Now that the tournament is over...

[N.E.T.O.]

Now that tourney is over I for one would like to know what the heck it takes to catch a Wiper these days at Willard! I've put in 5 Saturdays since April 1 this year, and I have 4 Wipers to my name.
Here is the method I use, and had marginal success finally on Friday night before the tournament: (And then got shellacked during the tournament itself!)

Troll speed: Anywhere from 1.5 to 2.8 or so has caught fish. (all 4 of them...doh.)
Locations: North Dike and Feedlot.
Lures: Walley divers, and yes, belive it or not (ask Kent) Popgear with a spinner and a worm. (That has attributed to a full half the wipers I have caught this year!)

Things I have tried: Every lure in my tackle box, including trout lures and spoons, lipless cranks, lipped cranks, shallow divers, deep divers, jigs with/ without bait, twin tailed grubs, bottom bouncer with worm (didn't even catch a walleye that day), etc. etc.

Thanks to a few folks at the BBQ that shared some secrets, but I'm really curious as to what techniques catch fish lately. I know that it all might change in a week. Attached is the pic of my 21" Wiper that Kent and I caught Friday afternoon before the tournament, it was caught on a Walley deep diver.

By the way, the tournament was a whole lot of fun even if all I caught was a 15" Walleye!

Randy
[signature]

[Hellsangler69]

I would stick with minnows crankbaits like rapalas if you troll the bath tub . Location is the key if you find fish . GPS is a must to get over them again and again . I found some feeding fish after the wind let up around noon and it was fish on till I had to go in . I think I seen kent's boat in the same area I was . Just keep trying a area until you find them . Some days I do better with darker color lures and other day it is lighter colors . I had success on rainbow trout crankbait and silver / Black back Rattlin Rap lipless cranks saturday . Even the walleye hit the lipless crank .
[signature]

[Kent]

[black]"belive it or not (ask Kent) Popgear with a spinner and a worm."[/black]
[black][/black]
[size 1][black][size 2]I would never admit to Popgear and a worm being drug behind my boat![/size][/black][blush][/size]
[signature]

[fishinfool]

Thats a tough question,I have caught wiper on walleye diver Black and gold,Producer prism shade,the white producer,shad rap black/silver #5.but none of these lures have produced for me this year.
I have caught all my fish on a 2 0z. bottom bouncer with a northern tackle worm harness,baitfish with blue beads.they have them at sportmans,I'm going to try the gold/black wally diver next time out right on the dike next time out,I will post if I have any success.

later,fnf[cool]
[signature]

[Johnr]

I tried my usual shad raps and rattlin raps for the Wipers and found they wanted the shiny chrome finish rattlin raps on Saturday. My nephew caught the largest Walleye on a silver with black back rattlin rap with chrome finish as well. Someone at the tournament asked me what that walleye was caught on and I could not remember the color at that time, but after talking to my nephew that is what it was. I have found when it is sunny use a shiny lure and when it is overcast use a darker lure, to imitate a shad. This is just a general observation. []
[signature]

[bassrods]

The MOJO drop shot worked for both eyes and wipers.....

.
[signature]

[PACKFAN]

The wife and I trolled two planer boards with a black and silver Wally diver on one and a purple and silver Renegade stickbait on the other, we also trolled down riggers at 12 to 14 feet with 130 feet of line out at 2.5 MPH in 18 to 23 feet of water. On the downriggers we Used night crawlers on a hammered gold tomahawk blade worm harness and a # 4 Colorado blade in a blue hologram fishscale color. We boated nine wipers and two walleye. Although we didn't place in the money our twin wipers measured 19 inches, for a total of 38 inches. We never lost a fish. We caught one walleye and a 19 inch wiper on the cranks, everthing else came off the night crawler harnesses. We released all the fish except the two largest wipers and the two walleye that were 16 and 18 inches. Hope this info helps.
[signature]

[Kent]

Clifford, curious how many wipers and walleye you guys caught on MOJO drop shots at the tourney?
[signature]

