Willard Wondering

[TubeDude]

Just wondering how my beloved Willard Bay is doing.  How are the water levels doing...and the active bite?  I can't check it out for myself but I do maintain a loving interest.

[wiperhunter2]

Just wondering how my beloved Willard Bay is doing.  How are the water levels doing...and the active bite?  I can't check it out for myself but I do maintain a loving interest.

 Ira and I are heading there on Wednesday, so we can let you know what we find out but I did hear there was 5 ft in the  south marina, so that would mean it has only dropped a foot since we were there three weeks ago, guess we will see.

[Troutster]

I’ll be there tonight. I’ll type up a report.

[Troutster]

Hit Willard yesterday afternoon. Gave a guy a ride over to his boat. His wife got it stuck on the sand bar just S of the ramp in the N Marina. It was one of the direct drive, can’t raise the prop boats. They were able to just push it off. Closer to the ramp it’s 3.9 to 5 ft deep. Deeper in the channel on the way out. The ramp is now only 2 boats wide. Baracades keep you to the middle. The dock is still there but will only accommodate 1 boat per side. I went over to the west end and got skunked. The water is great for swimming, no bugs (until the sun went down), not many ski/wake boats braving the shallow launch so really pleasant, besides catching zippo.

[TubeDude]

Hit Willard yesterday afternoon. Gave a guy a ride over to his boat. His wife got it stuck on the sand bar just S of the ramp in the N Marina.  It was one of the direct drive, can’t raise the prop boats. They were able to just push it off. Closer to the ramp it’s 3.9 to 5 ft deep. Deeper in the channel on the way out.  The ramp is now only 2 boats wide. Baracades keep you to the middle.  The dock is still there but will only accommodate 1 boat per side. I went over to the west end and got skunked.  The water is great for swimming, no bugs (until the sun went down), not many ski/wake boats braving the shallow launch so really pleasant, besides catching zippo.

Sounds like the big "suckout" is putting a hurtin' on the water levels.  Don't look good for fall perchin'.  But if you can still get out of the harbors then the actual fishing could be good  It has been in the past and low water tends to concentrate the fish a bit more.  Wait and see.

The decline in fishing action is pretty much standard for this time of year.  By now the shad spawned in the spring are all at least a couple of inches...to over 3"...in length.  And there are clouds of them all over the lake.  The predators have plenty to eat without chasing anglers' gaudy stuff being dragged at mach 3.

This is when us low-lifes start draggin' baited fligs for catfish.  They ain't purty but they still bite, they fight good and they eat good.  Pride has no place among serious anglers.

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Pat,
Put your fligs to work on Sockeye last week, that purple gorilla flig with just the round bead was the best thing I had for putting the lure right in the flossing zone, but second fish took off straight across the Kenai and my 12 lb test wouldn't stop or turn it, so it took off with a new lip flig for jewelry.... Wished I would have had more of that model flig it was just the ticket... Those fish were so powerful they tore everything up, had to go to 20 lb leader and they still were breaking me off from time to time... Fun trip, thanks for the great lures, wish you were still making them, I'd be putting in a replacement order after that trip, lost a lot of tackle... Thanks and Later Jeff

[ReelMasta]

Fished last weekend morning.  Caught some cats.
Biggest was 23" and tasty.
Water was stained everywhere due to I'm assuming the low water washing mud in along with last wind storm.
Bottom bounced with worm harness. The big cat came of off #7 shadrap bass colored.

[wiperhunter2]

Hit Willard yesterday afternoon. Gave a guy a ride over to his boat. His wife got it stuck on the sand bar just S of the ramp in the N Marina.  It was one of the direct drive, can’t raise the prop boats. They were able to just push it off. Closer to the ramp it’s 3.9 to 5 ft deep. Deeper in the channel on the way out.  The ramp is now only 2 boats wide. Baracades keep you to the middle.  The dock is still there but will only accommodate 1 boat per side. I went over to the west end and got skunked.  The water is great for swimming, no bugs (until the sun went down), not many ski/wake boats braving the shallow launch so really pleasant, besides catching zippo.

Will that's too bad, were you trolling cranks or bottom bouncing?

[TubeDude]

Hey Pat,
Put your fligs to work on Sockeye last week, that purple gorilla flig with just the round bead was the best thing I had for putting the lure right in the flossing zone, but second fish took off straight across the Kenai and my 12 lb test wouldn't stop or turn it, so it took off with a new lip flig for jewelry.... Wished I would have had more of that model flig it was just the ticket... Those fish were so powerful they tore everything up, had to go to 20 lb leader and they still were breaking me off from time to time... Fun trip, thanks for the great lures, wish you were still making them, I'd be putting in a replacement order after that trip, lost a lot of tackle... Thanks and Later Jeff

Sounds like fun.  Those big fresh run sockeyes are tough.  Can you imagine what Utah anglers had those to catch, instead of their wimpy fresh water cousins?  Well, maybe not wimpy.  Just smaller engines in a smaller chassis.

