Fishing Willard-Bay

Fishing Wiki - Willard-Bay

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Description (Edit This)
Willard Bay is popular because it offers good fishing for wipers, walleye and channel cats. It is also a popular boating water. It is located just north of Ogden, in northern Utah, close enough that Salt Lake anglers can head up for a half-day and have a good trip.

Guides (Edit This)
None. If you know of people licensed to guide on Willard Bay, please let us know.

Nearby Lodges (Edit This)
There are campgrounds adjacent to the North and South Marinas, and plenty of motels in the Ogden area.

Location (Edit This)

Willard is located along I-15, just west of the interstate.
- About 15 miles from downtown Ogden
- About 50 miles from downtown Salt Lake City

There are two marinas – one on the north end of the reservoir and one on the south. They are part of Willard Bay State Park and both offer campgrounds and other facilities.

Primary Species (Edit This)
Walleye, Wipers and channel cats are the most popular game fish in the reservoir. There are also some crappie, smallmouth, largemouth, bluegill and sunfish.

Special Regulations (Edit This)

Limit 10 crappie.
Limit 6 walleye, only 1 walleye may be over 24 inches.
Limit 6 wiper
Possession of gizzard shad, dead or alive, is unlawful.

Inlet channel is closed to fishing from March 1 through 6 am on the last Saturday of April.

Seasonal Factors (Edit This)

Willard is not a popular ice fishing water. Some crappie are caught through the ice. Occasionally a walleye is caught, but that action is hard to come by.

Ice normally melts about the 2nd or 3rd week in March. When the ice comes off, fish are a bit sluggish and good action doesn't begin until the reservoirs warms a bit. Good walleye fishing usually starts about the last week of March. Walleye spawn in late March and early May. After the spawn they go through a period when they don't eat much – walleye action can be quite slow in late May. Then they regain their appetites and feed aggressively through the rest of the season.

Wipers are caught sporadically during April and begin to be caught consistently in May. They are a cross between striped bass and white bass and do not reproduce in Willard. (Numbers are maintained through stocking.) They provide good action from May-October.

A few channel catfish are caught while the water is cold, by anglers working bait very slowly on the bottom, but good fishing doesn't begin until May. The fishing improves dramatically as the water warms, and is very good through the summer and early fall. Catfish spawn in late May. They become very aggressive at that time and will often hit lures out of aggression – you can catch them on big Rapalas at that time.

Lures and Techniques (Edit This)

Willard is an unusual reservoir with interesting characteristics. It has little structure, except for the rock dikes that contain the reservoir on the north and west. Fish that key to structure are commonly found along the dikes. That includes walleye and bass.

There is a slight bump out in the reservoir – a submerged island – and it also attracts fish.

Wipers are an open water fish and they range freely in the reservoir.

Channel cats can be found anywhere, but are common along the dikes. The big channel cats look for the deepest water and that is found along the dikes.

Gizzard shad have become the primary forage fish in the reservoir. All game fish eat them, and successful fishermen use lures and techniques that mimic the gizzard shad. White, silver and gray colors are productive.

Gizzard shad are extremely prolific and the first young-of-the-year shad start to show up in June. Before that time the game fish have little to eat and are hungry – meaning fishing is good. Jigs, lures and baits worked along the bottom are effective. Work a crawler harness, jig or cainkbait along the edge of the dike, keeping it near the bottom, and you will catch fish. Use that approach and you can catch every kind of game fish in the reservoir.

In June there is an explosion of small shad and that changes the dynamic in the reservoir. As the small shad venture into open water, they are attacked by every kind of game fish. The shad are small and so anglers need to switch to small (1-2 inch) jigs or lures. The game fish have been feeding along the bottom, but now they start to look for food higher in the water column – at mid depths or just below the surface.

Gizzard shad may reproduce more than once in a year and so forage is abundant in the reservoir through the summer and fall.

During the summer, fast-moving lures often trigger strikes. With an abundance of food, you want to trigger a reflex action and not give the predator fish a chance to really examine your lures.