# Fatbass and LOAH at Willard



## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

This trip had been in the making for a little while and fatbass and I finally had a day where our schedules could meet for some of the famed wipers of Willard Bay Reservoir.

I had never caught a wiper and fatbass is the "Wiper Disciple" as of late, so I was sure I'd get my hands on some ferocious fighters today. I got to his house with time to spare and we were on the road by 6:00am.

We launched at the North Marina and were already trolling 4 lines before the sun had even touched the water. It didn't take long before I had my first Willard hookup from my pointer off the planer board.










My biggest walleye to date. Probably around 19 inches. I was hesitant to keep it, but fatbass reassured me that the meat is delicious (the only other walleye I've eaten was poorly prepared) and that was a keeper! :lol:

Into the well.

I had a new blue/white krocodile wobbling off the back about 50 or 60 behind us and scored my first wiper a few minutes later:










Not bad at all. All the hype about the fight is true! These hogs will go where they want once they're hooked. All you can do is guide them and hope your line holds. It was great hear my drag actually WORKING again. It's been awhile since I had a big fight and it felt great to scratch another species off the list.

So now I was off the hook, but fatbass had only observed thus far. There was somewhat of a dry spell for both of us for a little while and then a strong hit broke the silence for fatbass.










Great fish. I was sure that I'd get to see some fine specimens for the rest of the day and I wasn't disappointed.

The next fish would be the fish of the day.










Wow. That was a mighty walleye at 23 inches and it apparently had a taste for human flesh since it sunk a fang into fatbass:










Battle scars. 8) Just proof of a good day.

There's no exaggeration about the bugs either. INSECT INSANITY!!!

Notice all the little specks on my hoodie. Those are all bugs and you can't see all of them. They were everywhere and relentless to find out the most annoying way to "bug" us.










(Gotta love the captain pose. :wink: )

They were bad, but we held out and kept fishing.

Here's a little reminder to check your lures from time to time. A lure that's swimming wrong will twist the line up pretty badly.










Yeah, that was fun to mess with (snip!). :roll: That mess was just the tip of the iceberg. No matter what, any time I opened the bale, line would spring out and start to wrap up around itself immediately. At least fatbass was kind enough to let me use one of his spare rods rather than waste valuable trolling time trying to fix my line problems.

Another fish from the Lucky Craft:










The Lucky Craft had been my hot lure and was responsible for quite a few wipers visiting the boat today.

Now it was fatbass' turn to get some surface action:










And then this beast:










That was 20 inches and really took fatbass for a ride. Beauty of a fish.

I was glad to get another decent sized wiper and that would be it for the day.










We caught quite a few that are still swimming, but this is what the table looked like before the carnage started:










I've got some serious meat soaking in brine as I type. Those fillets should be ready any time now. :twisted:

Thanks to fatbass for a great day. He's the Willard Wizard, for sure. I had a lot of fun and now have a new respect for bass.

He took some pics too, so I'm sure he'll add those in a little later. Cheers, fatbass!

Happy Fishing, Humans.


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## Treehugnhuntr (Sep 7, 2007)

Sweet! I was anxiously waiting the report.

Now let's hear the real story fatbass. :wink:


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## BRL1 (Sep 12, 2007)

Glad to see you finally made it out there and got to mark Wiper off your list.
They are a great fight. If Fatbass gave you his recipes to cook those fillets you won't be disappointed in the taste.

I have fresh catfish fillets soaking from out there this morning.

Nice of you guys to wave as you went by.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

We were looking for you! Fatbass even thought he saw you on the shore, but when we went to investigate, it turned out to be someone else.

Were you on the shore or in a boat today?

Glad you got some cats. I was kind of hoping to hook into one, since I've never caught one bigger than about 12 inches.


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## metal_fish (Mar 19, 2008)

Someday i shall conquer the wiper also!
Good job nice fish, nothing better then saying yeah i have caught that!


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Okay, I just fried up some fillets.

:shock:

I tried one fillet of walleye and one fillet of wiper.

