[McFish]

Does anyone want to share their wiper skills ?

 

[kirbydog]

Guess not. ;D We've talked about this before-I really think its all about being in the right place at the right time. I've caught them on hula grubs, spinnerbaits, cranks, you name it. I know the guy down at Pueblo just a little bit who caught the state record and I've noticed he covers ALOT of water real quick-doesn't spend too much time in any one spot. He fishes with a fly rod alot and has a 4 stroke outboard which he told me spooks the fish less because its quieter.

 

[rottal]

I fish for them in spring and then again in the fall...for me its easier to pattern them during these times of the year running in big schools and feeding more aggressively. I target them mostly with flies, and sometimes spinning gear and jigs and rapalas. They turn on when the water starts hitting the 50s so look out for them then. dont be scared to cover alot of water, if you arent catching anything then change your locations...when i wade for them i do best, its possible to stay with them fairly easy without spooking them too much. Ive always done well fly fishing for them this way in the spring in water thats 3-6 ft deep. In the spring if a late season snowstorm hits be sure to be on the water when its blowing in---this is a great time to hook up with lots of fish.

During the middle of the summer months i see alot of people doing well with them on bait...mussels mostly, if you are patient...

but yeah, as kirbydog said, being in the right place at the right time also helps---wipers tend to do what they want to do and are hard to predict

 

[goodtimes]

Im a fan of hunting for wiper with topwater during late summer and fall. look for shad schools that are on top of the water a hint on finding them is look for birds that circle the school but be cautious birds like to make fly bys on the lure I have had more then one try to snatch the lure.
Another way I like to fish for wiper that are suspended is with white and red tubes around 3" rigged with a jig head

The night bite is great during mid summer to fall as well, I use anything that is loud such as chug bugs, prop baits rattle traps etc.

I love wiper fishing, pound for pound strongest fish in colorado

 

[john]

My wiper fishing has been hit or miss. Occasionally we've done real well at Douglas Res in the spring. We cast big streamer flies and white woolly buggers from shore. We've caught many 2 to 4 lbs and one 11lb and one 13lb. We just strip the flies in - nothing fancy. It's just being in the right place at the right time. We've done the same at Horsetooth Res right before it was drained. Right after the DOW would stock rainbows the wipers would swarm in the north cove. One wiper we kept had 8 rainbows in it. I pretty much feel lucky if I catch a wiper. John

 

[Guest]

Pelagic fish are tough to target. Open water trolling has produced for me. Fishing areas where trout are stocked/dumped into the lake are good areas. Wiper are constantly hunting the lake looking for food, stay mobile and fish areas known to hold baitfish.

 

[McFish]

Thanks for the input. I have had success with topwater but that is just an oppertunity situation. I have witnessed others target wiper with suprising results at a Kansas lake. The first was a group of Asians that would use live crawdads on the bottom and at times I watched them reel wiper after wiper. Very impresive. Another was a guide at the same lake who would use 5" shad that he netted and use a balloon as a bobber. He told me that it would take several hrs to get enough big shad for the bait and the wipers would go through them in 30 minutes of non stop action. In both case these guys were fishing specific locations with great rewards. I have had good luck early in the year at the same place using very large red and white road runners ripping them back to the boat. I just cant seem to figure them out in CO.

 

[atownbasser]

I have had luck just bait fishin at night with crawlers and crawdad tails while just deadstickin for the cats.

 

[McFish]

What kind of baits would you troll with?

 

[Guest]

What kind of baits would you troll with?

I've been successful with wiper trolling a crawler harness (or drifting) with a crawler or a minnow as well as trolling shad imitations (shad raps, rattle traps, deep wee R's, etc.)

 

[T-Fin]

My experience has shown that the wiper can be locked into size specific hard baits too. I have seen one guy slay the wiper with a smaller shad bait while a guy on the same boat caught zilch... This was in the fall when the wiper were concentrating on the new shad of the year.

 

[epic]

My experience has shown that the wiper can be locked into size specific hard baits too. I have seen one guy slay the wiper with a smaller shad bait while a guy on the same boat caught zilch... This was in the fall when the wiper were concentrating on the new shad of the year.

This is very true about wipers, you should try to match the size of the shad they are feeding on.

 

[kastmisser]

A guy at a sporting goods store close to pueblo res. a couple of years ago recommended trolling with big Mister Twisters on big jigheads (to get them down a little deeper) tipped with half a night crawler. It was hit or miss but we did allright considering we didn't see that many on the finder compared to how many we were catching. My friend got a 27in. wiper on a chartreuse mister twister type lure that he bought in the bargain bin at Sportsman Warehouse. Like people have been saying, seems to be a matter of being at the right place at the right time, if you put something credible in front of them, they will probably hit it.

 

[fishinwithlund]

During the summer nights while catfishing at the Pueblo Reservoir we do good on the wipers also. They sometimes come in to feed where the arkansas comes into the lake. Every wiper we catch back there hit on cut sucker meat and always after dark. Caugth some nice ones back there in the last summer and will try for them again this summer.