Willard Tubing Trip 8-27-05

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]The weather report was for calm and warm. Just right for tubing Willard. TubeBabe and I hit the South Marina about 5:45. Still dark. Saw quite a few fish inside the marina on our way out. Couldn't get bit on plastics.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Noticed a few little cells to the south that had some lightning in them. Nothing to worry about. Right.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]At 6:30 I hooked my first fish, on my favorite purple and chartreuse plastic. Small channel cat from right next to the rocks to the north of the marina entrance. I kept throwing plastics, hoping for a walleye or maybe a crappie or two. TubeBabe had not had a hit on anything.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Just before 7:30, TubeBabe began dragging a minnow, to tempt a kitty. Her first pickup and run turned out to be a 19" wiper. That was her first ever. She decided she would like to do that some more. Had to smack her alongside the head to get that silly grin off her kisser.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I started tossing some minners too. I ain't as dumb as I look. If wipers wanted meat, I'd serve it up to 'em. Two or three quick small channel cats later, I went back to plastics. TubeBabe had not started a trend. Pure beginners' luck.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Our nice warm calm morning suddenly got "airy", and a dark little cell sneaked up on us and started spitting a few rain drops. I got a couple of neat cloud pics and one of a little piece of a rainbow (see attached). The north wind pushed up some nice waves and we were thinking about beating a retreat for the marina when it layed down as suddenly as it came up. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I got a series of small cats (average 14" - 15") on five different lures, still trying for other stuff. Oh yeah, I also yanked in a silly 7" yellow perch. I kept it for the multispecies pic attached. I did hang one cat 21" and 3# on my light rod. Fun, fun.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I had kept a limit of the cats, and threw several back. TubeBabe still had not caught anything except the one wiper. Just as I rounded the point to go back into the marina she got into a few channel cats and managed to bring in three.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I was marking small schools of fish inside the marina, along the edge of the channel on the north side. I changed plastics to a small smoke sparkle slider grub and soon felt the tick of a crappie. Hollered at TubeBabe to come inside, just in case we could get some crappies going.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]That was the only crappie, at 10 1/2". But it was lucky for TubeBabe that I called her in. She was still dragging a chub minnow around and as a "mini boil" of wipers came up for several seconds one of them snarfed her bait, put the line over its shoulder and boogied. She fought in her second, a slightly larger 20 incher. Same silly . [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I threw a RatLTrap for awhile and had one good smack. No hookup. I also threw some larger plastics and had a couple of hard hits that I am sure were wipers. But, although I had lots of fun with the kitties, I blanked on wipers today. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Saw quite a few boats head out this morning, all headed in different directions. Didn't see any trollers within view that seemed to have any success. There were a lot of birds on the water down off the feedlot, but they did not seem to be feeding or reacting to anything special (no boils).[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Water temp in the marina early was 71, warming to almost 74 in open lake. It was over 76 when we got out about 1 PM.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]By the way, both fish TubeBabe hooked on minnows came from about 10 feet of water, within casting distance of shore, for those who might be shorebound but anxious.[/#0000ff]
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[fuzzyfisher]

sweet dude nice fish.. sounds like the wetherman sucked you in like he did me.. but sounds like you faired better with your storms then we did..
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[petty4life]

thanks for the report Pat. sounds like you had a great time.
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[Hellsangler69]

Thanks for the report TD . I can see who is the wiper fisherman in the family . [] Congrats Tubebabe . I have hooked up the boat now . Just need to decide if I want to go to Willard or lake X tomorrow . I guess I will flip a coin about 5:00am tomorrow .
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[Out4Trout]

[cool]Nice report, TD. Looks like the fishing from tubes is much better this year with all of the new water. That's pretty cool that you guys got into 4 species!
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Thanks all. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]About the 4 species...that used to be a "grand slime" on Willard...walleye, channel cats, crappies and carp. There were also good numbers of bluegills and a few green sunfish. These days we need to add in wipers, smallmouth and yellow perch. I am attaching a pic of a "triple header" catch from the "olden days". I probably caught at least one carp too, but did not keep it for the "grand slime" pic. (By the way, you could keep 2 walleyes over 20 inches in those days)[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As the water cools, and the crazies thin out, it should become possible to have lots of multispecies days, if you plan it right and fish it right. That was what I was doing Saturday. I blew a few wiper hits, and I think I lost a small walleye shortly after hooking up, but not sure about smallies. They are in there, but they gotta be coaxed. The wierd weather and the descending hordes of skiers and PWCers didn't help.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Still though, it was a fun morning. Sorry I can't get more excited about Willard's wipers, guys. They are puny compared to what is available in other parts of the country. TubeBabe enjoyed the two she caught yesterday, but we were talking on the way home and she reminded me that we have had days of 50 to 100 fish EACH...on white bass that were bigger, badder and fought harder than those two skinny wipers. The largest (20") only weighed 2.6 pounds. The white bass we used to catch in Arizona would have weighed about 3.5#. at the same length, and we did get more than a few of those. [/#0000ff]
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