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Three trips and your out or is it three strikes?
Went out to Willard again this morning with the yellow Yak. Beautiful morning, very light breeze. A perfect morning for paddling around. Paddling is all I did, not even a bite (strike). This makes the third trip and no fish. Plenty on the depth finder if that counts for anything. I drug some carp meat on one line and another with jig and worm.
I caught them ( catfish ) last year at this time of year. What's going wrong?
RJ
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[#0000FF]Not many good reports from Willard these days. I have had a couple of poor trips in the last month too. Got fish but barely. Not like past years.
The catfish population has been down for about 3 years. If you find a holding and feeding area you can still catch a few. But they do not carpet the bottom of the lake as they have in better times. Gotta work for them. And ya can't ketch 'em where they ain't.
The warm water is good for cats...usually. But sometimes they bite better at night during the warmest times of year. I don't do much night fishing these days but I used to fish the inlet channel a lot at night during the summer. It was not unusual to not even get a nibble until after dark. And then the fish would move in close to the bank and I could catch them both on bait and on shallow running Rapalas.
The past few years of low water have not helped the kitties. They spawn better when the water is well up into the rocks around the dikes. Not much good spawning structure around the lake otherwise. If they do spawn in open areas the carp and other egg munchers deplete a high percentage of the catfish output before it ever has a chance.
I have had a couple of good kitty trips...fishing mostly small jigs with worm. Not much love this year on minnows or meat. However, most of the fish I have caught have been within small defined areas and not spread out over all the water I have had to cover to find them. And those areas do not always produce fish. They make their own rules.
On my most recent trip I lost one nice crappie and landed a 21 inch wiper. The area in which I had hooked about 20 cats a couple of weeks before did not produce a single bite. No married ones either.
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I've been having a slow year too. This time of year is usually a numbers game for me on the local bass ponds with catches in the 80s, 90s, and even triple digits. Most are on the small to average size, but I can always count on a lot of action. This year, while I have scrounged up some nice ones, I'm only getting somewhere in the 20s typically for a 6-8hr excursion. I'm not sure what the deal is, but I hope things pick up as the water begins to cool this fall.
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Yep, same here. Hit WB from the north marina. On the water about 6:30. First time on WB in over 2 weeks. Didn't expect much due to the warm / low water level. Did catch one itty bitty kitty not even worth the effort to take a photo. Came off the water about 12 noon. Lots of PWC's and power squadron members on and more coming in as I was pulling out.
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"OCD = Obsessive Catfish Disorder "
Or so it says on my license plate holder
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I know most people can't get out and fish during the week but from my experience going early in the morning and fishing Willard is not as productive as it is fishing in the afternoon or evening, this time of the year at least.
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Curt,
Wish I could get out in the evenings. Just rarely works out .
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"OCD = Obsessive Catfish Disorder "
Or so it says on my license plate holder
