01-14-2007, 01:20 PM
There are a few rumors going around that Yuba might get opened for perch. Anyone else heard anything? It is something that needs to be done soon.
01-14-2007, 01:20 PM
01-14-2007, 01:49 PM
well i would not hold my finger over my bumm on that one dude.. 2008 is the last thing i heard..
it realy is to bad too this is the first year in 5 that yuba has frozen over so you could walk on it.. but i would not dair fish it where i can't even be in possession of a perch!!
been temted to go try some of my old pike spots there but with out perch whats the point?
I have to say the DWR realy droped the ball on that one!! there are some record perch in there this year.. with out a harvest this year there will not be record perch in there for long!!
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it realy is to bad too this is the first year in 5 that yuba has frozen over so you could walk on it.. but i would not dair fish it where i can't even be in possession of a perch!!
been temted to go try some of my old pike spots there but with out perch whats the point?
I have to say the DWR realy droped the ball on that one!! there are some record perch in there this year.. with out a harvest this year there will not be record perch in there for long!!
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01-14-2007, 02:39 PM
There was a "rumor" going around. I heard possible emergency reg to open it to limit of 10, must keep first 10.
I think this is just whisful thinking. There really is no emergency. If it was a bad call to not foresee the large demand for some harvest of the large perch in Yuba remains to be seen. If there is good water, (doesn't look it) then next year from the ice , boats and tubes should be fantastic. I hope they put a low limit on them to spread out the harvest.
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I think this is just whisful thinking. There really is no emergency. If it was a bad call to not foresee the large demand for some harvest of the large perch in Yuba remains to be seen. If there is good water, (doesn't look it) then next year from the ice , boats and tubes should be fantastic. I hope they put a low limit on them to spread out the harvest.
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01-14-2007, 03:27 PM
I think it was TubeDude that said something about the ten fish limit and it mite go in around jan or feb. I went over to yuba yesterday and to look for some geese and the whole lake is froze now, but know idea on how thick the ice is and nobody was fish at the lake.
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01-14-2007, 03:44 PM
If I were a betting man, I wouldn't keep your hopes up for any type of regulation change there. It will open to Perch on Jan 1 2008.
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01-14-2007, 05:02 PM
[cool][#0000ff]I had a chat with one of the DWR biologists a couple of days ago. I asked about the rumor of a potential "winter opening" for perch. It has been discussed but has not been implemented. Kind of a "Catch 22" situation.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The proposal is to open it to keeping a limit of 10 perch, with a mandatory keep rule. First 10 perch you catch you have to keep, regardless of size. No culling for limits. That is because virtually all of the perch taken in the winter from Yuba come from water more than 30 feet deep. That means all the perch will suffer blood chemistry problems and a protruding air bladder. Fizzing is not the solution. Still a high mortality.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The C-22 factor is that DWR is waiting to see if any anglers are actually going to be catching perch, and whether or not they die when released (DUH). But, because you can't keep perch...and the rainbows are so iffy...there is little interest among anglers to fish Yuba. Too many other good places to go and Yuba is too far to drive for experimentation.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It ain't far until February and that means maybe another month or so of fishable ice on Yuba. Even if a big group went down and hammered (killed) the perch, it would take longer than that to get DWR to move on the "temporary" change. It was only supposed to last until March 1 anyway.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Otherwise...no perch from Yuba in '07. DWR biologists all feel that it should have been opened, but politics got in the way of good judgment.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The proposal is to open it to keeping a limit of 10 perch, with a mandatory keep rule. First 10 perch you catch you have to keep, regardless of size. No culling for limits. That is because virtually all of the perch taken in the winter from Yuba come from water more than 30 feet deep. That means all the perch will suffer blood chemistry problems and a protruding air bladder. Fizzing is not the solution. Still a high mortality.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The C-22 factor is that DWR is waiting to see if any anglers are actually going to be catching perch, and whether or not they die when released (DUH). But, because you can't keep perch...and the rainbows are so iffy...there is little interest among anglers to fish Yuba. Too many other good places to go and Yuba is too far to drive for experimentation.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It ain't far until February and that means maybe another month or so of fishable ice on Yuba. Even if a big group went down and hammered (killed) the perch, it would take longer than that to get DWR to move on the "temporary" change. It was only supposed to last until March 1 anyway.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Otherwise...no perch from Yuba in '07. DWR biologists all feel that it should have been opened, but politics got in the way of good judgment.[/#0000ff]
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01-15-2007, 02:58 AM
We all know how to control the perch and that is to start stocking some of those toothy critters with the Shiney eyes and turn it into the great fishery it was a few years ago. [
