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[cool][#0000ff]Hit the Oasis ramp with Pikeman this morning about 7 AM. It was 22 degrees at the same time yesterday morning...with a nice warm sun that came up well before 8. Today it was only 5 degrees when we walked onto the ice...and it got colder...and foggier. Brutal, but we toughed it out.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Fishing was slower than yesterday. Probably because the overcast and fog kept the light levels low for a long time. The cold also froze a layer of fog frost on everything. Looked kinda cool on the rods in my rod holders (see pic).[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We did see quite a few fish coming through, on sonar, but they were just not as active. Yesterday the fish would smack a deadsticked jig. Today you had to finesse them, with just the right movement, to get them to nibble...lightly.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As we have found on previous Yuba excursions, using larger jigs...with perch meat...produced more hits and larger fish than using smaller jigs with other baits. We both ended up with a nice pile of perch for the table, but had to work for them. The sizes ranged from about 10 inches to Pikeman's porky 13 incher. We both had a couple over 12.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The slow bite shut down altogether about 10:30 but we stuck it out until almost noon. By then it had warmed up to 28 degrees. Toasty.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Including a picture of Pikeman's giant toothy perch. Actually, he claimed that he got it spearfishing at Fish Lake, but I am sure some of our sharper eyed members will call BS on that one. We have had enough controversy on spearfishing and Fish Lake anyway.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Also including a picture of one of the perch I caught that had a neat round hole through the back...about the size of a .22. Coulda been a bird while the perch was still young. Or, the fish might have had plans to become a bracelet charm. If so, I ruined it. Filleting and skinning messed up the nice neat hole.[/#0000ff]
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Wow, 2 days.. 2 trips to yuba. Sounds like fun!
I call B.S. on pikemans toothy fish from fish lake. That's gotta be a whitefish from Bear Lake
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"Wow, 2 days.. 2 trips to yuba. Sounds like fun!"
[cool] [#0000ff]Make that 3 trips in 4 days. But...I am paying the price. Developed my annual lower back pain syndrome as a penalty. A couple days rest and a few bottles of an appropriate "medication" and I should be as good as new...as good as an old man can be new anyway.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Careful about challenging Pikeman. As you can see, he gots some BAAAAAAD backup.[/#0000ff]
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So, I think you need to add a caveat to your slogan.
"I fish for enjoyment, not for endurance*"
*Unless the perch are biting at Yuba
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Nice TD... I did a back to back last weekend and I have a bad case of bucket back myself.... Nothing like a week of work to cure that [ ]
I'll be back at it Saturday .... [cool]
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If pikeman is wearing his official fish lake shirt in the picture then I will have to believe it came from where he says. It looks like you are keeping company with one of the best Pat. Any time you go with pikeman it is time well spent. gshorthair
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Nice pictures, that Tiger trout that pikeman got was a nice one...[crazy]
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[quote TubeDude]"Wow, 2 days.. 2 trips to yuba. Sounds like fun!"
[cool] [#0000ff]Make that 3 trips in 4 days. But...I am paying the price. Developed my annual lower back pain syndrome as a penalty. A couple days rest and a few bottles of an appropriate "medication" and I should be as good as new...as good as an old man can be new anyway.[/#0000ff] [/quote]
Ohh darn and I was hoping you would be there Saturday to show us newbies how it's done!
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Looks like the perch are still willing to play if with only a light bump. 3 trips to Yuba in 4 days? Man are you hooked or what? Actually my guess would be you needed an exuse for that special medication [  ]
3M and I will probably hit that hole again this weekend (Possibly Saturday). Then trip down the highway and turn left for Sunday fun..
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[cool][#0000ff]Don't need no excuses for self medication. But, if it helps, then I go for it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Kinda like the pioneers coming across the plains. They always had a case of whiskey...in case of snake bite. They also brought a dozen rattlers. And, by the time they made it to their destination they were often down to about a half bottle of "remedy" and one old rattler with a broken fang.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Good luck on Saturday. Hope you can find something big to stretch your string...besides a big ol' carp.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Fish Lake on Sunday?[/#0000ff]
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[laugh]. Hey,, I'll bring the snakes!!
Thanks, I'll be working the ice hard for 1 or 2.
Nope, not FL, that run will probably be most of the week after the 25th. That or FG if the cold would work its magic!!
