04-09-2016, 07:07 PM
[quote Gemcityslayer]I agree with gmwahl here... they stock plenty of them in there for a 3 fish limit.
Willard has been a popular wiper fishery for a long time now... I really doubt there are that many more people targeting them and keeping them this year, for it to be a problem.[/quote]
[#0000FF]The harvesting dynamics HAVE changed in the past couple of years. Prior to that, the majority of the non-boater wipers were caught in May...during the false spawn...by the same crappie harvesters who fished for them with bobbers and jigs. They took plenty.
But in the last couple of years the word got out about using mussels for bait and now there are large numbers of happy harvesters who are able to catch big numbers of wipers from shore...as well as from boats. There are a LOT more wipers leaving Willard earlier in the year than in years past. There aren't many (any) of these anglers practicing catch and release.
As has been pointed out, the numbers planted by DWR are still sufficient to support all kinds of fishing and the total harvest...by all means. It just rankles to see some guys returning two or three times a day for another limit of easily caught fish.
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Willard has been a popular wiper fishery for a long time now... I really doubt there are that many more people targeting them and keeping them this year, for it to be a problem.[/quote]
[#0000FF]The harvesting dynamics HAVE changed in the past couple of years. Prior to that, the majority of the non-boater wipers were caught in May...during the false spawn...by the same crappie harvesters who fished for them with bobbers and jigs. They took plenty.
But in the last couple of years the word got out about using mussels for bait and now there are large numbers of happy harvesters who are able to catch big numbers of wipers from shore...as well as from boats. There are a LOT more wipers leaving Willard earlier in the year than in years past. There aren't many (any) of these anglers practicing catch and release.
As has been pointed out, the numbers planted by DWR are still sufficient to support all kinds of fishing and the total harvest...by all means. It just rankles to see some guys returning two or three times a day for another limit of easily caught fish.
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