in the hole that had allowed the two previous smaller ones to escape. Okay. Still enough for dinner.

](DOUBLE WIPETTES — Postimages)
**
Only a few boats out today. Guessing the action overall has dropped off a bit. Didn’t see any big shad balls on TV but I suspect they are somewhere. A couple of the little wipers I brought in were barfing up some inch plus shadlets.

[dubob]

As always Pat, I’m enjoying your adventures through the Internet. I’m also ‘confined to quarters’ for a couple weeks, but due to a bathroom remodel vs health issues. No fishing unless late afternoon for at least 3 weeks. Hopefully there be some fish left when I get back out. Best wishes for TBs recovery from the surgery. Take care.

[TubeDude]

@dubob

As always Pat, I’m enjoying your adventures through the Internet. I’m also ‘confined to quarters’ for a couple weeks, but due to a bathroom remodel vs health issues. No fishing unless late afternoon for at least 3 weeks. Hopefully there be some fish left when I get back out. Best wishes for TBs recovery from the surgery. Take care.

**Thankee sir. Good luck with the remodeling. Always a good test for your patience and stamina. **

By the way, I tried your suggestion for the shower. No bites. So I decided to hit Willard. I’m thinking of mixing it up now with Deer Creek and maybe Rockport. That is, if I can get my better half better. I usually start letting Willard humiliate me again after Labor Day. Can’t believe how many power squadroners there are at all the better fishing holes these days…and starting early.

[Cowboypirate]

Did you film this trip

[TubeDude]

@Cowboypirate

Did you film this trip

Yeah, but not enough good footage to make a worthwhile video. Who wants to see a bunch of wimpy wiperettes and a few silly catfish? I like to be able to also show some helpful stuff like new lures, rigging, techniques, etc. This was just a quick getaway trip to get out of the house and on the water. It worked.

[wiperhunter2]

Glad you were able to get out and enjoy some time on the water Pat. Hope you and TB continue to improve. Those baby wipers have some good numbers this year and by next year they should be getting some size to them. Seems like you had a problem last year, with losing fish like that from your basket, those cats seem to quite good at escaping.

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Pat glad you got out and hope both of you keep getting better… Till next trip…carry on… Later Jeff

[TubeDude]

@wiperhunter2

Glad you were able to get out and enjoy some time on the water Pat. Hope you and TB continue to improve. Those baby wipers have some good numbers this year and by next year they should be getting some size to them. Seems like you had a problem last year, with losing fish like that from your basket, those cats seem to quite good at escaping.

I have to replace my fish baskets about every two years. They take a lot of abuse between dragging on the rocks…full of fish…and big nasty catfish head butting them to create escape routes. The baskets do a good job of holding a lot of fish and keeping them alive but they don’t last forever. I have lost a few fish from them over the years but I just chalk it up to “unplanned conservation”. Kinda like “longline releases”.

[Freakyfisherman]

@TubeDude

@dubob

As always Pat, I’m enjoying your adventures through the Internet. I’m also ‘confined to quarters’ for a couple weeks, but due to a bathroom remodel vs health issues. No fishing unless late afternoon for at least 3 weeks. Hopefully there be some fish left when I get back out. Best wishes for TBs recovery from the surgery. Take care.

**Thankee sir. Good luck with the remodeling. Always a good test for your patience and stamina. **

By the way, I tried your suggestion for the shower. No bites. So I decided to hit Willard. I’m thinking of mixing it up now with Deer Creek and maybe Rockport. That is, if I can get my better half better. I usually start letting Willard humiliate me again after Labor Day. Can’t believe how many power squadroners there are at all the better fishing holes these days…and starting early.

Pat,
I went on a friend’s boat this past Tuesday on Deer creek. We fished several locations, including Charleston, between the island and the mainland, near the island, and Scott’s Hollow. We caught walleye, smallmouth bass, perch, and even one bluegill. No trout were hurt in our efforts. The best action came on a jig and worm, dragged in. The perch were as big as the walleye, thirteen inches long. We only got bites when we were near weed lines. Good luck if you head up to Deer creek. Water temps were 72. Nothing caught deeper than 20 ft of water. Best wishes to Tube Babe.
Gabe

[TubeDude]

@Freakyfisherman

Pat,
I went on a friend’s boat this past Tuesday on Deer creek. We fished several locations, including Charleston, between the island and the mainland, near the island, and Scott’s Hollow. We caught walleye, smallmouth bass, perch, and even one bluegill. No trout were hurt in our efforts. The best action came on a jig and worm, dragged in. The perch were as big as the walleye, thirteen inches long. We only got bites when we were near weed lines. Good luck if you head up to Deer creek. Water temps were 72. Nothing caught deeper than 20 ft of water. Best wishes to Tube Babe.
Gabe

Thanks Gabe. Sounds like a decent trip. Mid July is usually when I do well on all species…including walleyes. Good to hear there are some porky perch too. This is the time of year when the baby perch school up near the weeds…for protection. And the hungry mouths that feed on them are usually nearby. Hope to reduce the predator population a bit myself in the coming weeks.