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Made it out to Willard and was fishing by 7:30. First wiper within a 100 feet and a second soon after. Worked the same area for an hour with no luck. About 9, I noticed birds gathering a few hundred yards off. I thought it was too early for a boil, but meandered over to investigate. I thought wrong. For the next hour, I worked boils. When I figured the direction, I'd pull in front and kill the engine. Pick one up as they came towards me and usually another as they passed. Then on to the next one. In an hour, probably caught a dozen wipers. Once the wind came up the boils ended. They never did get a full blown boil going. Looked like small groups of fish were working bait balls. After the boils stopped, I worked the same area for another hour and caught another 6 or 7 stragglers. Turned out to be a pretty good day. My only regret was not having a fly rod with me.
Larry
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Sounds like a great time. I need to fly rod some on the boil.
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What you were seeing is slurps similar to lake powell the last 3 weeks. The shad are at about 3/4" and are swimming on the surface in small groups and the fish are just swimming up and slurping them up.
In about three weeks there will be full boils going on as the shad get bigger and start to form big schools.
Thanks for the report it had to be fun.
Next week I will be at lake powell catching the stripers that are full on boiling now.
fnf[cool]
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I think you are correct Tony but I will say that I noticed last week that the fish are already starting to ball up. Not sure if that is a result of a early spawn this year or just the vast numbers of shad in the water. Most of what I saw last week looked like this attached pic but I did see a few balled up groups as well, wish I had taken a pic of the balled up groups but you have seen it before.
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I'd guess route right. At one point I could see there different mini boils within fifty yards of each other. I now really appreciate how fast wipers swim after watching them stream by on both sides of the boat. Last fall I got into a big boil. This was not l like it at all. With clearer water this year, I'm looking forward to many more boils at Willard.
Larry
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That looks typical for this time of year shad every where from 10 feet down to the surface. Like boils if you watch for the birds it will take you right to the feeding fish boil or no boil. You really need to match the hatch though or you don't tend to catch fish.
FB what were you using to catch these fish if you don't mind sharing. I'm thinking it had to be pretty small to get them interested in it.
FNF[cool]
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Great news!!! I was fishing Sunday and thought my eyes were deceiving me. I saw a small boil but it went away as fast as I saw it.
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Actually, was a pretty big chrome/blue iipless crankbait.
Larry
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