Yuba Thursday with Da Man

[TopH2O]

Pikeman99 and I were able to brave the fierce winds and got out on Yuba for yet another Pike Pursuit. It was one of the most spectacular days on the ice this season. The weather was spectacular, unfortunately not the pike catching.
The strong canyon winds affecting the area north of Provo were not an issue at Yuba. We had sunny, clear skies and temps around 40 in the early afternoon.

Pikeman brought a couple of Honda 4 wheelers and we headed off from Painted Rocks to an area about 2 miles north and west. We located some 20 foot deep water and started fishing by about 0815. We were seeing many fish coming off the bottom and looking at our presentations. This happened many, many times so we decided since we were two of the most experienced fishermen in the world, if they were game fish worth catching, we would have caught them. We decided they must have been carp which we didn't want anyway.



Around 0945 the hammer handle in the photo swam by my Storm perch pattern swim bait tipped with half a redside shiner and the fish decided it was something he should sample.....cost him his life at an early age.
The fish hit at about three feet off the bottom. I had my other line suspended at about 12 feet deep. It was at least two hours before another pike came within sight distance of my chub strip hanging on a treble hook. The second fish turned out to be a 28.5 inch northern that weighed a little over 6 pounds. This fish also will not get any older. Baked northern pike is on the menu this evening at the TopH2O homebase.

To Wyoguy and Rowdyfish, I'm sorry the normal high winds in southwest Wyoming gave you guys the head fake. I watched the evening weather forecasts on Wednesday and all of the TV weather folks were saying the high winds would be limited to the area north of Salt Lake. For once, they were right. No kite flying at Yuba yesterday and we didn't even see any toy helicopters!

Thanks Glen for the ride and the company. It was a pleasure as always to share the time with another ice fishing addict. I'm also sorry I intercepted the pike before they could move south 60 feet and get your bait.

Mike
[signature]

[wyoguy]

There will other times and other pike. Glad you caught some, I hope Glen forgives you for being a fish hog.
[signature]

[albinotrout]

Nice report. Glad you had decent weather and a couple of fish to go with it.
[signature]

[hookngrinin]

Thanks for the report Mike and congrats on taking a couple more out of there. They are tasty.
[signature]

[TopH2O]

It's been years since I've eaten a northern. The pike is baking as we speak (so to speak). White wine/butter sauce over the fish and into the oven for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees. Should be a nice Friday dinner.
You need to join us for another visit to Yuba. Thinking about next Wednesday or Thursday for a return trip, depends on the weather. I only fish on blue bird days. [cool]

Mike
[signature]

[Bhans13]

Dang I'm jealous. You caught a 6 pounder and someone else caught a 40 incher. I was there today from 1 til dark and I caught one little pike. Here is my monster.
[signature]

[TopH2O]

Hey, it's bigger than the first hammer handle I caught yesterday. Keep at it. Every one removed will help that lake recover. The pike are eating anything smaller than their head. It will be tough for any species to get a foothold with all the pike in Yuba.

Mike
[signature]

[Bhans13]

Thanks man. I caught a few decent 4-5 lb pike this summer down there in the boat. We caught a handful of 5-6 pounders and about 10 that were smaller, around the size of this one. But this was my first pike through the ice.

I want to go back down to try and catch a monster but it's hard cuz I know we can go to strawberry or somewhere like that and catch more fish and still have a shot at a monster. I think I'm gunna wait til ice off and hit it in the boat then. I am sure there is going to be a million people out there tomorrow trying to catch that 40 incher. Yuba seems to be getting a lot of play here on BFT lately.
[signature]