Willard Bay

[utahsteelheader]

Well, its been a while to see anything about willard on here and someone asked about the dike so here is the skiny. They are still draining water out of the bay and if you haven't seen it, its low low and low. The outlet drain is about a foot out of the water and the ramps at the north and south are completely on land. They have been working on repairing it and to be honest I think as soon as the dike is completely exposed by the leak they will probably stop draining water out. They brought in some sonar equipment from Phoenix to run around the dike and check for possible leaks. The equipment is able to detect water flowing under ground. Well, it did detect a little flow of water by the leak and in a few other spots fairly close. I do not know whether they used the sonar all around the dike but to be honest I hope they did. It sure would be nice to only have this problem once and not over and over again.

So with this problem and I am sure they will get it fixed, so the best thing I could say now is to start praying for some snow. I would hat to see them get it fixed and then have nothing to fill it up with.
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[petty4life]

thanks for the update jeff. i know there is no boats allowed but if it freezes will they let us ice fish it?
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[utahsteelheader]

What do you mean if it freezes. The bay is froze over. I will say this though, but I am a chicken"beep" when it comes to walking out on ice, there is a frozen layer along shore but as you walk it breaks and then your on another layer. I didn't make it far because the chicken got the best of me and I like being dry in the winter. I think this is because they are draining the water that is causing this double layered ice. I think the biggest threat as far as the lake goes is over they were most concerned with people getting over by the outlet and disappearing. To go outside of the north marina is not going to be a real big deal and to be honest I am really surprised nobody fished the oulet very much. In the early spring they hammered the walleye and wipers right below the outlet when they were letting water out.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Hey Jeff, I posted up a report and some pics last week. I also mentioned that there were fish being caught both in the open water around the drain and below in the outflow. Here are the pics I posted.[/#0000ff]
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[font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1] [/size][/black][/font][font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=20196;"][#000000] LOW TIDE NORTH MARINA.JPG [/#000000][/url](159 KB) [/size][/black][/font][font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=20197;"][#000000] FINDERS KEEPERS.JPG [/#000000][/url](160 KB) [/size][/black][/font][font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=20198;"][#000000] WILLARD OUTLET.JPG [/#000000][/url](216 KB) [/size][/black][/font][font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=20199;"][#000000] THAT SUCKS.JPG [/#000000][/url](192 KB) [/size][/black][/font][font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=20200;"][#000000] WILLARD OUTFLOW.JPG [/#000000][/url](361 KB) [/size][/black][/font]
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[Theekillerbee]

Thanks for the update. I too hope there is a good bunch of snow this year so that place can fill back up! We need to have that place full this spring so that the smaller bait fish can have a good spawn.
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[djremo]

can we fish the outflow without a prob?are peeps catchin anything in the outflow?thanxs
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[fsh4fun05]

What was that thing suckin' up the water? Where does all that water go?
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]As far as I know, there are no restrictions on fishing the outflow. It is a greatly overlooked fishing hole. Lots of fish get sucked down through the grate when they are dumping water into the canal for irrigation.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As of two weeks ago anglers were catching lots of 2-3 pound walleyes, some wipers and even catfish and crappies.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Last year, when they shut the water down, there were thousands of big wipers stranded in the big pool below the outlet.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Best fishing when there is a lot of outflow is to the west of where the heavy water comes in. It makes a bend toward Salt Lake and there is a deep channel on the north side. You wear waders and wade out a ways from the south side and cast out and work your lures down through the current, just like river fishing.[/#0000ff]
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]As the pictures are titled, that is the outflow exit for the water. It goes under the dike and pours out the other side. That is the picture of the water flowing down into the big pool.[/#0000ff]
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[gnfishn]

Just a quick post. i got excited when i read tubeduds report about the out let at willard so i took a half day off and set out.. i fished from about 1-4 in the rain and snow.. without a bite.. (ok scratch that i did catch a big carp..) i threw rapalas and drifted a worm through the current with no luck.. lots of geese and ducks around though .. had a great time at least i wast behind the desk.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Glad you got away but sorry you didn't do better. It takes awhile to learn that little fishery. Also, I suspect that the front moving in might have affected the bite.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The guy that was down there the other day told me that on some days the fish all bit pretty good...all species. Then, the next day the only way he could catch them was occasionally snagging one. That's the way fishing is.[/#0000ff]
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[gn2mtns]

Oh I know how that can be.. i had bunches of fun though.. even watched a fox bouncing around in the weeds .. got kinda cold though but it was tons better than being at work.
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