[bassrods]

We boated 5 wipers and 2 walleye and we lost four or five at the boat....
[signature]

[BearLakeMack]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]Hi, Randy![/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3][/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]I would concentrate more on the behavorial patterns of the fish in the Willard Bay biomass than I would on piticular lure selection. Obviously, from the responses to your question, the fish will bite on a ton of different lures IF you will put then in the right space.[/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3][/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]I'm no expert but knowing a little about each species. their habits and traits, and how each of the other species reacts to each other's habits and traits can be very helpful in locating fish. Obviously, wipers are right there on the top of the food chain. If their food sources moves or changes, they move or change too. Also, spring is a time of year that wipers will go into a false spawn. Their spawn is dependent on water temperatures.[/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3][/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]There is more to it than just lure selection. A little research can go a long way. Instead of wondering where the fish are or what they are feeding on, find out what could effect their behavior from what's taking place around them and you can usually get some idea where they might be and what they might hit.[/size][/black][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3][/size][/font]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 3]I may be up in the night but when you try something and it doesn't work, like when Willard was slow before the tournament, you need to do something different. It's a whole lot easier to try different things if you have an idea of what's going on beneath you.[/size][/font]
[signature]

[bassrods]

BearLakeMack you are right some times the bait does not matter you have to be where the fish are....

.
[signature]

[Hellsangler69]

I agree with BLM as always ,he is a great teacher and I always need some lessons . Granted , I have only fish for wipers for 2 years now thanks to MGB to introducing me to them but consider myself a rookie still . I do harvest a few fish and from my finding they are hoarding on midges . If you know anything about hatches you may see a trend on there movement. I never tried nymphing for them but it might work but the hatches are pretty thick , so I'm not sure it would work well anyway . They are coming to the top to feed on occasionally , so I think it is a bug thing now . I'm sure the damsels and dragons will be hatching in the hoards now and will be migrating close to shore to hatch so fish will follow them to feed also but the midges will hatch anywhere and I been seeing a few mayflies as well . Hatches seem to be at a peak around 1:00pm for surface activity . My feeling is they feed on the bugs and when a minnow (steak) is present they consider going for it . Granted they may not be any minnows around but they still relate to them as a food source .The wipers I fillet this past weekend still had eggs in them . They could be in a post spawn activity . I hooked a few lately on the gill plate like they were trying to move my bait instead of eat it . I'm sure they get territorial when in spawn mode like most species . I have caught a few after finding some active fish and going to a twitching bait and working it thru the area . Luckycrafts work good for this . Walleye on the other hand seem to like different colors more then the wipers at times . All I know for sure is it is fun trying to figure them out . I , for the most part like to figure them out on my own each time I go out and that applies to all fish . It would really suck if they hit the same thing all year long . That would get really boring to me .
[signature]

[N.E.T.O.]

Thanks everyone for the replies, this is exactly the information I was hoping for. BLM, I spoke with you in the food line at the Bar-B-Que, and you told me what worked for you during the tournament, and now it makes perfect sense. Kent and I were talking afterwards and we both agreed that if we learned one thing it was that if we were not catching fish we needed to try something else. As it turns out, Kents idea might have landed us a few fish had we gone ahead with the plan! Bassrods, I spoke with you a little also, (you got me my coke while I kept your place in line!)
Last year (my first time ever Wiper fishing) I happened to luck into them pretty good and got a little over confident and even cocky. In fact, Willard was my "go to" lake to catch fish last summer. So this year starting early April I figured that I would go back to Willard and pick up right where I left off last year...I was wrong! (and humbled) Conditions are different, patterns are different, food sources are different and I need to take all that into account and conform or get out! (Thats what they tell me at work...) With this new info and new frame of mind, I'm thinking about heading back up to Willard again this weekend to see if I learned anything...
Thanks to everyone who posted, its all really good and useful information. I guess thats what seperates a fisherman from a poser, is that the fisherman knows how to adapt.
Thanks again!
Randy
[signature]