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Hello,
Does anyone have any experience catching wipers through the ice? Are they active or do they become dormant? Unfortunately, I do not have any wiper waters nearby and do not know much about them. Depending on the ice, I may have a chance over Christmas to try a wiper water and am looking for any advise or experience. Thanks for any positive input.
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From my experience it is luck and being in the right place at the right time. The one I caught was using one of TubeDude's bait bugs tipped with a piece of worm but Mike4cobra caught a really nice one a few years past using a chartreuse curly tail jig and a meal worm. They eat all year long but when you are sitting in one spot, you have to be lucky.
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They go pretty dormant and sit in deep water to conserve energy. Once the water drops below 45-50, they are almost comatose. Their behavior in winter is more like the striper half than the white bass half. Find a deep hole, swiss cheese the ice and work em hard !!!
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Not sure if that reply was to me but in my experience, that is not the case. Of course there are exceptions in every case but the one I caught was in shallow water, less that 6 ft, the one Mike caught was in 6 or 7 ft of water. I have fished the deeper water at Willard many times and never had any luck.
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[#0000FF]My only experience with them has been on Willard Bay...here in Utah. But I have read reports of guys catching them through the ice in Colorado and a couple of the midwestern states that have them.
I don't fish Willard much through the ice but I have had (and lost) a couple of wipers. Both were hooked on small jigs fishing for crappies or walleyes. Both pulled hard and made big circles under the ice. Not good to have a lot of fishing buddies too close if you hook up a wiper.
I know a couple of guys who keep a whole dead minnows on a dead-stick rod just above the bottom while jigging with the second rod. Most trips they will not get bit...and often the bites are from chilly catfish. But they have caught a few wipers over the years.
I also know guys who drop underwater cameras down on Willard under the ice and have reported seeing quite a few wipers cruising around at various depths. But most of them seem to be totally oblivious to the baits and lures being fished around them. Just gotta get lucky...at the right place and right time.
Here's a picture of the 6# wiper caught by Mike4Cobra about 3 years ago...on a small gulp minnow being fished for perch and crappies.
[inline "WINTER WIPER.jpg"]
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I appreciate the responses and experiences. Sounds like a crapshoot. I always find it interesting how some bass/perch bite in the winter and others don't much. I am sure I will be anxious for a break from the in-laws so I will probably give it a try. If I have any luck I will post a trip report.
Thanks again
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I was under the impression Willard never got real thick ice, I've always wanted to ice fish Willard for walleye but never bothered heading that way because of poor ice conditions. Is there a certain part of the lake that ices up better than other spots
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My first experience with winter Wipers was in Oklahoma, open water, water temp was between 35 and 40 degrees. Most of the fish were located in the deepest parts of the lake and were vertically jigged using spoons mainly. Depths were anywhere from 20 to 35 ft.
Willard is not that deep overall. Does anyone venture out to the deeper parts of Willard during the ice to fish ?? There will always be a few fish moving in shallow, but my edumacated guess is they are laying in the deeper parts to the lake.
Not sure, but I am not aware of anyone that catches them with regularity under the ice ?? I have not pursued them myself through the ice, so I am using my open water experience in Ok.
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[#0000FF]Apples and oranges. Fish in open water deep lakes cannot be compared to the same fish in shallow lakes that freeze over. The same species will behave differently in different waters...or even in the same waters under different conditions.
Yes, the wipers do congregate in the deeper spots on the west side of Willard...under the ice. And they do still feed through the winter...and will hit baits and lures. But just like channel cats, they move slower and eat less...and less often.
Gizzard shad are more tolerant of cold than threadfin shad. But lot of them still die off under the ice. Wipers, cats and even walleyes pick off the dying and eat dead ones from off the bottom. If they are well fed, they don't need to hit the silly stuff that anglers dangle in front of them.
But if the wipers get hungry...and food supplies are low...they will roam around under the ice looking for whatever they can eat. During the low water years they can be caught through the ice from many places around Willard that are less than 10 feet deep. Ditto for cats, crappies, perch and walleye. When the water is low and the fish are hungry they adapt.
Even the most dedicated (and lucky) ice angler on Willard will seldom score more than one or two wipers on a single trip. Skunks are more likely if you target only the wipers. But, they do bite under the ice and if your timing, tactics and techniques are all right then you can catch them.
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[quote Therapist]
Willard is not that deep overall. Does anyone venture out to the deeper parts of Willard during the ice to fish ?? There will always be a few fish moving in shallow, but my edumacated guess is they are laying in the deeper parts to the lake.
Not sure, but I am not aware of anyone that catches them with regularity under the ice ?? I have not pursued them myself through the ice, so I am using my open water experience in Ok.[/quote]
Sure, people fish the deeper parts of Willard when there is good ice, from my experience, even if there are more fish in the deeper areas, there is also more bait fish there as well, which tends to keep the fish full. Where as, the shallow water has less food and will keep the fish looking for food, giving you a better chance to catch them. You are correct, few people, if any, catch them through the ice with any regularity at Willard.
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