Willard Bay

[Tsadler17]

Is the water temp warm enough to start fishing Willard yet, and if so what should I use and what would be the active fish?



Thanks for the help

Tyler
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[Theekillerbee]

Willard is still a little on the cool side to really get a ton of fish catching action. I'm sure some guys on the BFT boards have been out. Most people wait 'till the walleye spawn to head out, for me I usually don't work the eyes too hard until after the spawn, when the water warms up some. I haven't talked to anyone that has caught Wipers in the winter, but during warm weather, try fast trolling (2.5-4 MPH) with rattle traps, rapalas, cotton cordele's, or frenzy's running around 10 feet is usually productive. Good luck when you go out.
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[PREDATOR]

Water temp 39 degrees. North marina depth- 3-4 ft. Total number of fishermen on the water, 2. Number of hypothermic waterskiiers, 3! Thats the story from today. The fishing was a bit slow, but to be right honest its FEBRUARY! I iced fished willard this time last year, but this is as early as I have been out on willard in a boat. I have got wipers when there was still ice sheets floating around, but always later in the year. Today all that I could find was catfish. They were eager to bite though. The other fishing boat on the water managed at least one wiper that I saw them catch. Could have got more. Funny thing was the colder the water, the slower and deeper I go. These guys were trolling thier outboard, running lures mid depth. Who would have thought? I was lindy riggin and like I said, the cat fish liked it, but thats about it. I missed several fish early due to using a one hooked snell. I fixed that up real quick though. There was several guys bank fishing the north marina. One more water skiier thought about launching, but as soon as they had the boat off the trailer they must have hit bottom because they put the boat right back on the trailer and left. I figure this year at willard we will all become experts at the shallow launch and load. Man it felt good to be back out on willard even without the wipers and eyes.
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[Theekillerbee]

Hey Predator, glad you could make it out today. One quick question, what is a lindy rig? I used to live in Florida and do some bassin', but I'm not familiar with that one. I'm looking forward to the spring summer on the bay. Don't know if you've ever tried just driftin' night crawlers out at the "island" or not, but we had some good luck with threading a crawler onto a 1/4oz jig head, motoring against the wind to the top of the island, then let the wind just drift us off of the edge. We landed some nice eyes, and even a couple of wipers doing that last year. Of course the little cats are regulars, but the fishin sure is fun. Do you ever talk to "Limpy" out there? Kind of a nick name I gave the guy, he fishes a nice bass boat (150 or 200HP), towed with a pick-up truck/camper combo, and he like to yell "that pole is as limp as my d__k!" to ya. Really nice guy, and he seems to really put the hurt on the eyes. I think he's out there almost every day. I've mostly seen him rig up a bottom bouncer, trolled pretty slow. Ther is also another regular I remember, I call him the "Chinaman", he's got a smaller boat, with a newer honda trolling motor (I think it's a new 4 stroke). He's always pretty quiet about his fish cathin'....kina lands them low, next to the water, without much of a rucuss. I've seen him land quite a few eyes as well. Can't be sure of his rig, but it looks to be bottom bouncers as well. Anyways I've babbled way too much, just gets me excited for the spring. Good luck the next time you go out! Maybe we'll run into each other out there this spring/summer.
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[WalleyePaul]

Lindy rig is when you put a line though one of those snagless weights (short version of bottom bouncers) then you tie off with a barrel swivel, then you tie on a walleye spinner (usually 24 inch long.) Usually very effective.
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[wiperhunter2]

How about some details, where on the lake did you fish? How long were you there? Did you try the Kelin grub? WH2
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[SKEETER2]

I went out to the south marina and took a look today. There is still ice by the boat ramps so it will be a few more day until you can launch out there. The inlet is dumping a little water into the lake but not enough. Few people fishing but thats all they were doing is fishing I didn't see much catching.
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[PREDATOR]

Killer bee, lindy rig is a lindy no snag sinker above a swivel, then a snell (line with floats and double or single hooks on it) or spinner harness. My dad was using a spinner harness and I was using a float. I would have used a jig head and crawler if I had located an area that was holding fish, but I never did find them. Same deal with the grub WH2. But I bet the fish wanted less action and more live bait so I would have went with the jighead and crawler first. I wanted to fish the windblown side, but there was none so I keyed in on areas that I figured would be prespawn, but obviously I am too early for that. with this weather I think its late march.
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