**Succulent**

Tell me this doesn't look delicious:










Tender flaky meat that melts in your mouth.

My kid won't stop bugging me for more. :lol:

I see what everyone has always been saying about walleye. That's a tasty fish! The wipers aren't bad, either. A little fishier than the walleye, but still really good.

Wow. Thanks fatbass!


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## hunterfisher (Sep 14, 2007)

LOAH
Mark another species off the list,
and another great post.


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## fixed blade XC-3 (Sep 11, 2007)

Man those were some of the fattest i've seen. Good work. Fatbass, I'm still sitting here waiting quietly!  Wtf, is the deal with the bugs? Are they like that all year long?


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## dunn_gary (Sep 11, 2007)

Nice guys. I went today as well with my son, his wife, and my grandson of 16 months. The little tyke actually handled it pretty well. 

We caught a few as well, although I can't say we slayed them. But my daughter-in-law caught her first walleye, 18", and her first wiper, 19". I caught one more 'eye that was 19" and my son and I caught a few more wiper. We had the walleye and 1/2 of a wiper for dinner tonight. My mother-in-law says she won't cook fish anymore. She'll let me do it! And that's Ok by me.

Bugs were bad for a while, but a little breeze kicked up and made it better. We caught one wiper on a Cabelas grave digger baby bass, and the rest of the fish came on rattle traps (silver/blue back). Even the 'eyes were caught in the rattle traps. We had three lines in the water for little while, but one of the wipers managed to tangle all three so we went back to two.

Sorry, no pics. But they wouldn't have looked any different from what Loah and Fatbass already posted, except for the faces behind them. But then, my wife is in Atlanta with the camera. She teaches at Roy High in the business area, and works with the FBLA (future business leaders of america) club and had one of her students qualify for nationals, so she is there escorting that student and will be back Monday. Problem is, I am leaving for D.C. to the National Education Association Representative Assembly (the largest democratic body in the world) Monday morning and won't be back until the 7th of July. I am missing here much, and will miss her worse by the time I'm back. We're hoping to get a short vacation together right after I get back. We don't have much time, as I am getting a new hip on the 17th of July. I may not be able to do much fishing for a while.


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## mjschijf (Oct 1, 2007)

Well done guys. Looks like it was a great day. Congrats on the new species, LOAH! Those Wipers sound like awesome fighting fish. I am hoping to be able to cross them off my list soon. Oh, and yeah that fillet does look delicious. I just ate a big meal and I'm already hungry again because you had to post a picture of that succulent piece of fish. Great... :wink:


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## Hellsangler69 (Sep 26, 2007)

Nice Report . I'm still trying to decide if I will go anywhere tomorrow . Willard or Strawberry . Lets see lots of bugs or no bugs . :lol:


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Good luck with the hip, Gary. I hope you can find some fishing time as soon as possible. I'm sure you'll need it by then.

Have fun at the berry, Hells. :lol:


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## rapalahunter (Oct 13, 2007)

HOLY CRAP!!! Hell of a day out there guys. Good work. Keep honing those wiper skills fatbass I want you in peak form when my day comes! :twisted:


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## BRL1 (Sep 12, 2007)

LOAH said:


> We were looking for you! Fatbass even thought he saw you on the shore, but when we went to investigate, it turned out to be someone else.
> 
> Were you on the shore or in a boat today?
> 
> Glad you got some cats. I was kind of hoping to hook into one, since I've never caught one bigger than about 12 inches.


I was on shore on the west side. About where the sandy beach turns into the rocks. I didn't have the Taj Mahal set up, just had my tube laying there. I started in my tube but when the boats started using me for a slolam (sp) bouy I headed in and set up. I watched you guys go north up that side and waited for you to come back down but it looked like a hillbilly yatch club on the north end most of the time I was there. The fishing must have been good up there cause once most of the boats got up there they stayed. Made it nice for me though. The bugs really started getting bad about 9:30 and when the deer flies started to bite at 10, it was time to go.

Again congrats on the catch. The results looked really good. I think I am going to try to make Fatbass's hushpuppies with fresh cat tonight. The four I caught were just good eatin' size 14-16 inches.


