Anybody got Yuba plans this weekend?

[walleyebob]

So I'm thinking about meeting up with my cousin at Yuba for a Sunday Pike,Walleye,Perch fest. Has anyone tried for a mess of Perch lately? We will probably target Pike first, but later on it would be nice to capture some dinner. They should be fairly deep by now, but if anyone has any info it would be muchly appreciated.
Or, if anyone fishes it friday or saturday could you please post your results so I can use and possibly abuse any info you have?
Thank You
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]I've got Yuba on my dance card for Friday the 30th but haven't been there myself for a long time. Howsomever, I started tubing it for perch about this time last year and found them mostly close to the spillway channel and along the north shore. Started out getting them in 22 to 24 feet, and each week they moved a few feet deeper. But, once you found the magic depth you could move along that breakline and score a bunch. We never found any big schools last year, but lots of singles and doubles. If you can find a ball of baby perch just fish around it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We did best with 1/4 oz. chartreuse jigs tipped with perch meat, but they hit other colors and crawler too...just not as well. Main problem with using the crawlers is keeping the carpinskis away. But they ate the perch meat too. Nasty buggers.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Be sure to post your report so I can copy your great successes.[/#0000ff]
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[CROSSINEYES]

HEY BOB. WALLEYES BEEN TUFF AT YUBA AGAIN THIS YR. BUT YOU MAY HAVE BETTER LUCK THAN CHUCK N ME. LOL WHY ARENT YOU POUNDING DC?
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[walleyebob]

Hey Ken, DC is on the agenda for saturday. If work doesnt get in the way of more important plans, I'm thinking about Chukar hunting Friday, DC Saturday, and Yuba Sunday. But that could all change if the weather doesnt play nice.
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[pezvela]

I was there yesterday (wed). My primary goal was to test my outboard, but fished for 4 hours without a strike. The positive thing is the motor is running peaches! The Optimax fuel systemis is a closed pressurized system and a tiny leak at the bulb was causing all the problems. Now I can fish again w/o alll the worry about getting back to the ramp.

There were dead baby perch all over the shore line near the ramp at oasis and scattered throughout the lake. The DWR were there putting out gill nets, but they didn't seemed to concerned. I don't think they took me seriously as they don't like my constant whining that they should do something about the pike fishery before it is too late.

If you see dead perch will you please let me know? I can't do anything about it and I certainly have no idea what is causing it, but if others are concerned as well I'll call Drew Cushings in SLC and not springville.

Good luck to all that fish it. I hope you catch a monster. With the prech in the depths now I'm thinking of changing my tactics to fishing deep maybe with a downrigger and trying to intice whatever those big arches are under the perch/carp schools.
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[sewfish]

we fished today, 22nd, without getting anything. The fish and game were there gathering up their gill nets but we didn't get close enough to see what they had in them. wish we have binoculars with us. we tried shallow and deep and really tried to get the perch to bite, but no luck
The day was beautiful with only a ripple on the lake. I think we're through with Yuba until there's ice. Al;so, therre were lots of small perch floating. We did run into the same thing a couple of years ago at Jordanelle.
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[TubeDude]

[quote pezvela]Any one have a feel for what is killing the little perch? The DWR doen't seem to care![/quote]

[cool][#0000ff]No worries. I have observed the same thing both with perch and with young-of-the-year crappies for as long as I have been fishing Utah...since forever.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]What causes it? My opinion is that it is a food chain thing. Most species of fish rely on small invertebrates in their diet until they get big enough to chow down on bigger stuff. Depending upon the water, that could be daphnia, copepods, zooplankton, scuds, mysis shrimp, etc. And since most of these things feed on algae and other water borne nutrients, their abundance depends upon a combination of overall water nutrient levels and sunshine...for photosynthesis.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As daylight hours shorten and water temps decrease there is a corresponding drop in available food for the young fish. This "micro buffet" also moves up or down in the water column or migrates to different parts of the lake. Little fishlets that ain't hip to the routine run out of food and starve to death. Fortunately, the dieoff is usually only a small percentage of the total population, but it can look catastrophic. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In a lake like Yuba, that already seemingly suffers from a declining perch population, a massive dieoff COULD intensify the problem. It is more a matter of a drop in the overall food chain than simply losing small fish that could become big fish. Anybody who knows Yuba at all knows how vital a hefty crop of perchlets is to all of the predators. There are no other minnows and not much else for larger fish to feed on. Perch fry are the main food supply.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I don't know how much you fished the lake last year at this time, but I tubed it about once a week from late October to just before ice up. The two attached pics were from Nov. 7th of last year. One shows two of the floating perchlets I scooped off the water. The other is of a perch I caught on a jig that barfed up a still wiggling fry. That indicated that there were lots of little ones in the area...supported by sonar readings...and some were dieing from different causes.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I plan to make an assault on them myself next week and hopefully I can find enough evidence to give me a positive outlook. However, based upon input from some pretty good Yubaholic perch jerkers over the past summer I do not have great expectations. I suspect that Yuba is not healthy and we might be due for a periodic crash. Thanks, carp.[/#0000ff]
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[walleyebob]

I agree with your assessment of what the little fishies are dying from Pat. Starvation mostly. And I wonder if a strong summer thermocline makes the situation worse. The young of the year Perch have been hanging out in the most oxygen rich water column and by this time of year they have depleted the food in that particular depth. The ones that are willing to wander to different depths in search of food survive and the ones that stay where the oxygen is plentiful run out of food. A few days of real cold weather could turn the lake over and cure the problem. Mixing of the lake at turnover would bring up more nutrients from the bottom and supply the food chain with a buffet.
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[pezvela]

I had never seen this before and it concerned me. When I pointed it out to the DWR, they didn't seem too concerned, moreover, I thought their attitude was rather cavalier.

As I stated earlier, I am not a perch fisherman, but I know their importance to the pike fishery. The biologists that I spoke to last week at Yuba seemed to think the lake is about to crash unless there is a high water year this coming spring allowing high enough water levels for a good perch spawn. No perch...no pike.

When I queried about why they don't plant some other prey specie, I was advised there was a problem with a down stream specie that was threatened, some kind of hump back sucker? It seems as though an introduction of some other specie of forage fish isn't possible because of the impact it might cause on the sucker.

So based on what I heard, the extraordinary pike fishery is about to suffer the same cyclic fate as the walleye, trout and trophy perch.

I know the DWR is concerned about it and trying to find an answer and that answer might be elusive. With Drew Cushings at the helm of the warm water fisheries there might be a chance. He seems to have a genuine concern and I think he might look outside of the box for a solution that is untraditional.

It is a complex problem, perhaps so much so that I'll never grasp it. All is know is that if the pike are lost it will be a , day for this fisherman.

Thanks for your feedback guys. I appreciate your insight. PezVela
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