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We got tired of waiting so I powered up the sidescan and went looking...And then we crushed the wipers! It took a couple spots to find them but once we did it was game on. Who knows where they will be tomorrow but if you find them, don't leave. We stayed in one spot for several hours and if we went 10 minutes without a fish we would wonder if we caught them all.
Some light bites but most of them were rip your rod off the boat aggressive. Water temp averaged about 50* 11 fow next to a 6' ledge is where I found them. The graph went nutz. No rhyme or reason to what side of the boat they would hit on.
We tried cranks and grubs n stuff but mussels were the ticket.
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Nice job, so the side scan helped out today. I got the model just under the SI and I'll probably be sorry. Glad it worked for you. Later J
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Remember reading about guys in CO slaying wipers w/ fresh mussels... and I remember hardly anyone on here mentioned using them at all. I asked why that was and some of the locals said they just wouldn't work very well in willard for whatever reason.
Seems like they work fine! I'm kinda skeptical how well they will work when the water is substantially warmer though.
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[quote Gemcityslayer]Remember reading about guys in CO slaying wipers w/ fresh mussels... and I remember hardly anyone on here mentioned using them at all. I asked why that was and some of the locals said they just wouldn't work very well in willard for whatever reason.
Seems like they work fine! I'm kinda skeptical how well they will work when the water is substantially warmer though.[/quote]
How many years ago was that? Its been posted about for the last three year that mussels are the go to bait, not only for those's fishing from shore but also those fishing from boats. As the weather warms, it is even better.
fsh4fun05- nice going John, looks like you had a great first boat trip of the year. Did you have any problems launching or retrieving your boat?
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Nice job! Those are some fat wipers. Willard is the best place I have found to use side scan. How do you rig up a mussel?
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I launched out of the North. Water is about 8' as long as you stay in the middle in front of the ramp. No problems going out the channel.
The ramp was only 2/3 open, not sure why.
As far as rigging goes, a couple split shots about 18" above a 1/0 ewg Gamakatsu. We didn't have to throw it very far...1/5 would fall off the hook while casting so there were some free meals
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It was probably 4-5 years ago I don't recall exactly but I've been following this board for over a decade... was a time when they were never mentioned. They are really popular for big wipers at Pueblo Res. in CO.
Once the shad spawn I think the fish start looking more up for food than on the bottom.
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I remember reading about those huge wipers caught at Pueblo res , seem like they were over 20 lbs and I was hoping they would get that big here but so far that has not been the case.
Three years ago in May was the first mention I found of mussels being used at Willard:
http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gfo...ls;#823475
Last year they were widely used, with members using them throughout the Summer and into the Fall, no doubt because of anglers success in other post but I guess they could be used all year, if some wanted to. Here is one in Aug:
http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gfo...ls;#945263
Here is one from Sept:
http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gfo...ls;#947768
Oct:
http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gfo...ls;#947768
Looks like Nov wasn't as good:
http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gfo...ls;#951982
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There are a few other lakes in CO that produce 15-20lb wipers too I think the one thing they have in common is that they have fairly big populations of green sunfish / bluegills as well as shad. I think if Willard had a healthier population of "panfish" you'd see some 15lb class wipers. I don't think you can really say the climate in CO is the main contributor there because Willard has a pretty similar climate, although Pueblo in particular is a little warmer year round.
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Smoked some red and green bell peppers, onions and asparagus. Cooked up some tortillas, a little lettuce and some fresh wiper fillets...delicious! I should give those fish more credit.
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how much larger and deeper are those reservoirs in Colorado? could have something to do with it, and fishing pressure as well. I believe the proximity of willard to large population centers would prevent any wipers there from ever reaching 15 lbs. Too much pressure.
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[#0000FF]Willard is just a big shallow bowl...compared to the reservoirs that traditionally produce larger wipers. But the biggest difference is in the food supply.
Willard is pretty much limited to one type of forage...the gizzard shad. They are available in edible size only from about July through November. They spawn in late spring and grow fast...reaching a size too large for most predators by late fall. Then the late hatchlings usually die off in the colder water and there are none in the ideal food range for several more months.
Most of the premier wiper waters have multiple small forage species for the wipers to feed on through most of the year. Takes groceries for growth.
