03-10-2016, 10:19 PM
[#0000FF]Had my early trip on the south marina a couple of weeks ago. Got a few kitties then. Decided to challenge my annual first trip skunk at the north marina. Ha ha...neener neener. No skunk.
Launched at 8ish. My blazer and a truck and boat trailer the only occupants of the parking lot. Over 20 rigs there when I returned just after noon.
Air temp 44 and water temp just over 46...about 10 degrees warmer than two weeks ago. But not warm enough. Did warm up to 51 by about 1 pm. And it appeared that water levels have come up about a foot since I stopped there last month. Keep it coming.
Water flat calm all morning. Barely a ripple a couple of times. Us float tubers hate calm water. Ha.
Primary quest was for early crappies. Got into a few early in previous years. Not today. For the first 1 1/2 hours I rotated through a whole lotta crappie type stuff...small plastics, small marabous, tipped ice jigs under a bobber, drop-shot weightless tube jigs. You name it. I tried it. I did get one small cat on a white tube jig. And I lost one footlong crappie on that same jig rig. And I got several rattles and tick whacks that didn't turn into anything except jerking practice. Finally realized I was more ready than the fish were.
About 10ish I swallowed my pride and rigged one rod with a BELHC...blue-eyed, left-handed chub. They almost always catch something in Willard. Today was no exception. Every once in a while I had to put down my jig flinging rod to set the hook on a cookie cutter kitty trying to abscond with a BELHC. Kept 3 for a fish fry. No skunks.
Covered a lot of area today...from 5 feet to over 12 feet...from the marina channel to along the north dike. My new sonar battery worked fine but my display screen must have gotten out of practice over the winter. Didn't show many fish. Saw some onesies and twosies...but no stacks that looked even vaguely crappie-ish. Still too early I guess.
Watched some of the boats that came out to share the lake with me. They went every whichaway...from the light pole to the north dike to Freeway Bay...and points beyond my sight. Never saw anything caught and most of the boats kept moving. Hopefully the water warmed up a bit more later and some fish got active. We'll have to see what this next weather session does to help or hurt.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
Launched at 8ish. My blazer and a truck and boat trailer the only occupants of the parking lot. Over 20 rigs there when I returned just after noon.
Air temp 44 and water temp just over 46...about 10 degrees warmer than two weeks ago. But not warm enough. Did warm up to 51 by about 1 pm. And it appeared that water levels have come up about a foot since I stopped there last month. Keep it coming.
Water flat calm all morning. Barely a ripple a couple of times. Us float tubers hate calm water. Ha.
Primary quest was for early crappies. Got into a few early in previous years. Not today. For the first 1 1/2 hours I rotated through a whole lotta crappie type stuff...small plastics, small marabous, tipped ice jigs under a bobber, drop-shot weightless tube jigs. You name it. I tried it. I did get one small cat on a white tube jig. And I lost one footlong crappie on that same jig rig. And I got several rattles and tick whacks that didn't turn into anything except jerking practice. Finally realized I was more ready than the fish were.
About 10ish I swallowed my pride and rigged one rod with a BELHC...blue-eyed, left-handed chub. They almost always catch something in Willard. Today was no exception. Every once in a while I had to put down my jig flinging rod to set the hook on a cookie cutter kitty trying to abscond with a BELHC. Kept 3 for a fish fry. No skunks.
Covered a lot of area today...from 5 feet to over 12 feet...from the marina channel to along the north dike. My new sonar battery worked fine but my display screen must have gotten out of practice over the winter. Didn't show many fish. Saw some onesies and twosies...but no stacks that looked even vaguely crappie-ish. Still too early I guess.
Watched some of the boats that came out to share the lake with me. They went every whichaway...from the light pole to the north dike to Freeway Bay...and points beyond my sight. Never saw anything caught and most of the boats kept moving. Hopefully the water warmed up a bit more later and some fish got active. We'll have to see what this next weather session does to help or hurt.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]
], too bad the crappie did not want to play, hopefully that will change by next month.