Fishing Forum

I worked on my boat trailer all day Sat in preparation for a trip to the Gorge that was delayed 3 days. I no sooner got it finished when a friend called and asked if I had seen MULESKINNER222 post last week with a tremendous catch of northerns? I told him I had and I wanted to go try them.

The plans were laid

We arrived at Yuba at 8:30AM after stopping in Nephi for a big breakfast. I expected to see several boats there but not a single boat was on the lake.

We started trolling from the launch ramp. I figured that the northerns would be off what little structure Yuba has. We trolled accordingly working the edges where the predators lay in ambush.

The first two fish were rainbow both taken on jointed rapalas long lined trolling fast, 2 1/2 to 4 MPH.

We were working a bay when suddenly it came alive with jumping perch. They were out of the water like rainbow chasing caddis, but there were no bugs that I could see. Most looked to be between 8 to 10 inches, maybe a little larger. We thought that maybe one would take one of the rapalas we were trolling, but they didn't and we didn't want to stop and fish for them since we couldn't keep any for the fry pan.


Finally at noon we tied into the northern in the picture. He taped 33 1/2 inches and 9 lb 8 oz on a IGFA certified scale. He took a jointed rapala in northern color. We were long lining 200 feet back w/30 lb braid and 60 lb mono leader to avoid getting cut off. The braid reduces stretch when you are fishing that far back of the boat.

At 3:00 the wind came up and we got off the lake. Even though we caught only that one northern it still was a great day. After all, how often can you catch
a fish that is nearly a yard long with teeth like a barracuda?
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[black][size 3]Good report and nice picture.[/size][/black]
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[size 3]Glad that you could hook into one of those toothy critters.[/size]
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[size 3]I think that you misread the perch jumping out of the water. I think that you experienced a "perch boil". They were being chased by one or more of those northerns.[/size]
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[size 3]Sounds to me like on your next trip, you should be throwing a very large perch imitation.[/size]
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I thought about that and wondered if the Northerns were giving the perch the St. Vitas dance.

I'm heading for the gorge, but hope to get back to Yuba before the ice up and I will keep a rod rigged with a perch count down rapala or one of those storm rubber perch lures. If I encounter it again I'll be prepared. Thanks
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Very nice toothy critter! I'd bet the next couple of years should be good for some decent sized fish out of Yuba. Too bad the perch are on the down hill slide.
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Nice fish, let us know how you do at the Gorge....
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