Sorry the store closed down.  I know you don't have a lot of spare time on your hands, but at some point you might try making a few of the simpler models.  There's a YouTube available on making them and some PDF files if you need them.  Also, a few of the BFT guys are dabbling with it and some getting pretty good.

https://youtu.be/JNKlIx-BuU8 

[Troutster]

Fished last weekend morning.  Caught some cats.
Biggest was 23" and tasty.
Water was stained everywhere due to I'm assuming the low water washing mud in along with last wind storm.
Bottom bounced with worm harness. The big cat came of off #7 shadrap bass colored.

Very cool!  I caught a couple of dandy catfish casting a chatter-bait to the rocks, when there was water, trying to catch smallies.  At what speed do you troll for catfish? Any suggestions on color for a worm harness for catfish?

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Hit Willard yesterday afternoon. Gave a guy a ride over to his boat. His wife got it stuck on the sand bar just S of the ramp in the N Marina.  It was one of the direct drive, can’t raise the prop boats. They were able to just push it off. Closer to the ramp it’s 3.9 to 5 ft deep. Deeper in the channel on the way out.  The ramp is now only 2 boats wide. Baracades keep you to the middle.  The dock is still there but will only accommodate 1 boat per side. I went over to the west end and got skunked.  The water is great for swimming, no bugs (until the sun went down), not many ski/wake boats braving the shallow launch so really pleasant, besides catching zippo.

Will that's too bad, were you trolling cranks or bottom bouncing?

I was bottom bouncing a Flicker Shad on one pole and trolling another FS 90 ft back. I also casted and slowly retrieved some paddle-tailed jigs, a jerk-bait, and a chatterbait through the clouds of bait hoping a predator was nearby.  I was using Livescope, and bait clouds were everywhere! A month ago I could see on my LS, larger fish hanging right around bait balls.  I could cast to them and occasionally catch a wiper or walleye. The only individual fish I saw on Monday were on/near the bottom.  I usually bring night crawlers to bottom bounce but it was a short trip.  The D ring on my boat was loose and I couldn’t tighten it on the trailer. Good excuse to fish for a couple of hours.  I had heard reports of wipers slurping but I didn’t see anything.  Take my fishing report with a grain of salt.  It’s my first year with a boat fishing Willard.

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Pat,
Put your fligs to work on Sockeye last week, that purple gorilla flig with just the round bead was the best thing I had for putting the lure right in the flossing zone, but second fish took off straight across the Kenai and my 12 lb test wouldn't stop or turn it, so it took off with a new lip flig for jewelry.... Wished I would have had more of that model flig it was just the ticket... Those fish were so powerful they tore everything up, had to go to 20 lb leader and they still were breaking me off from time to time... Fun trip, thanks for the great lures, wish you were still making them, I'd be putting in a replacement order after that trip, lost a lot of tackle... Thanks and Later Jeff

Sounds like fun.  Those big fresh run sockeyes are tough.  Can you imagine what Utah anglers had those to catch, instead of their wimpy fresh water cousins?  Well, maybe not wimpy.  Just smaller engines in a smaller chassis.

Sorry the store closed down.  I know you don't have a lot of spare time on your hands, but at some point you might try making a few of the simpler models.  There's a YouTube available on making them and some PDF files if you need them.  Also, a few of the BFT guys are dabbling with it and some getting pretty good.

https://youtu.be/JNKlIx-BuU8 

Hey Pat you are right for sure on the power of those chromed out reds, put a little, well lot of current behind them and they are a force to be reckoned with...  Thanks for the link, I'll give it a gander, what was it that you use for the floatation?  I know that was the hard part for you to figure out... Would be nice to build a restock of some of my dwindling supply... Thanks for figuring them out, they sure are handy for their needed applications...  Later Jeff

[wiperhunter2]

Out here on Willard today, they have begun work on removing the dike in the SW corner  overall the average depth is 14', at the end of the dock in the South marina the depth was 3.6', channel was 9', in the very center. Poor catching so far, that isn't a surprise on the West side, so we headed to the East side where we just caught a little wiper and lost another bigger fish

[TubeDude]

Hey Pat you are right for sure on the power of those chromed out reds, put a little, well lot of current behind them and they are a force to be reckoned with...  Thanks for the link, I'll give it a gander, what was it that you use for the floatation?  I know that was the hard part for you to figure out... Would be nice to build a restock of some of my dwindling supply... Thanks for figuring them out, they sure are handy for their needed applications...  Later Jeff

I have made "serviceable" fligs out of about any kind of closed cell foam material you can find.  But for the best in toughness and good floatation I standardized on the dense blue foam kneeling pads...available a lot of places.  I get mine at Amazon...in 1" and 1 1/2" thickness.  And punch the plugs with sharpened tubes as shown in the pics.



