Fishing Time: Willard
– 6:30 AM to 10:30 AM, Pineview – 12:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Weather: Willard –
breezy turning windy, clear skies, T-50s, Pineview – Strong wind, clear, T-70s
Moon Phase: 77% Moon
Location:
Willard/Pineview
Best Baits: Willard –
small curly tail grubs on 1/16 oz jighead, Pineview: 7-inch swimbait
Water Temp: Willard -
70˚ F, Pineview - 69˚ F
Who Went: Bobber
John, Dunc
WILLARD:
The reports coming from Willard Bay recently have been
ridiculously good for walleye, wiper, and crappie. Willard has always kicked my butt with only a
couple trips out of around ten producing any fish, but these reports sounded to
promising to pass up.
We arrive to Willard Bay at 5:30 AM to find a locked
gate. Apparently the ramp doesn’t open
until 6. Okay. Off to the gas station to grab a bite. Back to the gate at 5:45 and sat there and
rigged rods until the magical gate suddenly opened at 6 AM.
We launched at the north marina and went around the corner
to the north where there are some small underwater humps.
We were hoping to find some crappie. The area proved to be successful and we began
catching them one after another. Not
monsters but respectable from 9-12 inches.
We filled the livewell with our limit then moved on to wiper/walleye
fishing.
You can check out our Crappie
success by clicking on the link below:
As usual the walleye/wiper fishing produced nothing. I did have one bite on a bottom bouncer rig,
but that was it for 2 hours of trolling.
We bottom bounced using worm harnesses going 1.0 to 1.2 mph. We also trolled at 3.0 to 3.2 mph with various
crankbaits trying to luck into a wiper.
Unfortunately luck was not on our side.
By 10 AM the wind was whipping and the long rock dikes of Willard were
getting really boring to look at as we trolled aimlessly from one end to
another.
We loaded up the boat and
conceded to another wiper skunk at Willard.
The crappie made it a successful Willard trip though. After loading the boat, we filleted our
crappie, put them in a cooler on ice, and headed up the canyon to Pineview.
PINEVIEW:
We arrived to Pineview around noon and were greeted with 20
mph winds and a lake full of recreational boaters. We thought about bagging the whole idea, but
then realized we don’t make it up that way very often and decided to tough it
out.
After launching we motored through the gauntlet of boaters,
and made our way over to a shoreline that was somewhat protected from the wind
and had a few less boats running around, but was still miserable due to boat
wake that continued to pound us all day long.
We worked the entire shoreline with me throwing a 7-inch
Berkley hollow belly swimbait rigged weedless for musky and Bobber John using a
jig/trailer hoping to land a bass or two.
Midway through the run, Bobber had an unexpected bite followed
immediately with cut line and a long white flash appearing along the weedline
where his jig was. We knew
immediately that it was a musky trying to inhale his bass
jig. This got the juices flowing and we
worked the area hard hoping to entice another bite, but it didn’t happen.
We tried fishing a few other areas, but quickly realized the
wind was not going to allow it and headed back to the wind protected area. We must have worked that same
shoreline 4-5 times with no bites before Bobber switched to his trusty marabou
jig underneath a bobber and put a few small crappie and perch into the
boat. At least he was catching something.
He took one perch and sliced out a 1x1 inch square to bait a
second rod for musky. He left this
second rod hanging from the boat as he fished with his marabou under a
bobber rig. It wasn't long, before
the bait rod was doubled over with a musky gnawing at the other end. He let the fish run with the bait for a few
seconds and then set the hook on a very nice musky. You can check out the epic battle of musky
vs. Bobber by clicking the link below:
As soon as I put a net on the musky the hook fell from his
lip. Whew. We pulled him onboard for a quick photo shoot
and then Bobber set him free to swim another day. I’ve never seen a musky with that much fight
left in him after landing them. No doubt
he is still swimming. They are one of
the coolest looking fish in freshwater.
Unfortunately this ended up being the only musky bite of the
trip. I casted all day long with various
swimbaits, spinners, and even a large tube jig, but never could entice one into
biting. That makes two Pineview trips in
a row for me not even getting a bite, and each trip I never stopped casting. It seems these fish are getting harder to catch. It also seems my body is getting older
because I was sore the next day. Dealing
with boat wake crashing the boat all day and casting large baits took a toll on
these 33 year old bones!
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