I am wondering if you guys think the water level will come up at Yuba before it freezes? Will the power company close the gates off and let it fill? If so the ice is going to be a bear all season. I saw this at DC last year. It froze then the water came up and then the edges were crap all season. Whatta think?
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[cool][#0000ff]Last year at this time I was going down just about every week...when there were good perch to be had. The water level was rising on a weekly basis. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I will email the park manager and get his input.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There was seldom a problem with iffy edges except right at the ramp late in the day after a lot of sunshine warmed the edges.[/#0000ff]
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Just wondering if you have heard, or if you can ask one of your contacts about access to yuba in the winter. I know years past you could only get in at painted rocks. Last year it was clear to access the ice at Oasis.
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[cool][#0000ff]I have never known any year that you could not access the ice from Oasis (dam area). They keep the state park open all year and that is a good place to take the family because they keep the restrooms open and heated. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Not so at Painted Rocks. After a heavy snowstorm there might be a time when the plows do not clear the road back to the ramp...or the ramp itself. And the "facilities" are all non-flush with no heat.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]As low as the water levels got this summer and fall, I suspect that there may not even be any ice fishing potential at Painted Rocks. The lake receded past the island before it started coming back up. It will be a while before there is enough depth to encourage fish to swim up there under the ice.[/#0000ff]
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Hey Thanks TubeDude, thats the exact thing I was hoping for. I'll try for some Perch in a month. Hopefully there are a few left. I'm glad they at least let it fill back up after they draw it to nothing in the fall.
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Thanks for the info TD. I must have been "up in the night", but two years ago I would have bet my ice hut that Oasis was closed and you answered a post that you MUST go to painted rocks to get on the ice and Bass Rods and friend got stuck in the snow trying to "cut accross" from Oasis to Painted rocks on the dirt road. Any way questions answered. Thanks again.
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There have been many years when painted rocks was frozen solid and the ice at the dam was iffy at best. I have launched my boat on new years day at Oasis, while painted rocks was ice fishing only.
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TD: I didn't get out to Yuba late in the year (reports weren't encouraging) but did you say that the area by the Island was dry?
Man that's almost hard to believe. Wasn't it just a couple of years ago when we had the BF perch party there and had maybe 40'-45' just east of the island? That was during a "dry" year.
This year was suppossed to be an ok water year, but I can't imagine 40' of water filling in by January. Seems odd - no?
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[cool][#0000ff]While much of the state had a good winter and heavy snowpack, that was not the case for the Sevier River drainage. All of the reservoirs on the Sevier are at very low levels. Yuba never got above about 60 percent full, and it dropped even more over the summer irrigating season. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The perch derby was on 2/16/08. Water levels were much better...up to 35 feet east of the island. Last year's ice fishing season saw water depths much shallower...only 25 feet around the island. The level did indeed drop to where the island was a peninsula. Not likely to have enough water for ice fishing in the upper end of the lake this winter.[/#0000ff]
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