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Went fishing to Willard today. Stopped at Sportsmans first and bought $40 worth of jigs for wipers plus a 2nd pole permit. Fished the east dike for a couple hours without even a bite. Went over to the north dike. Payed $3 to drive down crappy rutted road and park. Discovered that everyone else and their dog were there. Fished anyway. Had one hit that took my worm off. Had another fish break my line. Guy on the left of me caught a wiper, guy on the right caught a carp. Stayed till dark hoping to get one more bite. Got eaten by mosquitoes instead. Left at ten, when the gate supposedly "closes" with about 20 cars still in parking lot. Came home wishing I'd gone to Pineview, Mantua, or Utah Lake.
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The water was a little too dirty on Saturday. Wait till it clears and use small 1/8oz maribu jigs in chartruse/white, 3' under a bobber. worms are not a good choice for wipers...........
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I've never tried but I've heard of guys doing excellent with worms, for wipers.
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Mantua was also disapointing! We fished for a couple hours there with only one bite... I think the weather change made the fishing a little harder...
Maybe Utah lake white bass????????
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Don't feel to disappointed...fish'n also for us on Willard yesterday resulted in a skunk...we were in a boat...marked lots of fish off the West 1-2 miles north of the light pole...tried everything but no takers just a couple 'mystery' fish hits without hooksets...yep and water clarity was horrible with lots of floating debris...this past weeks weather really helped reduce the water clarity all over Willard. Chocolate milk color confined to basically the south end...but we found it all over Willard yesterday...
Yep and the bugs when the wind died down were nasty even on the main body of water...no bugs with installed stingers just a gazillon flying knats or whatever them damn things are...
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[quote UThunting]Maybe Utah lake white bass????????[/quote]
Only had 45 minutes to kill between honey-do's on Saturday afternoon, so I stopped at Lindon Harbor around 1pm. Managed to catch 1 small crappie and 2 whities. The water was still messed up from the rainstorm.
I went back later that evening with my 4yr old daughter. The water cleared up a bit and it was good action until the sun went down. I managed 40 whities and one carp in two hours. Probably could have landed a few more WB if it wasn't for my daughter's 3 potty trips. [  ]
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I agree, I would never use crawlers for wipers.[  ]
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Thanks for the supportive posts, now I don't feel like it was just me although I can still learn a lot when it comes to fishing for wipers. Just a few questions for all you Willard Bay pros out there. First, if you're fishing from shore what is the best way to locate wipers? Willard's such a massive body of water with such little structure that it seems like finding them is pure luck. Apparently the north dike near the outlet is a popular spot for wipers (as evidenced by the combat fishing there on Saturday) but I doubt that's the only spot where you can do well for them. I think next time I'll try to cover the water as fast I can with a flashy spoon or spinner and then maybe switch to a jig when a school is found. Course if had a boat then I could just troll around to locate a school, but  ly that is not the case nor will it be for awhile. I do have a float tube but walking is faster then paddling along in that. What time of day is the best to fish for them? I know that white bass will feed at night but it seems like they're more of a daytime feeder. Now if only the weather would cooperate I could get out there and try to even the score with those wannabe striped bass!
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I also went to Willard on Saturday. It was my first time there, so I wasn't sure what to expect. We hung around the north marina. Lots of people fishing, but I didn't see anyone catch anything all day. Just before dark I threw a worm out from pelican beach and hung out with the family. I had my drag set to zero hoping for a cat to take it for a ride. I was holding my 1 year old son while my wife took my daughter to the bathroom. I heard my reel zipping away so I set my son down and cranked the drag up. I had about 15 seconds of fun before the fish let go. It felt like a very good fish, but I'm guessing it was a carp. Fished until dark with no more bites. Slow fishing but a good time with the family.
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Willard S*cks! Next time I will go to 21st pond before I go to Willard again.
