Yuba?

[joatmon]

Anyone been to Yuba lately?  Just wondering if walleyes and wipers are biting.  Thinking of dragging my canoe down there tomorrow.  Thanks in advance for any information.

[Jig-fisher]

On facebook posted today.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/utahangl...301220542/

[joatmon]

On facebook posted today.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/utahangl...301220542/

Thank you.  I did end up going and fought the wind most of the day on the canoe.  Marked lots of fish, had a hard time enticing bites.  Ended up with one 16-17" smallmouth bass for my efforts.

[Fritzfishin]

Good job! Not to many smallies in there but there's definitely a couple, hows the water level? Can you go all the way through the channel to eagle landing. Last summer it was water coned off

[joatmon]

Good job! Not to many smallies in there but there's definitely a couple, hows the water level? Can you go all the way through the channel to eagle landing. Last summer it was water coned off

I stayed right around the Oasis area and down toward the dam.  The water is WAY up from where it was late last year, BUT looks like it peaked and is going down already.  Maybe temporary?  The attached chart shows the last year and it is maybe 7-8 feet lower than a year ago.  The wipers will be sucking dust by end of summer...  

Not sure about access up lake.  Saw a few boats out, one came in right as I did and they had been up lake but not sure how far.  They caught 3 carp and a walleye.

[Fritzfishin]

Its came pretty close to being bone dry a few times, maybe that will be good for the lake to start over again and get rid of some of the carp... I have no idea why dwr puts trout in there... there is no structure its not managed as a fishing destination its a over sized irrigation pond thats it. It gets 80° water temps in the summer I don't know why dwr put I can't remember maybe 100,000 tiger trout in there last year? Anything 2-3" the carp will eat no problem. I love yuba im there ALOT!!! But they should of just let the pike flourish i think. It was the only decent place in utah to go and actually target pike. We got 3 over 40" on one morning trip and a dozen or more in the 25-34" range. Those days are long over im afraid. But don't worry they'll dump thousands and thousands of trout in there just for them to die instead of letting the pike and walleye do well. Put some sort of shinner or bait fish in there for the other fish to eat other then trout... unless the trout were just the food for the struggling other species. Maybe pat knows more about it then me but yuba is like a second home to me and its sure going down hill quick.

[TubeDude]

Its came pretty close to being bone dry a few times, maybe that will be good for the lake to start over again and get rid of some of the carp... I have no idea why dwr puts trout in there... there is no structure its not managed as a fishing destination its a over sized irrigation pond thats it. It gets 80° water temps in the summer I don't know why dwr put I can't remember maybe 100,000 tiger trout in there last year? Anything 2-3" the carp will eat no problem. I love yuba im there ALOT!!! But they should of just let the pike flourish i think.  It was the only decent place in utah to go and actually target pike. We got 3 over 40" on one morning trip and a dozen or more in the 25-34" range. Those days are long over im afraid. But don't worry they'll dump thousands and thousands of trout in there just for them to die instead of letting the pike and walleye do well. Put some sort of shinner or bait fish in there for the other fish to eat other then trout... unless the trout were just the food for the struggling other species. Maybe pat knows more about it then me but yuba is like a second home to me and its sure going down hill quick.

I am attaching something I put together to highlight the history of the lake between 2004 and 2009.  It was not long after that the formerly abundant perch population once again tanked.  And walleyes also thinned out a lot...because they could not live on carp fry alone.  The northern pike were great for a while...with anglers enjoying multi fish days which included some big ol' bigguns.  But the combination of a war against them by DWR, angler harvest and declining food resources the pike population also took a dive. 

In more recent years there have been plantings of smallmouths and wipers...with some amazing results...especially with wipers.  Might be hope for a good fishery there in the future...but questionable with no reliable year round food source.  The once prolific fathead minnow population is a thing of the past and as a shallow mud bowl with no real structure around the whole lake it is not a spawn-friendly environment for almost any species. 

