10-18-2009, 09:28 PM
Today is my 64th birthday, a time to reflect on the past. Rather than go back through all of those many years, I’m going to concentrate on the last 3 weeks and specifically on yesterday which was the only good day in the last 20.
The list of things that have gone wrong in October is almost limitless, but a few highlights are; boat won’t run decently, lost my wallet in lake powell, boat still won’t run right and finally the dam boat doesn’t run right and every shop in the state is busy for 2 weeks winterizing what I can only assume are ski boats. No self respecting angler is going to winterize his boat this early!
After working on the boat myself all day Friday, I decided that Saturday was going to be a fishing day no matter what else happened. Three weeks being off the water is way too long.
Judd Ritter pulled up at my house at 6:45AM. Ritter had yet to catch a northern in spite of several attempts so we decided to give it a try, in spite of the fact that we might get stranded on the water if the outboard conked out.
Yuba is so low that the park service has closed the ramp at painted rocks. We launched at Oasis ramp to an empty parking lot. The motor started instantly, but was running rough. We headed up the reservoir as the sun was breaking over the mountains. It was cold but not miserable and the clear skies promised a beautiful day.
Cutting the big motor, Judd dropped the bow mount electric troller and we began casting to the shoreline along a gravel bank that dropped off steeply. The water temp had dropped 10 degrees since my last trip here, but pike still feed actively at 55 degree water so we were optimistic.
20 minutes into the morning I was fast to a pike. Things were looking good. The fish was on the small side about 10 pounds. A half-hours had passed without a strike so I changed from the rattle trap to a jerkbait. The first cast from the fresh bait brought another 8 or 10 pounder.
Judd continued to change lures searching for the magic lure that would lead him to his first pike. I was starting to feel guilty. He was in the bow of the boat which is a definite advantage as you can position the boat where you can optimize the cast. In the stern you take what you can get and hope for the best.
It warmed up some bu 9:30. I was watching Judd’s rod tip after each cast and finally The deep bend and the head shake was there. “Fish on.”!
After several long runs Judd brought the fish to the net. High fives and congratulations were in order. The drought was over and Ritter had his fish.
We continued to fish until early afternoon, managing to add two more to the live well. Five fish for the day. Although we didn’t weight or measure them; 4 were from 8 to 12 pounds and one was a baby of about 5 pounds.
The general size of the pike is continuing to decline. I believe this is due to the UDWR encouraging anglers to kill the Pike. A slot should be instilled to protect the big breeders. but that is not likely to happen. We release all pike contrary to the DWR’s wishes. The pike fishery had the promise to be world class, but I’m afraid that isn’t going to happen with the continued kill of big fish, but that is another story.
There were about a half dozen other boats on the lake. I have no idea how any of them did except WrongWay Johnson and his lovely wife Vicky, who caught a nice fish on a dead minnow at the rocks across from the ramp. Her first pike.
One other note of possible interest. The lake was speckled with dead yearling perch about two inches long. One of the pike we caught spit out several small perch and Wrongway told me that the fish Vicky caught had 13 perch in it just before it hit the dinner table. I have no idea what was killing these baby perch, but there were alot of them on the water. The gulls were diving for them and taking them off the surface. I’m not a perch fisherman, but they are an important prey specie for the pike so I hope they don’t all die.
Good fishing should last until early December. Bundle up and give it a try. IF I can get my boat running right I might see you on the water, but until that time I’m afraid I will only be able to dream about the giant pike of Yuba.
The list of things that have gone wrong in October is almost limitless, but a few highlights are; boat won’t run decently, lost my wallet in lake powell, boat still won’t run right and finally the dam boat doesn’t run right and every shop in the state is busy for 2 weeks winterizing what I can only assume are ski boats. No self respecting angler is going to winterize his boat this early!
After working on the boat myself all day Friday, I decided that Saturday was going to be a fishing day no matter what else happened. Three weeks being off the water is way too long.
Judd Ritter pulled up at my house at 6:45AM. Ritter had yet to catch a northern in spite of several attempts so we decided to give it a try, in spite of the fact that we might get stranded on the water if the outboard conked out.
Yuba is so low that the park service has closed the ramp at painted rocks. We launched at Oasis ramp to an empty parking lot. The motor started instantly, but was running rough. We headed up the reservoir as the sun was breaking over the mountains. It was cold but not miserable and the clear skies promised a beautiful day.
Cutting the big motor, Judd dropped the bow mount electric troller and we began casting to the shoreline along a gravel bank that dropped off steeply. The water temp had dropped 10 degrees since my last trip here, but pike still feed actively at 55 degree water so we were optimistic.
20 minutes into the morning I was fast to a pike. Things were looking good. The fish was on the small side about 10 pounds. A half-hours had passed without a strike so I changed from the rattle trap to a jerkbait. The first cast from the fresh bait brought another 8 or 10 pounder.
Judd continued to change lures searching for the magic lure that would lead him to his first pike. I was starting to feel guilty. He was in the bow of the boat which is a definite advantage as you can position the boat where you can optimize the cast. In the stern you take what you can get and hope for the best.
It warmed up some bu 9:30. I was watching Judd’s rod tip after each cast and finally The deep bend and the head shake was there. “Fish on.”!
After several long runs Judd brought the fish to the net. High fives and congratulations were in order. The drought was over and Ritter had his fish.
We continued to fish until early afternoon, managing to add two more to the live well. Five fish for the day. Although we didn’t weight or measure them; 4 were from 8 to 12 pounds and one was a baby of about 5 pounds.
The general size of the pike is continuing to decline. I believe this is due to the UDWR encouraging anglers to kill the Pike. A slot should be instilled to protect the big breeders. but that is not likely to happen. We release all pike contrary to the DWR’s wishes. The pike fishery had the promise to be world class, but I’m afraid that isn’t going to happen with the continued kill of big fish, but that is another story.
There were about a half dozen other boats on the lake. I have no idea how any of them did except WrongWay Johnson and his lovely wife Vicky, who caught a nice fish on a dead minnow at the rocks across from the ramp. Her first pike.
One other note of possible interest. The lake was speckled with dead yearling perch about two inches long. One of the pike we caught spit out several small perch and Wrongway told me that the fish Vicky caught had 13 perch in it just before it hit the dinner table. I have no idea what was killing these baby perch, but there were alot of them on the water. The gulls were diving for them and taking them off the surface. I’m not a perch fisherman, but they are an important prey specie for the pike so I hope they don’t all die.
Good fishing should last until early December. Bundle up and give it a try. IF I can get my boat running right I might see you on the water, but until that time I’m afraid I will only be able to dream about the giant pike of Yuba.