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[cool][#0000ff]There are only about two good indicators when looking for wipers...birds and "happy harvesters". Both seem to know when the wipers are around.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If you are hitting the rocks by yourself, and looking for fish, about your only option is to bring a variety of lures and keep moving up and down the dike until you find fish.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Wipers are not homebodies. They seldom stay in one place very long unless there are large numbers of shad also schooling there. Wipers follow the groceries. That means that they are moving around most of the time and the best you can hope for is to intercept a moving school of them long enough to hook one...or more.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As most experienced wiperholics will attest, having a boat is no guarantee that you will find fish either. Lots of stories of pretty fair wiper catchers smelling like skunk after a full day of running, gunning, watching sonar and "washing lures" all over the lake. Willard is a fairly good sized pond and the fish can be anywhere at any given time. Definitely a case of 90% of the fish being in only 10% of the water. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The good news for the shorebound...at this time of year...is that the wipers do cruise the rocks more during their false spawn period. But after that they scatter back out in the main lake and are not often caught near shore again until they begin "boiling" on baby shad later in the summer. They are much easier to spot...and catch...when they are in boil mode. That's when you put on your running shoes and stay ready to sprint to any visible surface activity.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Sending you a PM with a draft of my recently finished writeup on wipers. Hope it helps.[/#0000ff]
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Hey TD would you mind sending me a copy as well? Thank you...
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My grandson called me last evening from Willard and said they were knocking the heck out of the wipers from shore. He gets to fish during the week as his shift carries into the weekend, they have been doing pretty well this year from the shore. I'm like most people and haven't done worth a darn from the boat this spring.
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[quote SkunkedAgain]Hey TD would you mind sending me a copy as well? Thank you...[/quote]
[cool] [#0000ff]Ultimately all my "stuff" is going into CD/books. But I don't have a problem sending occasional copies of first draft chapters to proven BFT members. I have quit posting up a lot of it on the open forum because I don't care to make it available to lurkers...or anyone else who might use it to my divantage. That has happened.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Also sending you the chapter on Willard Bay Cats. If anybody else wants to ask for copies please use a PM.[/#0000ff]
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I and a friend hit Willard Saturday afternoon too. After reading all the negative posts, I didn't expect much in the way of catching. My main goal was to give the boat it's first spring shake-down to make sure everthing is in good operating order. I was very pleased with my boat and all it's new gagitery.
We went home with three very nice wipers. We caught all of them on crank baits trolling 2.3 mph ... nothing on soft plastics.
The water temps started the day at 57 degrees and ended the day at 62. It will warm up fast now ... as will the wiper catching. Don't get caught not ready to join in the action. It will be here before you know it.
We ran into Wiperhunter2 and Ira out on the lake. Good to see you guys on the water again after the long winter.
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[quote Old_Coot]
We went home with three very nice wipers. We caught all of them on crank baits trolling 2.3 mph ... nothing on soft plastics. [/quote]
And why don't I hear about this stuff you know I would tell you guys about what lures and places they are hanging out? I would tell you? HA HA!
Couldn't be that I will be seeing you in two weeks [ ] could it! [fishin]
Great report. by the way.
fnf[cool]
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You may be a friend of mine. But for a few more weeks, your still the enemy! [:p] [:p]
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[quote Old_Coot]You may be a friend of mine. But for a few more weeks, your still the enemy! [:p] [:p][/quote]
HA HA! [sly][sly][sly][sly]!!!! Guess you don't want to know about the secret bait then? It's been putting 24" wipers in the boat the last two weeks.[fishin].
fnf[:p]
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Yes, Willard sucks. Tell all your friends that too[ ]. Oh, and its no good for water skiing either! I dont think they are alowing PWCs out there this year either, or a least thats the rumor I started at work. I can already garantee 3 waverunners that wont be there this summer cause theyre dumb enough to believe me[fishin].
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[quote LakePowlBassMan]Willard S*cks! Next time I will go to 21st pond before I go to Willard again.[/quote]
KC, I know the feeling! But I'm also "feeling" this year's gona be good at Willard. I do however agree with ya ... a limit of two wiper (in stead of 6) would be cool too. Well, there's pros and cons to that concept too.
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