I have fished Yuba since the late 1970s.  Up until the early 1990s it was a fish factory.  You could fill a boat with footlong or bigger perch.  And limits of walleye took only an hour or so on a good morning.  Plus, there were a lot of big catfish to bend your stick while fishing for other species...or for catfish if you deliberately fished for them.  And while there were not great numbers of pike, there were always a few around.  But that extended drought beginning before Y2K began the great downward trend of the whole lake.  By mid 2004 there was hardly a trickle of Sevier River water making it all the way to the dam.  And when the lake refilled in 2005...after a good winter...the only option for a fishery was to stock the lake with rainbows.  The rest is contained in the attached PDF file.

[Therapist]

Those were the days !! Driving to Yuba in the fog, hanging out the driver's side window to see the yellow line to stay on the road !!  Walking over the ice to get to our spot,  then sunbathing during the day when the sun came out while catching jumbo perch !!  Been several years since I ventured down there.  Here is a pic from my last venture !




I had to go pickup kids from Trek in Manti and decided to drag the boat with me and stop at Yuba.  Only had a couple of hours to fish.  Caught this one just before I had to leave.  Estimated it to be about 15lbs,  around 40 inches !!

[TubeDude]

Those were the days !! Driving to Yuba in the fog, hanging out the driver's side window to see the yellow line to stay on the road !!  Walking over the ice to get to our spot,  then sunbathing during the day when the sun came out while catching jumbo perch !!  Been several years since I ventured down there.  Here is a pic from my last venture !




I had to go pickup kids from Trek in Manti and decided to drag the boat with me and stop at Yuba.  Only had a couple of hours to fish.  Caught this one just before I had to leave.  Estimated it to be about 15lbs,  around 40 inches !!

Nice northern.  Used to be some epic days fishing in the outlet below the dam too...before vandals got it put off limits to the public.

[Therapist]

Oh yea!! Wandered the river for about a mile below the spillway a couple of times. Caught Walleye, perch, and SMB. I think the last time I fished below the dam, Ranger Pat let me in even though it was closed. Lots of good times !!

[MrShane]

In ‘93/‘94’ish I was driving down in my car and pulling in 12”+ yellow devils from shore just chucking out 3” grubs and dragging back to shore.
Water was so clear you could watch a wolf pack of them fighting for your jig all the way up to your feet.
Daaaang…….

[Paddler]

That used to be a fantastic resource. I caught 25 walleye one day down there. My wife and I fished perch during the winter once. Our limit of 20 weighed 24#. We'd throw back 11" fish. Miss that place. It's always been boom and bust, but now without water it'll just be bust and bust.

[Fritzfishin]

If you like carp fishing yuba is the place!!

[TubeDude]

If you like carp fishing yuba is the place!!

Toothless golden walleye.  You are right.  Great place to take kids or newbies to teach them how to fight large fish on light tackle.  Good for stocking up on catfish bait.  And if you are good...and if you are lucky...good and lucky...you might get into some wipers.

[Fritzfishin]

If you like carp fishing yuba is the place!!

Toothless golden walleye.  You are right.  Great place to take kids or newbies to teach them how to fight large fish on light tackle.  Good for stocking up on catfish bait.  And if you are good...and if you are lucky...good and lucky...you might get into some wipers.

We got into the wipers good last year.. with the 20 fish limit they did it wonder how many are left

[TubeDude]

If you like carp fishing yuba is the place!!

Toothless golden walleye.  You are right.  Great place to take kids or newbies to teach them how to fight large fish on light tackle.  Good for stocking up on catfish bait.  And if you are good...and if you are lucky...good and lucky...you might get into some wipers.

We got into the wipers good last year.. with the 20 fish limit they did it wonder how many are left

Probably a lot of them "left"...the lake.  I think they are experimenting and hopeful.  But they know that Yuba is tough to manage because DWR has no rights on the lake.  The power company can drain it every year if they want to.  So DWR would rather see anglers utilize the available fish rather than lose them to a dry lake.