example question: If the perch in the freezer are fillets intended for bait. you dont use the bait? because your taking it back out with you? Does that count as bag and possession still? (perch eyeballs included in the question) just a question.
This discussion has gone all over the place, including quotes from the proclamation…some applicable and some not.
It is difficult for DWR to anticipate all of the interpretations to any specific wording they use to establish regulations on individual waters or species. In some cases, general regulations apply. On specific waters, the regulatations for those waters supercede general regulations.
The big “kicker” for the 10 perch limit on Yuba is that during the winter months…when perch are typically deeper…you MUST keep the first 10 you catch. No provision for catch and release…like there is during the rest of the year and on trout waters. If that MANDATORY KEEP law was not there, you could fish all day after you kept your 10 perch, and you could put the rest back in the water. The law is to prevent greedy anglers from killing a bunch of smaller fish by forcing them back down the hole even when there air bladder is protruding.
**I personally disagree with not only the 10 fish limit, but especially with the mandatory keeping of the first ten…even during the winter. True, many perch are caught from water over 40 feet deep during the winter at Yuba…beginning in November…not just starting in January. But, there are thousands of others that are taken in water as shallow as 10 to 12 feet. Perch taken from waters under 30 feet deep can usually power back down to the depths and survive. And, if a few don’t, it is not hurting the ecology of the lake. **
Based upon personal experience and reviewing the reports from many other anglers this winter, Yuba is not suffering from a perch shortage. There are lots of perch…all over the lake…and at all depths. At this point, the predator species are not overharvesting the perch…nor are anglers. Due to the proven cyclical nature of Yuba, we can expect it to suffer some kind of natural disaster within the next few years, and crash again. Happens about every 10 years. The perch…and all other species…will all die off and it will be back to starting over again. In the meantime, bajillions of perch will die of natural causes and cannot be caught by fishermen.
As Drew Cushing (Dir. of Warm Water Fisheries for DWR) has stated on numerous occasions…“You cannot stockpile fish”…or something to that effect. Having witnessed several of the cycles on Yuba over the years, I can attest that limits and management on perch have had little effect on the natural cycles and have not noticeably delayed or reduced the crashes when they occur.
**I have fished for perch in several states around the country. Almost universally, the best perch fishing is in waters that get lots of angler attention for perch, but which have no limits or foolish regulations. I have read on many websites that there are no perch lakes that have ever been overfished to the point of depletion. Angler pressure alone is not a key factor in the cycles of perch population boom and bust. **
Look instead at introductions(legal and illegal) of aggressive predators…like pike and muskies. Also, look at the manmade changes in water chemistry, water levels and in massive perch dieoffs due to drastic changes in both of these factors.
But, like most regulations made for our “benefit”, the current perch limits at Yuba are not likely to change. It takes years to get anything done…even if it is clearly needed. That limit will still be in effect even after the next crash…and there are no more perch left in the lake.
And, like most regulations, we don’t have to like it, but we do have to live with it.