Sunrise over Willard

[wiperhunter2]

Ira and I got up to Willard this morning and were launched by 7:30 am. We decided to try a new location today, so we headed to the North dike, moving West to the Light pole, then South. We caught our first cat in 22 FOW, and picked up a few more before getting to the SW corner, including a double. We caught cat #9 in 11 FOW around 1 pm, pink and pink tiger fligs were the only producers today. Water temp at launch was 59 degrees, warming to 63 by our 1:30 pm departure. Nothing over 23" inches today. We got a few perchy type bites but no perch in the boat. Saw the DWR out today, checking gill nets, it will be interesting to hear about their results.

[wiperhunter2]

After seeing the gill nets out on Tue, I contacted Chris Penne about the results and this is what he said:

" So far walleye have been the most abundant fish in our nets, followed by catfish and wiper.  We're seeing lots of young walleye, both fish that were spawned this year and last year.  This is very promising for the coming years. We're seeing plenty of adult walleye too so the walleye population is looking great.  Wiper, while not as numerous, are looking good as well, with us observing large adults, yearlings (spawned last year) and even some young fish that were stocked as fry this year, which would be the palmetto strain fish. Catfish look largely the same with plenty of larger fish.  The one thing I noted with catfish is not seeing many young fish in the nets.  I don't find this concerning though since the catfish in Willard live a long time (often 15+ years), so they tend to have good spawns during the drought years and poorer ones during the high water years and can ride out the high water cycles that are less favorable for them.  Like I said, things could change a bit after today as we do three days of 8 nets, but I don't see the picture with walleye changing.  Wiper could change a bit as they tend to be a bit patchy where they can be more or less abundant on different sides of the lake.  Overall, I'm very pleased and encouraged by the picture we're seeing from the nets.

Chris"

[wiperhunter2]

I ask Chris a few more question, you can read them below then the reply from Chris.


Thanks much Chris. That is some very interesting info and from what I could see, the placement of the nets are in a different location than they are in the Spring when you are just going after walleye, at least the 2 nets we saw on Tues. Great news on the walleye and the wiper numbers. Members are reporting higher numbers of small wipers being caught, around 6", would those be this years stocked wipers? What are the palmetto strain wipers?

"Yes, we place our nets in different locations for our fall trend netting.  The walleye nets are set parallel to shore as shallow as we can without getting hung up on the dike - this allows us to focus only on fish coming into the shallows in the spring, which is geared towards spawning walleye.  Our fall nets are spread along the north, west and south shores and are meant to survey catfish, wiper and walleye.  We get some data on the perch, crappie and bass but not enough to make reliable inferences with as those species require different gears to catch.  The palmetto strain are fish we spawned here in Utah from striper eggs and white bass milt.  These fish were stocked as fry that were just a couple days old.  There were close to 15K wiper averaging 8-inches that were stocked in the reservoir in June.  It's possible some of the fish in that stocking were six inches since it's a average length of stocked fish with some being smaller and others being larger.  That said, those 8-inch fish likely would have grown a few inches already by now.  The fish we think are likely palmetto strain were caught in our nets this week at around 4-5".  So, if the small wipers were caught recently and they are around 6" or smaller, I'd say it's likely they are the palmetto fish that were stocked as I would expect the fish stocked in June to be closer to 10 inches or larger by now.  If they were catching those fish earlier in the summer, then it's likely they were the fish that were stocked at an average size of 8". 

Chris"

[Jmorfish]

Hey Curtis..tks for getting and sharing this info..think some of those walleyes might still be looking for a tussle pretty soon?

[wiperhunter2]

Hey Curtis..tks for getting and sharing this info..think some of those walleyes might still be looking for a tussle pretty soon?

They will but it won't be until the Fall die off of those small shad, water temps need to drop down to 50 degrees or lower and at this point it's still in the low 60's. Looking at the weather forecast, it looks like the temps will change next week.

[doitall5000]

Hey Curtis..tks for getting and sharing this info..think some of those walleyes might still be looking for a tussle pretty soon?

They will but it won't be until the Fall die off of those small shad, water temps need to drop down to 50 degrees or lower and at this point it's still in the low 60's. Looking at the weather forecast, it looks like the temps will change next week.

I'm watching "Lindners angling edge" showing how to use a slip bobber and a worm or leach to hold it right on there nose.  It's very effective on calm days. 
If you can find them with sonar and then drop down to them you may have something.

[wiperhunter2]

They will but it won't be until the Fall die off of those small shad, water temps need to drop down to 50 degrees or lower and at this point it's still in the low 60's. Looking at the weather forecast, it looks like the temps will change next week.

I'm watching "Lindners angling edge" showing how to use a slip bobber and a worm or leach to hold it right on there nose.  It's very effective on calm days. 
If you can find them with sonar and then drop down to them you may have something.

We used a slip bobber last year with pretty good success but not for eyes, perch.

[TubeDude]

I'm watching "Lindners angling edge" showing how to use a slip bobber and a worm or leach to hold it right on there nose.  It's very effective on calm days. 
If you can find them with sonar and then drop down to them you may have something.

I'm sure you realize that walleye fishing in Minnesota is vastly different than in Willard Bay.  The lakes the Lindners fish with slip bobbers are full of walleyes...and the fish tend to school up and/or stay pretty much in one area.  In Willard they are solitary and move around a lot in their constant search for food.  So unless you find an area with a stable concentration of walleyes in Willard (highly unlikely) dropping a slip bobber rig down and waiting for action might be a long wait.

That being said, slip bobbers do work.  I have used them in Willard for both perch and cats...but again only when I find a productive area with active fish.  Oh yeah, I have also caught some big wipers on whole minnows below a bobber at Willard.  And there are lots of folks who fish wipers below a bobber with either mussels or worms.