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01-15-2007, 12:40 PM
[cool][#0000ff]Ah yes...the glory days. But as great as the walleye fishing was, they were also big contributors to the last crash. They extract far more in total tonnage of perch than anglers, and when the balance swings too far one way, the cycle is over.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As most of us know, the real culprit in the cycles at Yuba is the weather and water. Perch need vegetation in which to spawn. In good water years the level of the lake is up into the shoreline weeds and the perch bring off good spawns. Since perch fry are the primary food source for all the predators, all the fish do well that year.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]But, during drought years, the perch do not bring off a good spawn, and the young that do appear are heavily pressured. Not many of them survive and a whole year class disappears. A couple or three bad years and you have a lot of big fish and no small ones...no food. Crasho.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We are silly to think we can really manage a lake like Yuba. The best we can do is try to raise a good population of all species as quickly as possible after a crash and then fish the heck out of them before the next cycle runs its course.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]That's why it is so frustration to have to sit by and see the huge perch population in the lake going unmolested. There are not enough pike and walleye to significantly reduce their numbers and the current wet cycle is not going to last forever. The perch have exploded and have already just about eliminated the fathead minnows. They are already feeding heavily on their own fry and upon the trout fry planted to "sustain a fishery".[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Perch were replanted after the lake was drained but no walleye. Some survived in the river, as did a few pike and catfish. But, nothing was planted except perch.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In a state with a warm water fisheries program, and hatcheries, Yuba would be a more balanced lake with wide open fishing right now.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As most of us know, the real culprit in the cycles at Yuba is the weather and water. Perch need vegetation in which to spawn. In good water years the level of the lake is up into the shoreline weeds and the perch bring off good spawns. Since perch fry are the primary food source for all the predators, all the fish do well that year.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]But, during drought years, the perch do not bring off a good spawn, and the young that do appear are heavily pressured. Not many of them survive and a whole year class disappears. A couple or three bad years and you have a lot of big fish and no small ones...no food. Crasho.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We are silly to think we can really manage a lake like Yuba. The best we can do is try to raise a good population of all species as quickly as possible after a crash and then fish the heck out of them before the next cycle runs its course.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]That's why it is so frustration to have to sit by and see the huge perch population in the lake going unmolested. There are not enough pike and walleye to significantly reduce their numbers and the current wet cycle is not going to last forever. The perch have exploded and have already just about eliminated the fathead minnows. They are already feeding heavily on their own fry and upon the trout fry planted to "sustain a fishery".[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Perch were replanted after the lake was drained but no walleye. Some survived in the river, as did a few pike and catfish. But, nothing was planted except perch.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In a state with a warm water fisheries program, and hatcheries, Yuba would be a more balanced lake with wide open fishing right now.[/#0000ff]
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01-15-2007, 02:54 PM
[reply][cool][#0000ff][b][#0000ff]In a state with a warm water fisheries program, and hatcheries, Yuba would be a more balanced lake with wide open fishing right now.[/#0000ff][/reply]
No, it wouldn't. Because there is nothing controlling the walleye and pike populations, the DWR will not and would not have stocked walleye...it was very important that the perch establish themselves without an overabundance of walleye. The walleye will come back; that is inevitable. Stocking a bunch of predators before the prey were established would have only kept the perch from coming on and left the walleye and pike small and skinny.
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No, it wouldn't. Because there is nothing controlling the walleye and pike populations, the DWR will not and would not have stocked walleye...it was very important that the perch establish themselves without an overabundance of walleye. The walleye will come back; that is inevitable. Stocking a bunch of predators before the prey were established would have only kept the perch from coming on and left the walleye and pike small and skinny.
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01-15-2007, 02:56 PM
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I have to say the DWR realy droped the ball on that one!! [/reply]
The DWR? The DWR recommended and wanted the regulation changed. It wasn't the DWR that dropped the ball; it was the wildlife board. The central region biologists wanted the change and felt that it should have been made.
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I have to say the DWR realy droped the ball on that one!! [/reply]
The DWR? The DWR recommended and wanted the regulation changed. It wasn't the DWR that dropped the ball; it was the wildlife board. The central region biologists wanted the change and felt that it should have been made.
