10-24-2005, 11:46 AM
[cool][#0000ff]Looks you picked one of those days when the fishing was great but the catchin' weren't. Sorry you didn't get to bend your stick on some of those bigguns. Also sorry you got outfished by the boy. Well, not really. I used to make a lot of noise when my kids beat out the old man, but inside I was happy for them. I knew how much it meant to me when I did well while fishing with my old man.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I have a couple of theories on the fishing down there. Well, maybe more than a couple. First, as Ocean observes, the action is best during low light periods. That is going to be especially true when the water is warmer and there is no breeze. Like trout everywhere, those fish are more likely to come shallow when there is a "fishing riffle" to break up the light penetration on the water and make them feel more secure.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I also think the breezes have a lot to do with the concentration of both bait and predator. No wind or south winds blow out away from the dam area, taking nutrients and baitfish with it. When the prevailing breezes blow from the east or north, they stack the bait up in the funnel near the dam and the bigger fish follow them. That's when you see the wide open feeding action.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Also, even though there have been several northerns taken during the past week, I doubt that there is a big population yet. I believe that they are acting just like the trout right now...following the concentration of wind blown minnow schools. As the young get larger and spread out more, they are more likely to be found on traditional pike habitat...weed beds, brushy areas, underwater points and humps, etc.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Because Yuba does not have a lot of subsurface structure (rocks and points), it has always been a 90/10 lake...with 90% of the fish usually found in only about 10% of the water. It is a tough water to fish successfully without sonar, and even finding the fish is no guarantee of catching them. But, you can't catch them where they ain't.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Once the populations of perch and walleye increase, there will be more productive water around the lake, simply because the volume of fish spreads out more. The trout are more prone to cruise around, looking for food over wider areas, whereas the other guys are more territorial and stay more within general areas. So, you need to look for the minnow schools as a start and then hope the trout have found them too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As some of the BFTers have discovered, fishing with bait is the least effective way to catch the trout right now. They are usually glutted on minnows. If you serve them a dead minnow, they turn up their noses, in favor of a nice lively easy-to-catch fresh one, when they go on a feeding binge. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Same with worms, power bait, etc. Last year there was a period when folks were whackin' the trout off the shore with gobs of green power bait. That bite has not developed this year, although I saw some gobs of it floating last Saturday.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]But, they still like the COLOR chartreuse. That is a triggering color that will get reaction bites, even when the fish are not actively feeding. So will hot pink. So will silver with red dots...like the Jakes Spin A Lures. I make some of those same combos in spinners and in spoons that work well down there (see attached pics). When the fish are there, but not feeding, you have to experiment to find some color or combo that gets them to "yawn" as your lure goes by.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Well, that's enough outta me.[/#0000ff]
[signature]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I have a couple of theories on the fishing down there. Well, maybe more than a couple. First, as Ocean observes, the action is best during low light periods. That is going to be especially true when the water is warmer and there is no breeze. Like trout everywhere, those fish are more likely to come shallow when there is a "fishing riffle" to break up the light penetration on the water and make them feel more secure.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]I also think the breezes have a lot to do with the concentration of both bait and predator. No wind or south winds blow out away from the dam area, taking nutrients and baitfish with it. When the prevailing breezes blow from the east or north, they stack the bait up in the funnel near the dam and the bigger fish follow them. That's when you see the wide open feeding action.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Also, even though there have been several northerns taken during the past week, I doubt that there is a big population yet. I believe that they are acting just like the trout right now...following the concentration of wind blown minnow schools. As the young get larger and spread out more, they are more likely to be found on traditional pike habitat...weed beds, brushy areas, underwater points and humps, etc.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Because Yuba does not have a lot of subsurface structure (rocks and points), it has always been a 90/10 lake...with 90% of the fish usually found in only about 10% of the water. It is a tough water to fish successfully without sonar, and even finding the fish is no guarantee of catching them. But, you can't catch them where they ain't.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Once the populations of perch and walleye increase, there will be more productive water around the lake, simply because the volume of fish spreads out more. The trout are more prone to cruise around, looking for food over wider areas, whereas the other guys are more territorial and stay more within general areas. So, you need to look for the minnow schools as a start and then hope the trout have found them too.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]As some of the BFTers have discovered, fishing with bait is the least effective way to catch the trout right now. They are usually glutted on minnows. If you serve them a dead minnow, they turn up their noses, in favor of a nice lively easy-to-catch fresh one, when they go on a feeding binge. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Same with worms, power bait, etc. Last year there was a period when folks were whackin' the trout off the shore with gobs of green power bait. That bite has not developed this year, although I saw some gobs of it floating last Saturday.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]But, they still like the COLOR chartreuse. That is a triggering color that will get reaction bites, even when the fish are not actively feeding. So will hot pink. So will silver with red dots...like the Jakes Spin A Lures. I make some of those same combos in spinners and in spoons that work well down there (see attached pics). When the fish are there, but not feeding, you have to experiment to find some color or combo that gets them to "yawn" as your lure goes by.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Well, that's enough outta me.[/#0000ff]
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