Last update: 11/28/2024

Current fishing conditions for Willard Bay in Utah.

• Boat ramps are still open and should remain open until first ice over, but conditions are getting a little icy.
• Water clarity is a bit low, but fish are showning on finders.
• There have been a few reports of boils, but not as many as in previous years.
• Walleye and wiper fishing is still producing and should for a bit longer.
• Slow trolling (1.5-2 mph) using shad colored Rapalas and crankbaits is still producing walleye catches—but you have to find them first.

Fall (September-November)

Fall season provides excellent fish from shore and fish from boat opportunities on Willard Bay.

As waters cool in mid September, walleye and wiper begin moving into the shallows. Fishing the shallows casting perpendicular to the shore using shad imitating lures, crankbaits, and spinnerbaits will produce bites.

Wiper boils are common during September and offer an excellent opportunity for anglers to max out their catch rate. If you come across an active boil, cast your shad lure into the boil and retrieve through it. As you retrieve, wipers will hit your lure.

Channel catfish are another common catch throughout the year, but particularly during the fall months. Fishing a nightcrawler along the sandy bottoms or shorelines is a simple, yet effective technique for getting the catfish bite.

Smallmouth bass are active throughout the fall months and will readily take a jig tipped with a worm fished under a bobber. Spinner baits, twist tail grubs, tube jigs and crankbaits fished perpendicular to the shore will generate bites from smallmouths.

General Fishing Tips

Mid June to mid July—when shad are most abundant—is prime time to target walleye slow trolling. But you can troll for walleye well into the fall. Using your finder, look for schools of 7-10 large walleye within 100 yards of each other suspending at least 5 feet or more off the bottom.

Locating walleye is more important than presentation. Lures and crankbaits that mimic native shad are your best producers. Trolling speed will vary from day to day but as a rule of thumb 1.5-2.5 mph is where you want to be at. You’ll want to experiment with different speeds.

For trolling walleye on Willard you can use a traditional spinner rig. We recommend a 7-8.5 foot light-medium action rod with a stout butt and flexible tip. This type of rod will provide lures plenty of action in the waves yet adequately handle any good size walleye that hits your line. If you troll with a rod that it too stiff you’ll rip the hook out of the fish’s mouth as soon as it is hooked.

When trolling, we recommend attaching your hook to line using a non-swivel snap. This will allow you to change your terminal tackle or replace a lost hook quickly. Down rigger and planer boards are also recommended for Walleye trolling to get your bait down and away from the boat. In-line planer boards allow you to spread your lines out farther and tend to perform best.

When trolling for walleye in the open water don’t use bottom bouncer sinkers. Use in-line trolling sinkers in the 5/8 to 2 ounze range, maybe even a keel sinker to avoid line twist. You shouldn’t need sinkers when fishing deep diving crankbaits, unless your crankbaits just aren’t getting down where the fish are.

When trolling open water, replace your single hooks with treble hooks. You shouldn’t have to worry about snags when fishing open water and treble hooks will greatly increase your hookset rate. A size 4-6 treble hook is ideal for walleye.

When drifting or fishing from shore, walleye love a big juicy nightcrawler. However, anglers report days where fishing Power Worms generates more hookups than the real thing. One of the benefits of using Power Worms is that smaller catfish—which are abundant throughout the lake—are much less likely to steal you bait. Just fish the Power Worm the same way you would a night crawler.

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