No Skunk Smell on My Hands

Fishing Time:  6:30 AM to 12:00 PM

Weather:  sunny, slight breeze, T-90s

Moon Phase:  4% Moon

Location:  Willard Bay

Water Temp:  75 degrees at first launch, 77 degrees when we left

Best Bait:  12-15 ft diving crankbait

Who Went:  Bobber John, Dunc

Bobber John and I made the trip to Willard Bay for our annual wiper skunk, only this time we didn’t get skunked!  We didn’t catch many, but pulling one fish out of that lake feels like you’ve accomplished something. 

We arrived to the lake when the gates opened at 6:00 AM.  We launched and headed to the light pole where we began trolling about 200 yards offshore.  We were running crankbaits at about 12-15 feet and the depth to bottom averaged around 15-16 ft.  Our speed was between 2.5 and 3.0 mph.  About 15 minutes into trolling Bobber John hooked up with what ended up being the biggest fish of the day.  It was a nice wiper that gave Bobber John a great fight.  

We were excited thinking maybe today was the day we finally slay a bunch of wipers.  Nope.  The next two hours were spent aimlessly trolling up and down the dikes, around the island and everywhere in between.

   

In the back of the southwest corner I hooked up with our second fish.  It didn’t put up much fight and I began thinking walleye, but it ended up being a feisty little crappie instead.  Better than nothing.  Now back to trolling.  

Somewhere between the southwest corner and the light pole I finally hooked up with our second wiper of the day.  This one didn’t fight like the first one and didn’t have much size to him.  Not the biggest wiper, but at least I was on the wiper board. 

After about another hour of trolling with no bites we made one final move to the northwest dike and tried trolling there.  Within minutes of trolling my rod was doubled over and line was zipping off my reel.  I picked up my rod and the fight began.  At least for a minute, then it suddenly popped off.  That was the only bite we had along the northwest dike and we had both hit the brink of trolling insanity, so we called it a day.  Three fish doesn’t sound like much, but for us at Willard Bay that was a successful day!