This time the left turn is in Gunnison
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[font "Times New Roman"][#000000]All these weird shaped or looking fish really seem to like you don't they? [ ] That is amazing how that frost froze to your line. Now I know that it was really cold when you fished. How deep did you guys catch them perch? Looks like Yuba is being hit pretty hard. Wonder if that has any effect on where they like to hang out?[/#000000][/font]
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Fish Lake??? <perk> [cool]
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[font "Times New Roman"]"How deep did you guys catch them perch? Looks like Yuba is being hit pretty hard. Wonder if that has any effect on where they like to hang out?[/font] "
[cool][#0000ff]Yes, there is MORE activity on Yuba right now, but it is a long ways from being "hit hard". There are several groups each day at the two main access points...Oasis and Painted Rocks...but those areas constitute only a very small fraction of the total lake. The truth is that the fish are probably scattered all around the lake and that the total fish harvest is only a tiny percentage of the total perch population.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We have been having the best results in water on either side of 45 feet deep...at least in the Oasis area. There are reports of perch being taken in both shallower and deeper water. I have caught them from 35 feet to 50 feet while exploring with the auger and sonar. Some guys in the Painted Rocks area have been catching perch in less than 20 feet, but that is the exception.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Heavy activity (and noise) from anglers very visibly affects the perch. Virtually every trip that a bunch of others set up nearby, when we are seeing fish and catching fish, the activity dies off. Either the fish disappear from our sonar screen or else they develop lockjaw. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]On Tuesday, BFT member 2Fishon set up on the same holes he has been effectively fishing for the past week. Fishing was a bit slower than usual, but he was catching a few. He had five fish before two other guys noisily joined him and began drilling a bunch of holes within a few feet of him. He caught only one other fish after that. I would have moved or used my power auger on those guys.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There are many things that affect where the perch hang out and how active they are. Human activity is definitely one of them. Others are temperatures, light levels, water chemistry, bottom structure or formation, food resources, etc. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There is very little structure in Yuba, but there are humps and bumps and channels that they use as "highways and hangouts". The fish often cruise around looking for more favorable habitat and they usually follow regular routes. That is why one hole might produce fish all day whereas another hole 10 feet away might produce little or nothing.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Most of the year perch movements are governed by the eternal search for baby perch or other food items. However, right now the big females are so full of developing eggs that there is literally no space in their body cavities for food. None of the fish we catch (except the occasional male) has any recognizable food in their gut.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Why do they even bite? The answer is that many of them don't. There is no feeding impulse. Some fish will swim up and look at your lures/bait out of curiosity, but they are not hungry. Some WILL bite but not nearly as aggressively as when they are feeding and intend to swallow the food. That is why you sometimes need a strike indicator to register the feeble mouthings of an unmotivated perch.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Using tiny jigs and small baits is often the key to getting any bites at all from egg swollen perch. On other occasions, you will get more "reaction bites" from larger jigs. I have been doing best on 3" blade lures, with perch meat. These are painted to look like perch and they hang horizontally in the water, just above the bottom. Some of the strikes I get are very hard and almost take the rod off the holder. I kinda imagine that the perch are swimming up and seeing the eye on my lure staring back at them...and thinking my lures are "dissing" them. Who woulda thought that perch were like gang bangers?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Another observation I think I have made is that there seems to be a two day cycle...at least at Oasis. If the fish are active and biting one day, they tend to quiet down the next day. No reason I can think of why they might act like that but from my own experiences and the reports of others it would seem that the activity is best every other day. From what I have seen on sonar, the fish are always around but they just become more active after a day of relative inactivity...even during periods of stable weather and essentially the same angler pressure.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In short, the good news is that there is decent perch catching within reasonable distance of the main access points to the lake. The bad news...for anglers...is that there are many spots around the lake that have much greater fish density and the potential for better fishing. It is amazing to me that the fishing has been as good as it has remained where the fish are being pressured.[/#0000ff]
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[font "Times New Roman"]"All these weird shaped or looking fish really seem to like you don't they?"[/font]
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[#0000ff]Yes, I have posted pics of some "wierd shaped" fish, of several species" But, I fish a lot and I take a lot of pictures. I suspect that other anglers catch the wierdos too but seldom have the camera handy...or do not think to "shoot and share".[/#0000ff]
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Those same guys showed up last Thursday as I was leaving. It was their first trip to Yuba. I showed them where I had been catching fish and what to try. I guess they figured we were fishing buddies when they saw me on Tuesday. They literally set up within feet of me. I decided to control myself and just be nice, besides, I was feeling bad for kicking that guys dog that was running around.
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[quote 2fishon] I was feeling bad for kicking that guys dog that was running around.[/quote]
Don't feel bad about that. If I took my dog fishin She would be nailed to the ice and not running over to peoples fishing areas. That is just bad and the owner needs a [pirate]
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