Starvation at Yuba 6-23-09

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Not a good day for BFTers on Yuba. TubeBabe and I met up with LloydE just before 7 AM at Painted Rocks. A fourth tuber, FishKillr didn't show. Turned out he blew a head gasket on the way down. Bad start.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Fuzzyfisher and son Tommy made it down, with their boat. So did UtWalleye and his crew. Then everybody hit the water and went different directions. We might as well of just soaked a crawler from the bank.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Water temp 63 at launch, and a bit murky. Warmed to 67 by 1 PM takeout. We all covered a LOT of water, fishing everything from big cranks for pike to small jigs for perch. Dragged some walleye rigs for those guys too, without any success. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I kicked clear across the lake and worked the brushy areas on the other side. No pike and no nothing else. Finally had a couple of perch pecks. TubeBabe announced on the walkie talkie that she was also cultivating a skunk...and that LloydE was also fishless. So were a couple of boaters who slid by within chatting range.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I was trying out a new sonar...a Humminbird 565. It showed me lots of fish, at all depths. But, most of them had puckered mouths, lots of scales and rhymed with tarp. Strangely, not even the buglemouths were biting. They have been a nuisance the past week, grabbing everything thrown or dragged for other species.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Finally got into an area about 14 to 16 feet deep that had some "interesting" signals on the bottom. Might be something other than carp. Had a couple of taps, lost the worm from my jig, rebaited, sent it back down and BOINK. Scored a 9 inch perch. Thought I was on a pattern and would proceed to hammer them. WRONG. No more perch all day.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I did have one nice walleye a while later. Hit one of my new "jingle jigs". Just a bit over a rod length away from the net, it opened its mouth and did the patented walleye "lure return". Looked like about 4 or 5 pounds. But, I didn't care. NOT MUCH.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]That was it for me. TubeBabe brought her skunk to shore. LloydE managed one carp and a lost carpeye (a carp he claimed was a walleye). Fuzzy and Tommy cruised in to check on us before we got out. They had worked a large area of the lake too and had not even had one bite. I hope the afternoon was better for them than the morning was for all of us.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Purty weather. Only a light breeze. But, with cooler water from last week and the fish just getting a break after a series of fronts, everything was pretty tight. A few nice days and it should get better.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]One note. The water level seems to be very low to me...for this time of year. Depths are at late summer levels already. All other lakes in Utah are spilling. Whats up with that?[/#0000ff]
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[Strikes_R_Us]

Thanks for the info. We are heading down threre on Sunday. Hopefully things will be a bit better by then.
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[fuzzyfisher]

well TD we did not do much better then you did.. tommy kicked his old man's butt today. [shocked]. he ended the day with 4 perch and 6 carp.. i got 2 perch and 1 carp.. i dont know whats going on there at yuba but the last 2 weeks have been a real bummer as far as fishing go's..

and i'm with you, why are all the other lakes in the area getting ready to burst there dam's and yuba is 30 feet low? this will be 2 years in a row that the water levles are way down when the perch should be spowing.. i'm thinking the reason the walleye are starting to bite is the perch are getting ready to crash? not a lot of perch in there this year.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][cool][#0000ff]Same old song...just the 2009 verse. DWR would like to convince us they are "managing" Yuba. But, the downstream water users (Delta Power) hold all the power and keep playing with the water...without any concern for fishing consequences. In these "high water" years, they should leave some water in the lake instead of flushing it downstream. All it is going to take is one bad water year and we will be watching all of the fish flop around in mud puddles again. What a waste. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]And, the low perch population is blamed on anglers taking too many big spawners during ice fishing season. If they can't spawn well, and the carp eat all of the new fry anyway, there will be no new larger fish to spawn when the water is high enough. Any perch that survive to a larger size become "pike pizza".[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I hope you didn't keep any of those perch. We can blame you for the next crash.[/#0000ff]
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[ocean]

Sorry ro hear that the fishing was bad today.I was hoping for a better report from you unless you are holding out on us!! [:p] I was hoping to hit yuba in the morning sunday but i guess i might just head up fairview. Thanks for the chubbers and the report.
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[waljustia]

Too bad about Yuba! We were all singing such strong praises of it just last december. Seemed like it only caught on fire for a little bit once the ice was on.. and it has stunk ever since. Now, with the lower waterlevels to accomodate the perch spawn.. They might just do an emergency "No Harvest" this winter "To save the lake"

You'll have to give us a report on the 565. I have been eyeballing one for quite some time now. Finally decided I can live without it...what I got is good enough... Maybe[]. It seems like it's perfect for float tubing, with the dual frequencies.. the larger flasher screen.. and up to 8X zoom with the 640 vertical pixels.. should make it a nice one for both the tube and the ice... The lower wattage means no drain-O on the smaller batteries in the tube.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]I think there are still plenty of perch in the lake. But, as in most lakes, the perch tend to go deep quickly when conditions go downhill. In Starvation last week they went from shallow to over 30 feet during a series of storms. In Yuba they were being caught in 12 to 15 feet before the storms, but disappeared from the areas we fished...with maximum depths of about 23 feet. I suspect they went down toward the dam into deeper holding areas. They will be back. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Late summer and fall will tell the tale. That is when there should be lots of big perch in close, feeding on lots of baby perch from this year's spawn. If the carp have eaten all of the perch fry by then, we will be catching a few skinny perch and they will not have the 2" perchlets in them as in a "normal" year.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The big problem in Yuba is IDENTIFYING perch or any other species besides carp. There are so many carp...of all sizes...in big schools and at all depths...that it is impossible to have any idea of what you are seeing on sonar. You might as well just drag any old lure or fish any old bait...at any depth. You have just as much chance as trying to target the fish signals that show up on sonar.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I plan to make a couple more trips with the 565 and then do a pictorial and review on the tubing board. Lower wattage? 2000 watts is 4 times higher than the Cudas I have been using. But, I ran my new unit for 5 hours on the small SLA battery and it only dropped from 12.9 volts to 12.5 volts.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]My initial review is GOOD. If only more of the fish showing up on my screen had not been "toothless golden walleye".[/#0000ff]
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[lakextackle]

Might be too far to kick a tube, but if ya get on the painted rocks side and fish the the steep rock banks near the channel bends you will find a fair amount of perch. I couldnt get bit on the flat stuff...
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]I suspected there would be more fish "downlake". But, I had committed to fishing the far side and the brushy areas.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I did cover a fair bit of water. I kicked down beyond the high gravel bluffs to the SE. Probably as far as if I had gone the other direction. I have fished beyond the Painted Rocks before. Not a bad kick for us old tube dogs.[/#0000ff]
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[waljustia]

Yeah, by lower.. I meant compared to the 4000 that usually accommodates the features in the 565.. Look forward to the review.
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[utwalleye]

well I'm glad to see it wasn't just us, we worked our butts off and ended with 3 perch and about a dozen carp.
we did it all trolled, casted, drifted, anchored, what else is there. the water is way down from this time last year. looks like it's going to be a bad perch success rate this year. no cover and they get ate. later chuck
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Sorry you didn't do better...but glad it wasn't just us that had a poor day. Like most waters, Yuba can be stingy sometimes.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]And, I hope we are both wrong and that the lake is not really in trouble. We will see.[/#0000ff]
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[THESLAYER]

Carp and perch for me and the wife at yuba on tues night gonna hit willard tommorow though then starvation sat morning any pointers would be greatly appreciated
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