"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? "
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.
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.
**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. **
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.
**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. **
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
“All these weird shaped or looking fish really seem to like you don’t they?”
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”.
. Hey, I’ll bring the snakes!!