Yuba

[ocean]

Since the game got cancelled I decided to go make a quick trip to Yuba. Water is extremely low this year and there were carp on top all over the place. Fishing was slow got one hit on a spoon but felt like a small fish . My wife found this clan anyone know what kind it is ? With the heat and low water I expect the bigger pike and walleyes to be in deeper water .
[signature]

[Kent]

I don't know the name of the clam but they were (and perhaps still are) thick in Otter Creek when I was a kid.
[signature]

[Blackellunge]

you can bet if there any pike left they are really deep! water levels looking bad - reminds me of my last trip there (last year), really had to watch were you went in the boat - sunken islands were no longer sunken .
[signature]

[strawberryquest]

Does anybody know what happened to the pike down there at Yuba? I have been wondering about this, there might be some left but not too many. The lake is over run with carp.
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[#0000FF]Poor old Yuba goes through continuous cycles of boom and bust. There have been years of fantastic fishing for perch and walleyes...with occasional good pike as frosting. Then there will be several years of drought and the whole food chain crashes.

Our current situation began at the end of the last big drought...ending 2005. Yuba was drained to a trickle and a mud puddle. Lots of carp survived but not much else in the lake. Some walleyes and pike found holes upriver to wait for more water. Perch and other species pretty much disappeared.

DWR planted rainbows to provide a fishery while the lake reestablished itself. Great fishing for trout up to 8 pounds for a couple of years. There were hordes of fathead minnows feeding them. Then Rocky Mountain Anglers planted a bunch of yellow perch. The perch population exploded...eating up all the fathead minnows...and the fingerling trout still planted by DWR.

About that time there was a big spawn among the few remaining northern pike and everybody was catching hammer handle pike. Those pike grew up and spawned...and ate rainbows, perch and anything else that didn't eat them first. DWR quit planting trout.

As top predators, the pike went crazy...spawning and eating. Suddenly there was a big population and they were eating everything in sight. DWR tried to put some controls on the pike by publicizing the fishery, encouraging anglers to fish the lake and to keep everything they caught...up to the 20 fish newly enacted limit.

It didn't take long for the happy harvesters to show up and fill their live wells and coolers with pike...of all sizes...including the big spawners. Even rank amateurs were catching grundles of pike...and keeping them. Although there were a lot of pike, they could not withstand that kind of pressure.

Factor in that the pike had pretty much eaten up all the forage species in the lake...except the carp. And the carp remain small only a short time each year. So food supplies were low, growth rates were slower and the harvest continued...in spite of falling numbers.

At some point the anglers noticed that instead of catching many pike on each trip it was becoming more common to catch only one or two...or none. A lot of folks kept on coming back...hoping there were still lots of fish still there...waiting for them. But even more anglers recognized the down cycle and went elsewhere.

Yes, there are still pike in the lake. And some big ones. They get big by being smart and by being able to eat the larger carp. But they also prey on the smaller members of their own species. And fewer and fewer baby pike ever live long enough to become big pike.

The law of diminishing returns.
[/#0000FF]
[signature]

[Wpahole]

I talked to someone a week ago who said they caught several pike at yuba. Now I'm starting to wonder if it was just a "fishing story". Hate to see the water that low. Reminds me of Newton and how most if not all the muskie died from poor water levels/being shot down the outlet. []
[signature]

[strawberryquest]

Thanks for the info.
[signature]

[ocean]

You can catch pike but you have to put in some work. The bigger ones don't usually take lures so jigging with chubs or anchovies works good. Here's a pic of one of those fat rainbows Tube dude was talking about.
[signature]

[bassrods]

That is a fresh water clam they are in most if not all waters of Utah and west and down the Green and Lake Powell.
[signature]