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We hit the Bay today at 7:30 am launched from the north harbor. Just as we came past the bouys there was some guy in a tube Tubedude it was. We started trolling towards the north dike and then south into freeway bay with no love after about 2 hrs washing lures we picked up and headed to the S/W corner fishing there was just as slow. Around noon we found the lure they wanted perch fire tiger was the ticket. By 4 pm we landed 9 walleye and 13 or so wiper what a great first trip on the Bay. On are way back to the marina we passed Wiperhunter2. I hope he had a great day also. After reading Tubedude post it looks like the fish was feeding up before the big storm front coming in. Water temp was 43.5 at launch and 46.8 at the end of the day. Good luck and be safe out there
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Yes I have used the Tica caiman reels for years, then Jrod hooked me up last year with the Velocity Black ops reel and there is no looking back. I love that reel. Tks RILEYFISH
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Great report and it sounds like s fun day. Thanks for posting. J
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+1 they leave Tica in the dust.
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That is a VERY impressisve report for this time of year! Thanks for sharring.
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[#0000FF]Fantastic. Glad you guys got into them.
I'm attaching a pic I took of you guys leaving the harbor. Thought it might be someone from BFT but I couldn't see who it might be.
Ya know, your report illustrates a couple of good principles:
1. You can't catch 'em where they ain't. You gotta find the fish...active fish.
2. No matter what the conditions there will likely be some fish biting...somewhere...on something.
I noticed you guys moving around a lot and then saw you fire up and head toward the west side. I suspected that fishing had been slow and hoped you would do better over there. Happy to hear that you did.
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Great report. It's hard to believe it's Feb.
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Yes that's my experience on willard also. Patience and persistence. i think I have had more days on that place leaving smelling like skunk then smelling like fish, but it was a great first trip to willard and it will not be my last
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[#484848]Wow ...... Look at the condition of those fish ...... Good report.[/#484848]
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Nice report! That is way earlier than I expected to hear somebody get into the Wipers. Also good to hear they were liking fire tiger again. Last year fire tiger never seemed to work for me. Had much better success with chrome and blue. How deep is the water at the launch ramp? Do you think I could launch an 18 foot glass inboard/outboard or is the water still too shallow?
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mallardmann - North marina at Willard is not the deepest it could be, at the bottom of the ramp it's about 2'. Get off past that just a few yards and it drops to 4-5'. In the middle of the channel to the "hump" it's 5-7', up to about 4.5' at the hump. Then once past the buoys it's 7 to 8 to 10' as you head straight west. From there you should be ok until you get closer to the island or rock piles north of Freeway Bay. Stay in the middle in the channel, don't go any further than you need to from the ramp east or south in the marina. The pocket around the permanent dock is 4 to 6' but recommend just keeping the outdrive trimmed up as far as possible until you get past the buoys. Have a safe trip, good luck.
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"OCD = Obsessive Catfish Disorder "
Or so it says on my license plate holder
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Well put Tin-can. I have a 22 ft deck boat and I had no problem launching just trim up and go slow
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Thanks Tin Can. I think I'll wait until the cold front has passed and maybe give it a try early March.
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Good to know HYDROFISH. If you didn't have any trouble launching I should be okay. Thanks again for the report.
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Sounds like a good day!
Thank you for report!
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I should have taken yesterday off to fish instead of today! I trolled 5 hours straight today trying every different speed and every different lure I could think of... All I reeled in was a big fat skunk!
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We saw you over toward the East side of the Bay before you moved to the West, when I noticed you were trolling in a pattern I wondered if that was you but figured anyone that was trolling a pattern was catching fish, especially when I noticed you were standing up ever once in a while. I did consider trolling in your direction but thought it is hard to leave fish to try and catch fishing somewhere else. If I had known you were going to be there, I'd have turned my two way radio on. Sounds like you did much better than we did, as far as numbers go.
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Simply awesome!![cool]
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