Cool morning at Willard

[theboilermaker]

Thought we were going to get the skunk on, but the wind died down and we wiped the skunk away with three cats in an hour. Wind picked up again and we left it at that. Nothing big. Special thanks to Tube Dude for the great info.
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Yay team. Glad you found a few that wanted to play in the cold. Sure does warm things up when you get a bite.
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[theboilermaker]

Yes it does, except for my brother in-law. I told him to dress warm and he wears pants with holes and a hoodie. I think next time he will understand dress WARM. Thanks again!
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]In laws should be outlawed.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]But if they fish it ain't all bad.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Were you "fliggin'"?
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[theboilermaker]

We were fligginal the way.
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[chinook]

How come we don't hear about wipers being caught much? Seems like the cats have the upper hand. Walleyes? Are there any biting right now?

Thanks for the pics and the update.
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[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]There have been several discussions lately on fish populations and fishing...with Chris Penne from DWR contributing info about wiper stocking and recruitment numbers. Bottom line is that the overall wiper populations are very low. The year class from 2014 was very successful and provided good fishing for a while. Their numbers have dwindled but the survivors are big and fat. There were encouraging showings of yearling and 2 year old fish in the October nettings but it remains to be seen how that translates to fishing next year.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]According to netting results, there are decent populations of walleyes...of several year classes. But, like the wipers, they have lots of food to eat. The shad populations have been incredible the last couple of years. That is good for the fish but bad for fishermen. Predators need only feed for a few minutes each feeding period...every day or every other day. Once full they don't pay much attention to the silly stuff fishermen drag by them.[/#0000FF]
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[#0000FF]Wipers and walleyes ARE biting (feeding) right now. But they are few and scattered...and have plenty of natural food. And their metabolisms are slower in the cooling waters so they don't eat as much or as often. Long past the time for any "boils".
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[#0000FF]May, June and into July there were some good angler days...on all species. After the normal wide open times in August and September...which were a bust this year...there have been very few reports of catching anything besides catfish.
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[muirco]

I told my buddy dress warm for the gorge this past weekend for night fishing... let's say he was shivering the first night and made a stop at the store for warmer clothes and hand warmers for the next 2 nights. [fishon]
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