Wipers not at Willard Bay

[beerbatterbum]

Has anyone figured out the wipers at lakes like Jordanelle or East Canyon?  They’ve been putting them in those lakes for years now so you would think there should be plenty and with some size. 

Several years ago I managed to consistently find them for a period in the rock cliff area, in June in the last hour of the day, trolling crank baits. They were in relatively shallow water, like 30ft. Back then they were all around 2 lbs. Since then I’ve only managed to pick one up here and there. Sometimes I’ll troll crank baits on the way back in to the ramp after catching a limit of Kokanee and find one. Always inside the buoys. Biggest so far was 19” and 3.5 lbs. Mostly I just C&R rainbows doing that. I’ve also trolled crank baits between the PWC launch and the dam. 

Yesterday I trolled crank baits and crawler rigs at East Canyon and only caught rainbows. Some were big, like close to 20”, on a Wally Diver. But no wipers. 

I’m not sure where to look. Do they roam near the surface in 100+ ft of water?  Do they sit on the bottom in deep water?  It’s hard to transfer what I do in shallow featureless Willard to these deep lakes. I’ve also tried sniping marked fish near the bottom in 30-50ft with jigging raps and spoons and even a crawler on a drop shot, but only caught rainbows.

[2knots]

When we chased stipers in Cali on the deeper lakes they would typically be 30-60’ down usually in areas that had schools of shad, they would work the bait balls and then push it up. I haven’t chased the wipers here except at Willard but would think that the striper genes is what’s creating the boils and feeding habits. Finding perch, crappie, Kokanee fry schools I think would be a big help in locating the wipers. When the boils weren’t going on we trolled small anchovies in a bait head and did well them. Good luck hope you figure the puzzle out.

[brookie]

I accidently picked one up on Jordanelle about a month ago. I was trolling a 4.25" glow rocky mountain dodger with a glow squid at 29' looking for kokanee. I saw a small school of fish at 30' and went down to them - hooked up. I suspect the wiper mistook the glow dodger for a small koke.

[beerbatterbum]

I wonder if when you’re Koke fishing and you troll thru a school that doesn’t bite, it’s actually a school of wipers?

[brookie]

I wonder if when you’re Koke fishing and you troll thru a school that doesn’t bite, it’s actually a school of wipers?

I couldn't go that far. I have intended to go back to that area and try specifically to target wiper with cranks or other wiper gear, but haven't made it.

[Mildog]

Wipers at Jordanelle have been a mystery in 2019 had a couple trips where we found them in bays and caught them every cast for a couple hours on curl tail Jigs and cranks. I’ve never been able to duplicate what we did back then since? Catch an occasional accidentle one every so often. Also caught 1 accident 19” musky that year as well. A couple years ago saw some guys at cleaning station with a few when we were cleaning kokes. They said the guy into them near river inlet inside of buoys on POPGEAR and worm , go figure.
This is a pic from July 2019. Mixed bag Kokes, wipers and SMB.

[beerbatterbum]

That year I caught a bunch near rock cliff there was always a guy there on a float tube. Every night he walked away with a stringer of wipers. That was when the limit was 6. One night I finally asked him how he did it. He said he just trolled slow with a worm. No spinner, no weight, he just kicked around slowly dragging a worm on a hook just under the surface. Maybe sometimes we make it too complicated LOL.