05-18-2023, 08:15 PM
(05-18-2023, 05:37 PM)wiperhunter2 Wrote: Sorry to hear the catching was so poor for you Pat, sure makes me wonder where all the cats have gone too. I did hear a report yesterday that one guy caught a 10 lber out there, not many that size in there. We were on the West side yesterday and all we got was a few sprinkles but after the storm passed to the East i commented to Ira that it looked like the North marina was getting hit hard, sounds like it did indeed. How long did it come down with that soaking rain?
Got a couple of theories about the catfish. It all has to do with the food chain thing. In the olden days there were a lot more cats...of all sizes...because there was a lot more cat food. That was a combination of lots of crawdads and lots of young crappies. Both hung around the rock dikes around the shorelines...because in those days the lake stayed pretty full year round and the water level was always well up into the rocks. So the best place to fish for both cats and walleyes was around the dikes...where the groceries were.
In those days, there weren't any wipers or shad. These days the wipers compete with the cats for crawdads and other available food during the months when there are no shad for their hungry mouths. Furthermore, young catfish are also on the menu for both wipers and walleyes when the shad are too big, too small or not available at all. The combination of decreased food supply and increased predation on baby catfish result in fewer cats surviving to become adults. The upside is that those that do survive to grow bigger.
One of the factors supporting this theory is the relative lack of small catfish being caught. There were times in recent years when catfish were abundant...but seldom over 18 inches...with lots of "footlongs". Then, as wiper numbers increased the cats decreased in abundance but have been getting to a larger average size each year. DWR has decreased the wiper plantings but have increased walleye plantings...and the walleyes are foraging just like the wipers. They eat whatever they can find during low shad months. That includes catfish food and baby cats.
In the BS days...the times before shad...walleyes and cats relied upon crappies as their fishy forage species. Crappies were thick and there were year classes of several sizes at all times...so that the predators could always find a meal near the rocks. And both catfish and walleyes grew much larger than they do now. The limit on walleyes was 6...with only two allowed over 20 inches. But it was difficult to catch any walleyes under 20 inches. It was not unusual to catch large numbers of walleyes...day or night...and end up with only 2 fish of 5-8 pounds. And any catfish trip almost always produced fish of 10 pounds or better...with quite a few over 15.
Increased demands on the water by agriculture, business and residential have reduced the amount available to keep Willard full every year. There are far too many years when the water level drops below the bottom of the rock dikes...and that shuts off the growing habitat for crawdads and small fish. So, when shad numbers are seasonally down, the predators gotta scrounge for a living...eating more crawdads and young fish of other species...including catfish.
The rain? The water filled clouds seemed to hang out right up against the mountains (and the far east side of the lake). One drencher stayed over me for several minutes. It weren't very big but it was wet. And there were a couple of other wet ones too. Otherwise, there were only minor sprinkles from time to time. I never got soaked to the point of chilling. And it was mostly pretty calm. But little squalls came through that made it a bit bouncy in my float tube for a while. I can stand wind and rain but when using finesse fishing techniques from a float tube the wind can be problematic in detecting light bites. Not a problem when you are trolling at mach 3 speed in a high beamed boat.