Fishing Forum

[cool][#0000ff]Swedishfish and I headed for Yuba this morning, full of expectation of catching some big ol' northerns and wallies. We were full of something, all right. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]20 degree air temp as we stopped at the state park over look to take a pic of the neato columns of steam rising off the lake. Oops. No camera. First time in five years I have left my camera home on a fishing trip. JINXO.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Yuba is suffering from low water like all the other Utah lakes. No water behind the bridge to launch from..Actually we drove down under the bridge and launched from a sand bar in front of the bridge. That low.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Water temp 49 at launch, but there was a few inches of thin ice around the edges in the cold morning air. The light westerly breeze made every layer welcome this morning. Fingers got cold even with the fingerless gloves.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]No surface activity. No fish responding to spinners or jigs next to shore...or out away from shore. Where are the rainbows this year?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Ryan headed east along the gravelly north shoreline. I worked across the face of the dam and around the rubble shoreline to the south. Nada, zilch, zippo. No hits, no runs no fishies. Watched the sonar as we worked from shallow out to past 30 feet. DID NOT MARK ANY FISH until after 30 feet deep. Then they got more plentiful until in the deepest areas...about 50 feet...there were lots of marks. Only problem was that they all had their little mouths closed. Don't know whether they were neutral or negative but they were not biting any of the jigs or other stuff we sent down for a vote.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]After the sun had been on the water for a while, we started getting some tiny taps and both caught a few perch. Most were small but several were between 10 to 11 inches. Pale and skinny. Wonderperch. While I jigged seriously to try to find something else in the depths, I floated a bubble and fly out behind my tube. Had a couple of whacks before landing a bright and beautiful 13" yearling bow. Not the 6-8 pounders of a couple of years ago, but a brief interlude from the perch.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We had planned to go to Painted Rocks as Plan B if the fishing was not good near the dam. But, since we did not think the water would be over 30 feet deep down there, and there did not seem to be any fish shallower than 30 feet, we opted to get out and head to Utah Lake to drag some of our unused minnows. Air temp had risen to 55 degrees and the water to 51 when we got out of Yuba about 11. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Hit the water at Lincoln Beach about 1 PM. Water temp there was 51 too...and about the cleanest I have seen it in a long time. The nice weather of the past week or so has helped settle the sludge. Hasn't improved fishing though. Lots of casting jigs and dragging baits without much action. A couple of runners on minnows (no hookups) and one 8" white bass on a little pink jig. That was it. At least the weather was wonderful. Flat glass all afternoon. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]When we discovered that I had forgotten to bring the camera we wondered which way the jinx would go...lots of big fish, with no way to take pictures...or no fish at all as a punishment for forgetting the stupid camera. Looks like the latter mode kicked in. No skunk but still stinky. But, it was a fun and pretty day on the water. [/#0000ff]
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Sounds like a rough day. Too bad about the perch. []
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..even without the pictures you tell a great tale.. too bad the fish were not that cooperative but it sounds like a great day anyway..

MacFly [cool]
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[cool][#0000ff]In my "Confusion" state, I have been knowed to say:[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]"Better to have fished and lost...then never to have fished at all."[/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]It is always much better to be ANYWHERE on the water than ANYWHERE else. Even in the worst conditions I can find something to enjoy about a fishing trip. And, when it is a pretty day, with good fishing buddies, it is a great day even if the inexperienced fish don't know how to play the game.[/#0000ff]
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...could not agree with that philosophy more.. I guess you have just spoiled us with the picture attachments to your tales..

macfly
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[cool][#0000ff]There is another old saying..."Be careful what you ask for. You just might get it."[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Here are some pics from the past that show off Yuba and its resident fish population. In some cases, former residents.[/#0000ff]
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[black][size 3]Even though semi-related, I enjoyed both the report and pictures.[/size][/black]
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[size 3]Seems like both the large trout and perch are both missing from Yuba. The toothy critters have been in Yuba for some years, but only lately have they made a large dent in the good fishing. [/size]
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[size 3]Think that it may be a [black]situation where everything in Yuba is a major predator except for the trout?[/black][/size]
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[cool][#0000ff]Of course trout are predators too. It is just that they eat different prey. They can subsist very nicely on the zooplankton, copepods, daphnia and other small organisms that are plentiful in the lake. However, they cannot get as big and tough as they were for a couple of years unless they also have access to the formerly abundant fathead minnows...now munched to extinction by the perch.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]On the other hand, everything else in the lake will eat trout, at the various stages of growth. Perch when trout are small, and walleye and pike in larger sizes. Large pike especially love trout. Unlike perch, trout have no spines and a softer skin. Also have more nutritious flesh for predators.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Don't know if you are familiar with Davis Lake in northern California. Used to be a fantastic trout fishery but it has been poisoned twice to eradicate the explosion of northern pike and they are still there.[/#0000ff]
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TD,

Beleive me I do not regret asking to see some of your fishing pictures.. even though they are not of the current trip they are still great pictures that tell a story in themselves.. but.. as usual this old fart has another question..

.. since my nickname is not "Daniel Boone" I am curious what species of birds made and reside in the nests on that bridge.. the nests themselves remind me of the swallows that are at times abundant in the part of socal that I work in...

MacFly [cool]
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[cool][#0000ff]Swallows they are. Quite common in many areas of the west. Of course most folks are familiar with the legend of the return of swallows to the Capistrano mission...even though very few if any show up any more.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]When I used to spend a lot of time on the fishing boats in SoCal we referred to being seasick as "Capistrano Fever"...return of the swallows.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The swallows at Yuba nest both on the dam structure and under the bridge. They also build nests in several areas around the lake on vertical cliff walls.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]At Willard Bay Reservoir, swallows nest right up under the low roof that covers the fish cleaning station. It is kinda neat to have the birds either flying right past your head to feed the babies or to look them eyeball to eyeball as you are cleaning fish. They seem to sense that we are no threat to them, but they still act impatient for us to finish up and leave them alone. If we stay too long they have been known to deposit a "present" on our heads or clothing.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Lovely, graceful birds and great to have around. They consume large quantities of mosquitoes and pesky swarms of midges. [/#0000ff]
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...It would be my luck that the birds would be very impatient with me while cleaning the fish.. and that they would miss me and hit my dinner.. [crazy]

MacFly [cool]
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[cool][#0000ff]Just don't "swallow".[/#0000ff]
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[sly] either that or just learn to clean the fish faster.. or maybe bring some birdseed to throw on the ground outside the fish cleaning area.. kind of distract them away for a bit....

MacFly [cool]
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[cool][#0000ff]Okay, Dan'l Boondoggle...swallows don't eat birdseed. They live almost entirely on insects...that they catch in flight.[/#0000ff]
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...tol' ya I wrnt no Dan'el Booone... []
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