08-25-2016, 09:04 PM
[#0000ff]Weather forecast was for "variable" stuff. Went anyway. Wanted to check out a new boat seat on my tube...and had some new custom painted plastics I wanted to show to some Willard fishies. Both worked well.
Launched at the north marina about 6:30...along with a half dozen boats. All headed different directions. Air temp a NICE cool 52. Water temps have cooled down to 74. A few more degrees and fall will fall.
Calm at launch. A few wispy clouds over the mountains. Lookin' good.
Looked for signs of life on the surface. Saw a lot of swallows dive bombing for skeeters and midges. No terns working boils. Saw a few isolated grebes diving kind half-heartedly for shad. Big whoop.
Dragged the usual minnow on one rod while throwing cranks and plastics. Moved out to 15' of water...seeing nada on the sonar. Moved back in toward Eagle Beach. Started seeing more shad and larger targets as I went shallower than 10'.
Had been working a "pale perch" colored RatLTrap with only one tentative whack. Finally picked up a rod I had rigged with my new blue-backed chartreuse shad...hand painted on some pearl color Barlows shad grubs. About the second cast it was rudely interrupted by a nasty catfish. Really active in the still warm waters...on 6# line and a medium light rod. Fun fun. Surprised at the size. He was an honest 22 incher. Biggest I have taken at Willard for a while.
Kept dragging the minnow and slinging the plastic shad. A few casts after the kitty the plastic got thumped again. But didn't fight like a kitty. Not a wiper neither. Whaddayaknow? An 18" walleye. Good for me...and good for the table.
I was already counting on this being a bananner day. But then I got no love for almost a half hour. But the wait was worth it. Once again the plastic shad was interrupted on the way back to the tube. But this time the culprit had shoulders. Took about fifteen minutes to coax the interloper close enough to see what it was. The up and down and short runs almost had me convinced it was a carp. I ain't proud. I'll take some fun at a carp's expense. But when I got a look at it I couldn't believe my aging eyes. It was a catfish. A BIG catfish. Bigger than any cat I have caught out of Willard since the early 1980's.
It was a big-headed daddy cat that had to double over to fit in my net. I planned to release it but motored to the gravel shoreline at Eagle Beach to get a couple of pics first. Got it to
but no way was I gonna kiss it goodbye. Ugly face, big overbite and gnarly teeth. I just kinda worked it in the shallows for a minute or so and watched it swim away. Those cats are tough.
While powering in to the beach I had noticed some fishy looking marks on sonar in 7-8 feet of water. My suspicious nature wanted to believe they were carp. But the angler in me made me pitch out another minnow and start chuckin' the plastic again. Good move. A 22" freight train wiper opted to sample my new plastics and give it a trifecta on species for the day.
Nothing more on plastics, but caught several more healthy kitties on the minnows...finally. And then the "iffy" part of the weather showed up. It got dark and some ominous clouds were heading in from the south. And a light breeze got quickly stronger. I was glad I had stayed close to the marina instead of following my original plan to work along the north dike. I headed back inside the marina...along with several other wimps in boats.
I tried dragging bait and chucking plastic in several places inside the marina. It had an average depth of about 8'...down from 10' on my last trip to the north marina a month ago.
No action in the last part of the morning but I was pleased to find out how well my new contour plastic boat seat worked. I got a smoking deal on a box of six of those if someone else is looking for one. I will post it on the 4-sale board in a day or so.
I was really torqued when I went to the fish cleaning station. Some doofus (or doofi) ...once again...had filled the grinder with fish parts before turning on the disposal. You guessed it. Jammed...again. Told the metal-faced young lady at the booth about it and she said she knew...and that they were "working on it". "They" must have been invisible. I sure didn't see anybody working on it.
Short day but fun and fruitful. That's what us old guys need. Leaves more time for naps.
[/#0000ff]
[signature]
Launched at the north marina about 6:30...along with a half dozen boats. All headed different directions. Air temp a NICE cool 52. Water temps have cooled down to 74. A few more degrees and fall will fall.
Calm at launch. A few wispy clouds over the mountains. Lookin' good.
Looked for signs of life on the surface. Saw a lot of swallows dive bombing for skeeters and midges. No terns working boils. Saw a few isolated grebes diving kind half-heartedly for shad. Big whoop.
Dragged the usual minnow on one rod while throwing cranks and plastics. Moved out to 15' of water...seeing nada on the sonar. Moved back in toward Eagle Beach. Started seeing more shad and larger targets as I went shallower than 10'.
Had been working a "pale perch" colored RatLTrap with only one tentative whack. Finally picked up a rod I had rigged with my new blue-backed chartreuse shad...hand painted on some pearl color Barlows shad grubs. About the second cast it was rudely interrupted by a nasty catfish. Really active in the still warm waters...on 6# line and a medium light rod. Fun fun. Surprised at the size. He was an honest 22 incher. Biggest I have taken at Willard for a while.
Kept dragging the minnow and slinging the plastic shad. A few casts after the kitty the plastic got thumped again. But didn't fight like a kitty. Not a wiper neither. Whaddayaknow? An 18" walleye. Good for me...and good for the table.
I was already counting on this being a bananner day. But then I got no love for almost a half hour. But the wait was worth it. Once again the plastic shad was interrupted on the way back to the tube. But this time the culprit had shoulders. Took about fifteen minutes to coax the interloper close enough to see what it was. The up and down and short runs almost had me convinced it was a carp. I ain't proud. I'll take some fun at a carp's expense. But when I got a look at it I couldn't believe my aging eyes. It was a catfish. A BIG catfish. Bigger than any cat I have caught out of Willard since the early 1980's.
It was a big-headed daddy cat that had to double over to fit in my net. I planned to release it but motored to the gravel shoreline at Eagle Beach to get a couple of pics first. Got it to
but no way was I gonna kiss it goodbye. Ugly face, big overbite and gnarly teeth. I just kinda worked it in the shallows for a minute or so and watched it swim away. Those cats are tough. While powering in to the beach I had noticed some fishy looking marks on sonar in 7-8 feet of water. My suspicious nature wanted to believe they were carp. But the angler in me made me pitch out another minnow and start chuckin' the plastic again. Good move. A 22" freight train wiper opted to sample my new plastics and give it a trifecta on species for the day.
Nothing more on plastics, but caught several more healthy kitties on the minnows...finally. And then the "iffy" part of the weather showed up. It got dark and some ominous clouds were heading in from the south. And a light breeze got quickly stronger. I was glad I had stayed close to the marina instead of following my original plan to work along the north dike. I headed back inside the marina...along with several other wimps in boats.
I tried dragging bait and chucking plastic in several places inside the marina. It had an average depth of about 8'...down from 10' on my last trip to the north marina a month ago.
No action in the last part of the morning but I was pleased to find out how well my new contour plastic boat seat worked. I got a smoking deal on a box of six of those if someone else is looking for one. I will post it on the 4-sale board in a day or so.
I was really torqued when I went to the fish cleaning station. Some doofus (or doofi) ...once again...had filled the grinder with fish parts before turning on the disposal. You guessed it. Jammed...again. Told the metal-faced young lady at the booth about it and she said she knew...and that they were "working on it". "They" must have been invisible. I sure didn't see anybody working on it.
Short day but fun and fruitful. That's what us old guys need. Leaves more time for naps.
[/#0000ff]
[signature]