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

Sounds like a good trip thanks for the report!


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## DIPPER (Jun 21, 2008)

Great day on the bay!
I love to make fish sandwiches out of the wipers. :mrgreen:


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Cheers! It's nice to finally taste the fabled homebrew. So smooth it's hard to take your lips away from the glass. :wink:

I have to add that the sweatline photo was taken on our way _back_ to the marina to leave. I wore the hoodie all day in the sun so that I wouldn't get a harsh burn like last week. The hoodie was the only thing I had with long sleeves, so...

It wasn't too bad, but you can see it left a crusty mess underneath. I probably lost a few pounds to sweating. :lol:

That's what the gallon of water was for.

I was surprised to catch most of mine on my own gear though. The last few were on fatbass' pre-rigged rod, but most were on my pointer. That gives me hope for possible future float tube trips. The bugs will suck, but the fishing probably won't.

Thanks again, fatbass. Totally worth it.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Scrum-diddly-umptious!
[attachment=0:i7fyj3sj]flanders.JPG[/attachment:i7fyj3sj]


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## lehi (Sep 13, 2007)

LOAH that has got to be one of the worst bird nests ive ever seen pop out of a reel. Nice fish! glad you got to take home some walleye! they are my favorite fish to eat by far.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Pure evil, it was. My hook was caught on the swivel, preventing it from twisting with the line. Nice little recipe for failure. *\-\* 

Had to snip big chunk of line off and retire the rod for the rest of the day.


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## BRL1 (Sep 12, 2007)

I know how that bird nest goes. The day I was out with Fatbass had a fish hit and put the front treble around the line, when I checked later it had twisted up against the planer board. Just cut it and started over.


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## Guns and Flies (Nov 7, 2007)

Looks like you guys had some fun out there. Willard isn't too far from where I'm at, I need to head out that way sometime. Looks really good eating as well, I've hear Walleye are really good eating. Glad you guys had some fun out there, so is there a picture of LOAH in a tutu?


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

:lol: 

I'll likely wear a net next time I go. I'll already have a funny looking tutu though...I plan on taking my float tube. I can't imagine trying to deal with those gnats without something to keep them out of my ears! Especially when I'm practically stationary.


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## Greenguy88 (Sep 7, 2007)

fatbass said:


> LOAH said:
> 
> 
> > :lol:
> ...


If you guys ever head out to float and try to get em on the fly rod... I know a guy who lives pretty close who wouldnt mind giving that a try....... (ME!) --\O By the way, great looking fish guys, fatbass you know your wipers!


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## Hellsangler69 (Sep 26, 2007)

Ahh you are a better man then me , I would of made the wife clean it up . :lol:


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## Treehugnhuntr (Sep 7, 2007)

I would have sold the boat and bought a new one.

It's on when I get back jim. Zonkers, flesh flies and a few special Tree-tied critters are in order my friend. I think it would be good if we wore mullets. I hear they repel bugs. :mrgreen:


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

WHAT?!?!? :shock:

Oh, that's *NASTY!*

I ran my hand all over in that bad boy and I was sure I had them all. Seriously! I even checked around that plastic thing (bait bucket?) to the left.

Ick! I'm sorry I missed it. I know that kind of thick stench. Ugh, sorry.

I bet all your neighbors are happy too. :roll:

Truly sorry. I guess that live well is bigger than it seems. -)O(- _/O

:lol: Nothing like 100+ degree weather to soften'em up though.


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## rapalahunter (Oct 13, 2007)

You give him an awesome fishing trip and some world famous home brew and he stinks up your entire neighborhood. I think some sort of punishment is in order. lordofallhumans (DWR throwback) should have to eat one of his frozen redsides as penance (maybe a few Hail Mary's as well). :twisted:


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

:shock: 

Don't listen to him! He knows not what he says!


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

YUK! Maggots in the new boat, I guess its yours now, kinda like your first scratch in the new car. A video of LOAH eating a redside would be epic!


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