Perchy day at Willard

[Garfish]

My wife (Pat) and I got out for the 1st time this year. Stopped at the North Marina to buy a season pass. Wow. Price has almost doubled. Arrived about 8:30 AM. Only a few trailers in the lot. Headed to the Southwest corner and started trolling a variety of crankbaits with planer boards. Ended up with 6 nice-sized perch, a medium wiper, and a good-sized catfish. Where was everybody? Only one boat came near us in 3 hrs.  Were hoping for some walleyes, but the perch are a good second choice.  In many years of fishing Willard we have only caught one perch. Oh, and we caught a smallish crappie that we threw back.  Were marking some fish at 19 ft, but everything we caught was between about 12 and 15 ft. Tried a large hot-n-tot to get deep, but no takers. Very few fishing boats out.

[wiperhunter2]

My wife (Pat) and I got out for the 1st time this year. Stopped at the North Marina to buy a season pass. Wow. Price has almost doubled. Arrived about 8:30 AM. Only a few trailers in the lot. Headed to the Southwest corner and started trolling a variety of crankbaits with planer boards. Ended up with 6 nice-sized perch, a medium wiper, and a good-sized catfish. Where was everybody? Only one boat came near us in 3 hrs.  Were hoping for some walleyes, but the perch are a good second choice.  In many years of fishing Willard we have only caught one perch. Oh, and we caught a smallish crappie that we threw back.  Were marking some fish at 19 ft, but everything we caught was between about 12 and 15 ft. Tried a large hot-n-tot to get deep, but no takers. Very few fishing boats out.

Thanks for the report. The catching for perch has been great this year, they are not as big as we catch them in the Fall but it's nice to catch them at other thing of the year beside Fall. The price to get in the park has been going up for a while but the season pass is still way cheaper than a daily pass, especially if you get out to a state park more than 6 times a year. Not really sure why there are so few boaters out this year but that's fine by me, maybe some are launching from the South marina. What colors with you having your most success on?

[Garfish]

Mostly black and silver

[WalleyeAl]

I fished the SW for an hour or so as well. Nothing but perch and catfish for me so i moved else where and found some nice schools of walleyes and wipers.