[cool][#0000ff]Bassrods, Brent and Myself all looked for our tickets to the big doin's in DC (Washington)...but couldn't find them. So, we settled for Yuba. COOOOL move. Real cool. Minus 4 degrees at 8 AM and was only 21 when we left at 1 PM.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The wheelers were a bit balky in the cold. No-no-no-no-no they seemed to say as Brent worked to get them started. Finally got them started and we headed past Walleye Point. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We set up where Bassrods had limited a couple of days ago. Drilled a few holes and pretty much did not have to move. We were all using different lures, baits and techniques. Bassrods was first to limit, then Brent. But, I finished with a flourish...catching my last 4 fish in a new hole in about 10 minutes.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Fish ranged from under 10 inches to Bassrods big fish honors at 13 1/4". We got several phattie 12 inchers. Bites ranged from "whispers" to "rod takers". Some hit on "deadstick", but I got most of mine by jigging one of my glow sonar spoons (see pics). Perch meat and perch eyes accounted for the greatest numbers.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Fished about 3 hours and had bites fairly regularly. Not a barnburner day. More like a barn freezer. But, enough action to keep three old reprobates happy and to provide a couple of good meals for each of us.[/#0000ff]
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great report and pictures TD. might have to make a trip down on sunday with the wheelers this time. thanks for sharing. [cool]
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G;lad to see that the perch are still biting. How deep were you fishing ? Did the 4 wheelers have any trouble getting around? I am going back saturday with the wife and a freind i need someone to drill holes for me .[:p]
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I'll have to remember not to wear bright orange around TD or that picture might have been labeled TD and the pumpkin patch...
I really like the way you're weightless jigs work when rigged in a dropshot...
I think our outcome was a lot better than we would have found in DC by all means...
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Sounds like a great trip down there. Cool pics as usual!
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Wow you guys are crazy. Great report. Great Pics. Looks like you guys drove right over our holes. The opposite side of the narrows. Thats why I had a hard time sunday deciding where to go. Looks like a good time was had by all. Pikeman GOFISH[fishin]
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Awesome report!!
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[quote ocean]G;lad to see that the perch are still biting. How deep were you fishing ? Did the 4 wheelers have any trouble getting around? I am going back saturday with the wife and a freind i need someone to drill holes for me .[:p][/quote]
[cool][#0000ff]We only fished in one fairly small area and the depth was a uniform 30'. Great conditions for wheelers right now. Six inches of good ice with a couple of inches of snow and frost for traction.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There are a couple of pressure ridges forming between Oasis and the narrows. If you run a machine be sure to follow the tracks and go across the ridges where others have already made it safely. Still a good idea to approach slowly and to look out for any openings that may have developed. Those things DO change.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Sorry about your auger...and your back. Can't make it this Saturday, but would be glad to meet up with you guys and bring my power auger sometime next week. Shoot me a PM for any time you might want to hit it together.[/#0000ff]
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Nice report Pat, don't take all the Walleye and Pike food.
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[quote mactuna]Nice report Pat, don't take all the Walleye and Pike food.[/quote]
[cool][#0000ff]Thanks. No chance of us poor fishermen depleting the perch population. We don't even make a small dent in it. There is still plenty of groceries for the toothy critters. [/#0000ff]
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Good to see you caught a few.
Looks alot like the same location 3m and I fished for the past couple weekends. We came in from the other end tho'.
Fresh is best but I'm sick of eating perch [laugh]
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[cool][#0000ff]I knew that was your "GPS" mark in the snow. Not everybody can write "Don" in yellow.[/#0000ff]
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"Was here" must have faded away lol
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[quote TubeDude
[#0000ff]No chance of us poor fishermen depleting the perch population. [/#0000ff][/quote]
Even loosing battles are fun to fight [
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[cool]Nice report, Pat. Sounds like you three geezers[:p] [:p]had a great time. I'm jealous. Those are some awesome perch and good lookin' jigs too. Those look a little like miniature Sonar Flashes made by Heddon lures, but yours have WAY better colors, paint, etc.
I'm going up to The Rock this Saturday, but if I do as poorly as everybody else that has been reporting on this board from there, then I might have to make the two hour drive and go to Yuba next time. Problem is, I don't have a four wheeler to get away from the crowds and over to decent structure. Oh well, I do have feet...
Good luck out on your next trip...
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[cool][#0000ff]Hey Geoff, those blade baits ARE just like Sonars. I make them by pouring lead into precut blade forms in one of my molds. The small ones are 1/4 oz. and larger ones are 1/2 oz. I include glow in the paint jobs, so the bars really show up in the dark water under the ice. I also think that the eyes help increase "reaction bites" when the perch are slowed down. They don't like some little fish "dissin'" them by staring at them.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]You don't need a wheeler to find fish at Yuba. I have had some of my better days down there within 100 yards of the ramp. You just need to time it right and then move around to find the fish. On a busy day you need to get away from the crowd.[/#0000ff]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#500000][size 3]TD, I'm just curious if you were catching them only on the bottom. I see lots of fish at mid-depth. In fact, where the water is 50 feet deep straight out from the Oasis ramp, the fish seem to be mostly suspended anywhere from 20 to 35 feet deep, with very few being on the bottom, at least when I was there Saturday. Were you seeing that where you guys were?[/size][/#500000][/font] [font "Comic Sans MS"][#500000][size 3](I've never before fished for perch anywhere but on the bottom.)[/size][/#500000][/font]
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[cool][#0000ff]You point out a Yuba "situation". By far the largest biomass in Yuba is composed of carpkind. Bajillions of the ugly buggers. And, unlike perch and walleye, carp can be found cruising at any altitude...on the bottom or anywhere above it...in any depth of water. My guess is that the noncooperative middepth targets are carp.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The perch are almost always on or near the bottom. Sometimes they will cruise a couple of feet off the bottom when they are moving faster between any two locations. When they do that they are difficult to discern from carp...which do the same thing. They ghost through on the sonar...here then gone...seldom stopping to munch.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In fact, the perch are hugging the bottom so closely these days that unless you have a very good sonar you will probably not be able to tell they are even there. However, with a good sonar you can see them as they rise up to inspect your jig if you wiggle it a foot or so off the bottom. Too often you also see them drop back down and disappear into the bottom without opening their little mouths. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Getting back to your question, yes I have seen LOTS of fish suspended at all depths in deeper water at Yuba...just about every month of the year...hard water or soft. I have quite a few pictures of the screen on my low wattage sonar I use for tubing that I have taken on Yuba. Attached is one from early December last year, before iceup. It is a good representation.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We were fishing in 30 feet of water, and my sonar was set on ZOOM...the last few feet of the bottom. I was not watching the upper layers at all. But, my experience has been that you find a lot more of the suspended fish at middepth in the deeper water.[/#0000ff]
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