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01-15-2007, 03:14 PM
[cool][#0000ff]I was at the board meeting. When asked by the board about the RAC vote to open Yuba to perch fishing, Roger Wilson's exact words were "WE RECOMMEND THAT WE STAY THE COURSE"...meaning they did not want to see the lake opened. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]That is when I walked out.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]That is when I walked out.[/#0000ff]
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01-15-2007, 06:26 PM
Yeah...you are right. Roger Wilson dropped the ball...but, the central biologists did want the change.
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01-15-2007, 07:07 PM
[cool][#0000ff]That was part of what I found so disappointing, at the board meeting. I had a pretty good "support system" going with some of the biologists. I was getting lots of good input, encouragement and suggestions, right up until the board meeting.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As it turned out, and is readily admitted NOW by some of these same guys, they didn't really have a good handle on how the RAC process actually worked. They had not been told that if something was not "in the system" by the May meeting, that it had no chance of being evaluated and approved in September for inclusion on the next year's regulations. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In talking with your "family connection" up here, we agreed that the whole perch situation in Yuba kind of erupted out of nowhere and there was no way to anticipate it. Myself and other anglers suddenly began being overrun with perch on every trip, from about the end of May last year, and by the time the September RAC meeting was held, many of us felt that opening the lake to perch harvest was a logical thing to do...as did the biologists. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]But, the process is the process. Roger and Walt readily acknowledged that there was not very good communication on the process. If even the DWR biologists were not clear on what needed to be done, and when, then there needed to be better "intel". Partially because of what I went through, and my recommendations at a UAC meeting, specific language was developed both the the DWR website and for the current Anglers Guide. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I was never disgruntled or bitter about being unable to get the change made. It was a learning process. It wasn't all about me and what i wanted for myself. As I have said before, I have places to go that are much closer if I want some perch fillets.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I was sorry, for the angling community, that they have to wait another year to take the kids (and themselves) to one of Utah's better perch ponds. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It is almost a given that there will be some citations this summer, for people who can't or won't read the Fishing Guide...and who keep some perch and get caught. It is also too bad for people who live closer to Yuba and who are not motivated to even fish it because they can't catch walleyes and can't keep perch...and because the trout fishing has apparently taken a nose dive.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I guess all we can do is be patient and learn from the experience.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]As it turned out, and is readily admitted NOW by some of these same guys, they didn't really have a good handle on how the RAC process actually worked. They had not been told that if something was not "in the system" by the May meeting, that it had no chance of being evaluated and approved in September for inclusion on the next year's regulations. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In talking with your "family connection" up here, we agreed that the whole perch situation in Yuba kind of erupted out of nowhere and there was no way to anticipate it. Myself and other anglers suddenly began being overrun with perch on every trip, from about the end of May last year, and by the time the September RAC meeting was held, many of us felt that opening the lake to perch harvest was a logical thing to do...as did the biologists. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]But, the process is the process. Roger and Walt readily acknowledged that there was not very good communication on the process. If even the DWR biologists were not clear on what needed to be done, and when, then there needed to be better "intel". Partially because of what I went through, and my recommendations at a UAC meeting, specific language was developed both the the DWR website and for the current Anglers Guide. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I was never disgruntled or bitter about being unable to get the change made. It was a learning process. It wasn't all about me and what i wanted for myself. As I have said before, I have places to go that are much closer if I want some perch fillets.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I was sorry, for the angling community, that they have to wait another year to take the kids (and themselves) to one of Utah's better perch ponds. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff] [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]It is almost a given that there will be some citations this summer, for people who can't or won't read the Fishing Guide...and who keep some perch and get caught. It is also too bad for people who live closer to Yuba and who are not motivated to even fish it because they can't catch walleyes and can't keep perch...and because the trout fishing has apparently taken a nose dive.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I guess all we can do is be patient and learn from the experience.[/#0000ff]
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01-15-2007, 10:27 PM
I'm not a biologist and don't profess to be, but the 7 years of drought we went thru were the biggest killer to the Perch population in Yuba. I believe that the over harvest of the large females of both spieces also was a contributing factor to the decline of this fishery. Deer Creek was another good example, perch fishing was closed for several years, back came the perch along with the Walleye. Fishing was great for several years with people after the big female perch. A couple years ago Deer Creek took the same dive as Yuba but to a lesser extent, now it is on the upswing. So I guess I'm really wondering is the DWR going to start stocking Yuba with walleye or leave it as another Slime Rocket fishery, God knows we don't have enough of them in this state!
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