I was thinking of going down to Yuba this weekend.
Any recent reports out there?
I’ve only been there once ice fishing for pike but would like to take the boat out and give it a try.
I am thinking the water would be a little warmer then here at Willard and the fish just might be biting.
I guess it got a little bit of everything down there tigers, pike, walleye, perch etc etc.
Just figured I would ask if anyone has been there as of recent as I can’t find any posts or reports.
Thanks in advance.
Went about 3 weeks ago fished a few hours 0 bites.tried worms, jerk baits, spoons, swim baits, curl tails ect.
**I suspect that the extremely low water levels…combined with the expanded limits on all fish…probably resulted in a great reduction in available fish population. The last time the lake went so low, DWR planted it with rainbows in the spring…after the lake refilled…and there was some good trout fishing for a couple of years. **
After the last big drawdown, the northern pike made a big return…from a few that had survived in the pools in the river upstream. There were very few walleyes that survived and perch were harvested from other waters and stocked back into Yuba. But after a few good years they also declined back to negligible numbers.
With the lack of a reliable forage base, Yuba has trouble maintaining any kind of fishery. When there are a lot of perch, they spawn enough to feed both themselves and some other predators. But without chubs or shiners there is not much food for big fish. Immediately following the last big drawdown, there were a lot of fathead minnows for a year or two. But the rainbows and the perch slurped them all up and it was back to meager eats. One year we were catching 6-8# rainbows and 13" perch. Then the fathead minnows disappeared and the big fish starved out and it was tough to catch a skinny rainbow over 14 inches…or any perch at all.
**I miss the Yuba of old. Abundant walleyes up to 30 inches. Tons of big perch…some up to 16 inches. Frequent catches of northern pike and even a lot of big catfish. And being able to fish in the scour hole below the dam…until vandalism got it closed to public access. With the wacko weather patterns and increased demands on the water by downstream users…and the power plant that owns the water…it is highly unlikely Yuba will ever reestablish itself as a premier Utah fishery. Whimper. **
Thank you that’s a lot of info.
Maybe I will just go out to Willard and give it a shot then..
Again thank you both for all the info..
I iced fished mid Feb and caught 6 walleye. Went up with boat a couple weeks ago no bites. Water cold only mid 40s. Going to try again hopefully this weekend.
Thanks Taggmon
I’m just wanting to try out some different waters other then Willard bay as that’s been 99% of where I have been fishing..
I just wonder how dry did it get last year?
I know that they had good netting but if the water dropped a ton it could have had a big die off.
Sadly I hope you’re wrong also but it stands to make sense…
Thanks ?
Thank you both for the info! Definitely wish we had good walleye fishing here than those other states. They are lots of fun to catch and very good eating!
The rod handle was the only thing I had to measure it with, was about 36 inches from the butt of the rod to the first guide. I estimated the weight at about 15lbs. My first ever Northern. Will be pursuing them alot at Ut.Lake this year !!
You might try those toothy tiger muskeys at jordanelle. I would like them taken out of there
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