Whites and wipers on ultralights…
It has been an awesome weekend on Saylorville. The whites and wipers have been gorging on shad. My family and I headed out on the Ville Saturday morning and found nothing from Cherry Glen south towards the dam. As we moved up to the Sandpiper area I saw some gulls staging above the water but not diving. Casting underneath the gulls we were on them immediately. It was nonstop action. At one point, I counted 12 casts in a row which resulted in a fish or hit. Silver Kastmasters (in ¼ and 3/8 oz) were again the lure of the day. After about an hour, I began to look for more of a challenge and switched to topwater only. A Zara Spook type plug in a silver shad pattern worked almost as well as the Kastmasters but was twice the fun!
The wind kept the shad pinned against the beach and the whites and wipers were tight to shore as well. We caught them in as little as a foot of water up to about 4 feet deep. Casting the topwater plug within 5 feet of shore resulted in vicious strikes which sometimes knocked the plug clear out of the water. Sometimes the plug would simply disappear in a swirl upon impact. When the 10% solution works 100% of the time, I’m in hog heaven.
My hoots of joy and rod bending attracted the attention of some arriving shore anglers which was fine with me. Even though they converged on my spot, they kept a respectful distance and there isn’t exactly a shortage of whites on Saylorville. Problem was that they all felt the need to wade in; some waded 20 or 30 feet from shore up to their waists and proceed to cast deeper. When one of them shrugged his shoulders to ask where the fish were, I motioned him to turn around and cast towards shore. I got a befuddled look in response and gave up.
Sunday was boy’s day out and another father/son team joined us. The morning was a repeat of Saturday. Same location. Same techniques. There were a lot of smaller fish mixed in that weren’t there on Saturday. It didn’t matter. On ultralights, the whites provided a fantastic morning out.
Go fish…
Dave
