Fished Willard today with RAK. Launched out of the south marina at 9:30. Drove past the island and started trolling. Took about a half hour and hooked up. Caught and released 7 wipers and 1 walleye in 3 hours. Had a triple hook up, with only 2 of us on the boat the 3rd wiper had to wait until we had time to reel him in. Turned out to be a good short trip to the Bay. Water temp was about 57.
Sounds like a great day to me [angelic].
Any pictures [:)]???
Hey Mike Long time no see , where have you been? Good to see that you were able to get and get a line wet. Hope to see you out on the water.
Do you use planer boards or down riggers when trolling there?? I have only ever used down rigger and the only thing I caught was a catfish.. Lol
Sounds fun MGB it is nice to see you and RAK are getting back out.
fnf:sunglasses:
Hi Dan, we are going to get back into the swing of things. We have been around just working too much.Haven’t been fishing to much the past couple years.
we always pull side planners, never use down riggers on Willard especially when it is this low. We where pulling #5 shad raps. Going 2.3 mph they would it bottom. bumped up the speed to 2.8 - 3.0 that kept them off the bottom and that speed seemed to work very well for catching the fish.
Awesome thank you for the details just picked some plainer boards so I’ll try them out.
awesome report now I’m kicking myself for not going yesterday
Great report Mike, thanks for posting. Any wiper or eyes over 19"?
One 20 inch wiper, the walleye was about 18". The rest of the wipers where 15" - 16".
There are a lot of those 14-16" wipers in there right now but there should be more of the largers ones(18-21"), this year. The last few years there have been fewer of the large wipers but I’m hoping this year that will change.
I have been looking for a good planner board. Lets here all your suggestions. Videos of them working would be good also. Thanks
Aweome report, Mike. You can describe it to me in detail at work Monday.
How was the depth coming out of the south marina? I really want to get out there but have been concerned about the depths.
Thanks
Eddo- Depth out of south marina is OK If your boat isn’t too deep a draft and you keep your motor trimmed up until you get out past the red and green buoys.
About 2ft at the docks, marina 3-6 ft, center of channel average about 8 ft. at the buoys stays at about 4.5 ft. for about 100 yards then slips down to 10 - 11 ft. Between outlet and island 11-12 ft, island is marked on four corners, 3-4 ft on edges but shallow accross the top. After that good depth just about everywhere. Saw some at 13-14 ft near the west corner light pole. It’s variable out in the Freeway bay, but keep your depth warning set to about 3.5, and you should be fine.
I have been looking for a good planner board. Lets here all your suggestions. Videos of them working would be good also. Thanks
Most folks around here use the Offshore brand of side planners but I like the Church brand. IMO they are easier to use, getting them on and off. Sorry, no video.
WH2