  MAKING FLIGS 1.pdf (Size: 1.31 MB / Downloads: 5)

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Out here on Willard today, they have begun work on removing the dike in the SW corner  overall the average depth is 14', at the end of the dock in the South marina the depth was 3.6', channel was 9', in the very center. Poor catching so far, that isn't a surprise on the West side, so we headed to the East side where we just caught a little wiper and lost another bigger fish

Thanks.  Did you get a picture of the progress on the dike?

[wiperhunter2]

Hey Pat you are right for sure on the power of those chromed out reds, put a little, well lot of current behind them and they are a force to be reckoned with...  Thanks for the link, I'll give it a gander, what was it that you use for the floatation?  I know that was the hard part for you to figure out... Would be nice to build a restock of some of my dwindling supply... Thanks for figuring them out, they sure are handy for their needed applications...  Later Jeff

I have made "serviceable" fligs out of about any kind of closed cell foam material you can find.  But for the best in toughness and good floatation I standardized on the dense blue foam kneeling pads...available a lot of places.  I get mine at Amazon...in 1" and 1 1/2" thickness.  And punch the plugs with sharpened tubes as shown in the pics.

---

Out here on Willard today, they have begun work on removing the dike in the SW corner  overall the average depth is 14', at the end of the dock in the South marina the depth was 3.6', channel was 9', in the very center. Poor catching so far, that isn't a surprise on the West side, so we headed to the East side where we just caught a little wiper and lost another bigger fish

Thanks.  Did you get a picture of the progress on the dike?

Looks like they just started , they have removed the big rocks and they were just starting to remove the dirt around 7am this morning

[Troutster]

Hit Willard yesterday afternoon. Gave a guy a ride over to his boat. His wife got it stuck on the sand bar just S of the ramp in the N Marina.  It was one of the direct drive, can’t raise the prop boats. They were able to just push it off. Closer to the ramp it’s 3.9 to 5 ft deep. Deeper in the channel on the way out.  The ramp is now only 2 boats wide. Baracades keep you to the middle.  The dock is still there but will only accommodate 1 boat per side. I went over to the west end and got skunked.  The water is great for swimming, no bugs (until the sun went down), not many ski/wake boats braving the shallow launch so really pleasant, besides catching zippo.

Sounds like the big "suckout" is putting a hurtin' on the water levels.  Don't look good for fall perchin'.  But if you can still get out of the harbors then the actual fishing could be good  It has been in the past and low water tends to concentrate the fish a bit more.  Wait and see.

The decline in fishing action is pretty much standard for this time of year.  By now the shad spawned in the spring are all at least a couple of inches...to over 3"...in length.  And there are clouds of them all over the lake.  The predators have plenty to eat without chasing anglers' gaudy stuff being dragged at mach 3.

This is when us low-lifes start draggin' baited fligs for catfish.  They ain't purty but they still bite, they fight good and they eat good.  Pride has no place among serious anglers.

 I just watched your 8-17-24 video at Willard slaying the cats.  I have seen several other of your videos fishing with fligs and I’m impressed. Those things flat out work.  I watched the how to make a flig video… Not sure I want to make them. Dang!  At what speed do you pull those?

[RockyRaab2]

Remembering that Pat fished from a float tube pretty much tells you the speed. (Not meant to be sarcastic, btw.)

[TubeDude]

 I just watched your 8-17-24 video at Willard slaying the cats.  I have seen several other of your videos fishing with fligs and I’m impressed. Those things flat out work.  I watched the how to make a flig video… Not sure I want to make them. Dang!  At what speed do you pull those?

Yeah, I fished from my tube.  But I had a 40# thrust electric for variable speeds up to about 3 mph.  However, most days I started at about .5 mph and then varied the speeds from .7 to as much as 2.5 for BB or cranks.  But most of my fligging was under 1.5 mph.  I also pulled fligs using only fin power...stopping, starting, speeding up and slowing down to vary the presentation.  Often got more inquiries than a slow steady electric motor thing. 

Here's another Youtube video on flig rigging and fishing.  https://youtu.be/0v3pDtYDsZs  

And a 2 part PDF file on shapes, sizes and colors.

  FLIG SIZES COLORS 1.pdf (Size: 1.73 MB / Downloads: 8)
  SIZES & COLORS 2.pdf (Size: 1.04 MB / Downloads: 9)