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forage may be a significant factor, but you have to keep in mind the water depth and summer temps at Willard. These certainly are not ideal conditions for those fish.
This is certainly a reason why Newcastle is the current state record holder, and why the wipers in Minersville have already grown so large -- forage + better habitat.
Sure wipers are a "warm" water species, but look at what happens to stripers in Powell during the summer: they cannot handle the summer surface temps and head for 40'+ water where it is much cooler. This is much more significant for the larger fish. This certainly plays a role in Willard's ability to grow truly large wipers.
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[#0000FF]Definitely.
Even the white bass like deeper/cooler water during the summer. Down in Texas you gotta fish them on the bottom with live shad during the hottest months.
The wipers in Willard stay pretty active during the warmer times, however. They have to. The shad are meal sized starting about July and if the wipers don't eat they miss out later.
But there is a definite upturn in action beginning about the first of September when the water temps start to drop again.
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[quote Watershadow]how much larger and deeper are those reservoirs in Colorado? could have something to do with it, and fishing pressure as well. I believe the proximity of willard to large population centers would prevent any wipers there from ever reaching 15 lbs. Too much pressure.[/quote]
I don't think pressure has anything to do with it. Some of the biggest wipers in CO come from lakes very close to Denver. There are more people on the front range of CO than the entire state of UT.
Like Tubedude said, it comes down to food. The food supply affects fish growth more than any other factor. If Willard had gobs and gobs of sunfish / bluegills in addition to the shad and more crawfish you would see plenty of 10-15lb class wipers.
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Depth, pressure and food certainly.
in a deep large reservoir, the fish can range over a lot more territory; not so in willard. with a 12' depth, those fish are seeing probably hundreds of lures during the year and there are no deep areas to get away from it. i believe that is a factor. You could grow 15lbrs if you had some restrictions I would guess.
Tubedude; dont the walleye feed heavily on crawdads in willard as well?
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[#0000FF]Crawdads are the overlooked food factor in Willard. In earlier times, when there were no shad and wipers...and the water generally remained well up into the rocks all year long...crawdads were a lot more prolific. And the catfish grew much bigger...as did the walleyes.
But in former times the walleyes relied heavily on crappies as their main menu item. And they munched the abundant bluegills and green sunfish as well. Crawdads were not nearly so important to walleyes then.
Today we have shad and wipers. Shad feed the predators well, but only for about half the year...when they are small enough to be eaten. Shad grow fast and outgrow the mouths of those that want to eat them. So that means other potential prey items have to fill the food void.
Today the population of bluegills has declined to almost nothing. And green sunfish have virtually disappeared from Willard. And since there is more predation on young crappies...from wipers as well as walleyes...the crappie numbers are way down from what they used to be.
Yes, there are still crawdads but with the water levels remaining below the level of the dike rocks for several years running the mudbugs have a tough time surviving the predation and being able to reproduce. Now they have to look out for not only the fewer and smaller catfish but also the hungry wipers and walleyes during the months there are not edible sized shad to eat.
Here are a couple of pics of crawdad eaters.
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[quote Watershadow]
Depth, pressure and food certainly.
in a deep large reservoir, the fish can range over a lot more territory; not so in willard. with a 12' depth, those fish are seeing probably hundreds of lures during the year and there are no deep areas to get away from it. i believe that is a factor. You could grow 15lbrs if you had some restrictions I would guess.
Tubedude; dont the walleye feed heavily on crawdads in willard as well?[/quote]
It isn't necessarily depth but that is a factor depending on the species. Willard has a huge surface area and even though it isn't very deep, it holds a lot of water. Plenty of water. I just disagree with you in that aspect, pressure and amount of water are factors that are not as important as food supply.
I think you are over thinking it.
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Actually the depth of Willard is the number one reason the wipers don't grow larger. This is a proven fact and the DWR guy that got the wipers put in Willard predicted that would happen when they were first planted. Wipers simple can not grow large without deep water, secondary to the water depth would be food but the wipers could easily grow to 15 lb maybe even 20 lbs just by have the deeper water. This will be proven in the coming years as the DWR stock more wipers in the deeper waters throughout the state. I'll see if I can find the thread, where this was talked about before.
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