Willard 7/30/25

[wiperhunter2]

Ira and I got out to Willard yesterday, we knew it was going to get hot later, so we were on the water by 6 am and off by noon. I wanted to see if they had started work on the dike, so we headed to the SW corner. Water level looked low enough but we did not notice any work. We started trolling cranks and worm harnesses at 2 mph, heading toward the light pole. Around 7 am I looked back to the SW corner and they had a back hoe on the top to the dike removing dirt and when we took a closer look we could see they had already removed the big rocks that line the dike. We continued on to the light pole, with only one hit that whole way, so we headed to the other side of the lake to Freeway bay. We were marking huge numbers of shad there.


We started trolling with the same method as we used on the West side and started catching wipers and cats. We were only catching them on chartreuse worm harness, so after getting no love on the cranks I wondered if a chartreuse crank might work, sure enough, once we put on a fire-tiger crank, we started catching them on those too. We ended up with 7 or 8 wipers up to 16", 5 or 6 cats, up to 21", a 13" perch and a 15 to 16" eye. Water temps got up to 77 before we left. Hear is a pic from the lowest parking spots at the South marina.


All in all it was a great trip, considering the amount of shad in the water. One last thing, the shad were on top jumping out of the water, the ones were were seeing were less than 2", surprisingly no wipers were boiling on them and no birds were diving on them.

[Jig-fisher]

That's encouraging that they are still biting with all that food in the water Curt. That's a good report and thanks for sharing.

[wiperhunter2]

That's encouraging that they are still biting with all that food in the water Curt. That's a good report and thanks for sharing.

Thanks Paul, we had brought chub meat, just in case the trolling faster method didn't work but we never needed it, once we found some active fish. Only 4 or 5 boats on the water that day, likely because of the reports of low water conditions and boats getting stuck on sand bars like troutster reported.

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Curt, What is your thoughts on this new low level for the bay, will there be any water left for the fall perch pickings? Crazy that they went and flushed all that water with another drought on the horizon.... Sure hope this doesn't ruin all the good that had been building over the last couple years... Any word on the forum? Sure hope they can find a way to keep things alive... Later J

[TubeDude]

As I mentioned in a previous "doomsday" post, a big downside potential to the "flushing" is sucking a lot of fish out of the lake and down into the canal below.  That's what happened during their last flush to repair the dike.  As the outflow subsided you could look down into the canal and see big schools of wipers.  And the snaggers also caught a lot of walleyes hanging out below the wipers.

When the water is going out at high speed it creates a current in the area of the outflow pipe.  Fish follow current and SLURP.

[gmwahl]

Hey Curt,

I'm planning on being at Willard tomorrow morning. What depth were you fishing?

Mike

[wiperhunter2]

Hey Curt,  What is your thoughts on this new low level for the bay, will there be any water left for the fall perch pickings?  Crazy that they went and flushed all that water with another drought on the horizon.... Sure hope this doesn't ruin all the good that had been building over the last couple years...  Any word on the forum?  Sure hope they can find a way to keep things alive... Later J

I haven't been out of the North marina lately, so I can't speak for the depth, where we normally fish in the Fall but I really doubt it will have any effect on the perch but we might have to head out farther from shore. From what they told me, they are working on building the new forum as we speak, no exact date on when it will be finished. Did I read that you were up in Alaska recently? Did you do any fishing while you were there? Since I haven't read any fishing report, I'm just guessing that you were sightseeing up there.

[wiperhunter2]

Hey Curt,

I'm planning on being at Willard tomorrow morning.  What depth were you fishing?

Mike

Be careful going out the channel tomorrow, don't turn left or right, until you are out at least 100 yds or so. We were catching them in 10 to 11 FOW. Good luck out there Mike.

[gmwahl]

Thanks a load, Curt! I hope to at least get some catfish while trolling. We will be there from about 6 am until lunchtime. After that, my Nordic butt will start melting!

Mike

[wiperhunter2]

Thanks a load, Curt!  I hope to at least get some catfish while trolling.  We will be there from about 6 am until lunchtime.  After that, my Nordic butt will start melting!

Mike

I hear you on the temps, same reason we did that on Weds, it gets way too hot, after noon. It will be interesting to find out if the wake boarder boats come out there on the weekend.

[TubeDude]

Been fishing and taking pictures out of the north marina for a few years.  Here's a pic taken from the end of the eastern ramp at the north marina during extreme low water.  Gives you a good idea of why boats are hanging up to the south of the ramp.

[oldguy]

Thanks a load, Curt!  I hope to at least get some catfish while trolling.  We will be there from about 6 am until lunchtime.  After that, my Nordic butt will start melting!

Mike

I hear you on the temps, same reason we did that on Weds, it gets way too hot, after noon. It will be interesting to find out if the wake boarder boats come out there on the weekend.

Let them have it sea tow and the wrecker's can increase there Pocket book.

[Troutster]

Thanks for the report. It tells me that I need to move around more and try different colors if they are not biting. Going to FG this week but I’ll hit Willard next week if there is still enough water.

[wiperhunter2]

Thanks for the report. It tells me that I need to move around more and try different colors if they are not biting. Going to FG this week but I’ll hit Willard next week if there is still enough water.

We are getting out there again tomorrow, so we are hoping the water level hasn't dropped any more, guess we will see. Good luck on your Gorge trip.

[wiperhunter2]

Been fishing and taking pictures out of the north marina for a few years.  Here's a pic taken from the end of the eastern ramp at the north marina during extreme low water.  Gives you a good idea of why boats are hanging up to the south of the ramp.

Because of that berm to the left and many others, lots of people forget about them when the water gets low and will run aground or hit their prop. Thanks for the reminder Pat.

[SkunkedAgain]

Hey Curt,  What is your thoughts on this new low level for the bay, will there be any water left for the fall perch pickings?  Crazy that they went and flushed all that water with another drought on the horizon.... Sure hope this doesn't ruin all the good that had been building over the last couple years...  Any word on the forum?  Sure hope they can find a way to keep things alive... Later J

I haven't been out of the North marina lately, so I can't speak for the depth, where we normally fish in the Fall but I really doubt it will have any effect on the perch but we might have to head out farther from shore. From what they told me, they are working on building the new forum as we speak, no exact date on when it will be finished. Did I read that you were up in Alaska recently? Did you do any fishing while you were there? Since I haven't read any fishing report, I'm just guessing that you were sightseeing up there.

Hey Curt, thanks for the updates and info there... I did do some fishing while in AK, but I haven't been trusting the forum lately so I didn't do a post.. I may throw a summer wrap up post together, I've been out a few times and haven't really posted anything, so maybe I'll do a catch all type post.... Hope the new forum will work well and I'm happy to hear they are working on one...

Pat, thanks for your info on the flush as well... appreciate that info...  Later Jeff

[MWScott72]

Sounds like a good day out there. Hoping to get up there in the next couple
Weeks and putt a beating on the cats (or anything else that wants to tangle).