# Yuba Open Water!



## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

That's right. There's some open water at Yuba.

I was prompted by something El Matador said about Yuba icing off this weekend and made plans to check it out. Sadly, the lake is still iced except for a pretty large area in the West Beach end and a small strip of soft ice (water later) around the shoreline that was about 20 feet wide.

The West Beach area was closed and a sign said no trespassing, so I went to the Oasis Campground to see if I could break up some of the ice to get some fishing done.

I broke away large slabs and tucked them under the surrounding ice to make a pathway for my line. I waded out as far as I could to break the ice and dropped a worm. I did the same thing on the boat ramp with a minnow. Then I waited.

Then I waited some more.

More waiting...

Finally, one of the park employees showed up and I asked about the West Beach area. She said I was fine to hop the gate and fish there but I just couldn't use the road. Nice.

So with all of that open water, I had a reason to pump up my tube for the first time since probably September or so.

The deepest I could get in open water was about 6 or 7 feet, but I was determined that open water meant fish.

I guess nobody told the fish there was open water at West Beach. 

I still got some good tube time in and got to try out my new fly rod. Boy, I have a lot to learn. :lol: The first thing I need to get down is to stop casting when I see a tangle _starting_ to happen, rather than continuing until it's a real mess. So much for the tapered end of my leader. :roll: Congrats to me though...I only lost one fly today. I can only imagine how many I could've lost had there been some fish around.

I ended up going back to the Oasis Campground after floating for a couple of hours. Still empty handed, I really wanted to find a trout and wanted to avoid as many perch as possible, but the fishing gods had other plans for me this day.

When I reeled in to try another spot on the ice free strip of water, I realized I had something on the other end! It was actually a pretty good sized perch (about 10inches), but not what I'd hoped for. The remaining rainbows or any left over tiger trout should be monstrous by now, but I suppose I'll have to wait a little longer until they start coming in closer to shore.

So most of the day had passed and I only caught one lousy perch. I decided I'd drive the frontage road to see if there was any (legal) access to the Sevier River. All I could find was the bridge where it flows under the freeway. I decided to drop a worm in and cross my fingers.

Lo and behold, I had a fight on my hands, but it was a nasty carp. Now I had to inch the carp up to my hand slowly enough to keep from snapping the flimsy rod I was using. I got the hook out and the carp went back in. Are there really trout in that stretch? Somewhere?

So that's my story. No pics because my battery (that was fine yesterday) is dead. The only thing worth taking pics of today was the sunrise and sunset. I learned about the dead battery when I pulled over to get a good shot of the sunrise. DOH!

Aw well. It was a gorgeous day and I'm glad I took a chance and drove to Yuba. Even though I didn't catch any *real* fish, I had fun. The sun was out all day and I never even put on my jacket. I had a couple of long sleeved shirts on and that was sufficient.

Next weekend, Yuba will most likely be ice free.

Sorry, I wish I had a better report for everyone. Bummer.

Happy Fishing anyway, Humans.


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## JAT83 (Sep 9, 2007)

Sounds like a nice trip! One question...how come the carp made it back to the water? :lol:


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Because I didn't want to eat it and I wouldn't feel right about throwing it into some bushes or leaving it on the road. The thought of punting it back into the river crossed my mind, but I guess I'm just not that mean. :wink:


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## El Matador (Dec 21, 2007)

yeah, I feel shafted too. I was told by a reputable fly shop that there was open water and fishing would be good around the dam. We were down fishing Minersville this weekend, and stopped at Yuba on the way back. Ice was only about 5-10 feet from shore in some places, and within 2 feet of shore along the dam. Oh well. We did catch a few at Minersville but that storm that came through had the fish not biting. I'm sure Thresher will post up soon with pics, but gosh dangit the fishing was slow.


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## Grandpa D (Sep 7, 2007)

LOAH,
you were at PERCH HEAVEN and didn't cut a hole in the ice for your 10 best tasting fish in Utah!!!
What were you thinking! :shock: 
You could have picked up the perch and then waste the rest of the day looking for non existant trout.  

By the way,
were you using a dry fly with your fly rod?
Wrong time of the year for a dry.
If you were fishing with a woolly bugger or nymph, don't bother with a tapered leader.
Just tie on 6' of 6# or 8# tipit and the fly, with sinking line.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

El Matador-

Sorry your Minersville trip wasn't the best and sorry you found Yuba basically the same way I did. I would've probably hit another reservoir that far south but more to the West that doesn't usually freeze had I known. Ah well. Next week promises better fishing opps.

GrandpaD-

Blood sucking leech with a coper john dropper and a strike indicator. Like I said, I have much to learn. :lol: I shouldn't use a tapered leader with a still water set up? Good to know. Hey what kind of knot should I be using to tie on a fly? My favorite wasn't working too well and I kept pulling it out.


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## BrookTroutKid (Oct 10, 2007)

Hey a carp and a perch are fish, are they not? You caught some on a fly rod at least.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

No, no.

I caught the stupid perch and the nasty carp on a night crawler.

The only thing I caught with the fly rod was me, my tube, me, and then my tube again before I caught the fly rod a few times.

I never really gave much credit to peoples' reports of breaking their rod on a flying bug, but I smacked mine dead on with a leech pattern a couple of times that made me a believer for sure. I'm lucky it didn't break, but I felt the shock waves.


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## Golfish (Oct 14, 2007)

No pictures LOAH, dang.
I was hoping to see some open waters.
Glad you were able to get out there.
I have never ice fished Yuba before, maybe next year.


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## El Matador (Dec 21, 2007)

Grandpa D said:


> If you were fishing with a woolly bugger or nymph, don't bother with a tapered leader.
> Just tie on 6' of 6# or 8# tipit and the fly, with sinking line.


In my experience, you'll want more than 6' of mono beyond your flyline. I'm no authority on the subject but I do seem to catch fewer fish if the tippet gets too short. Personally, I use about a 6' tapered leader tied directly to the flyline with a nail knot. Then I have around 12' of tippet tied to the tapered leader with interlocking loop knots. When the tippet gets down under 5 or 6', I replace it. It is true that you don't need a tapered leader for stillwater. But I use one because it seems to keep my loop open just enough that it helps prevent tangles when casting. And I also like the setup for attaching tippets.


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## mjschijf (Oct 1, 2007)

Wow it's good to see another LOAH report. I haven't logged onto this forum for so long! 
Sorry it was a disappointing day at Yuba all-in-all. It must have felt good though to use your tube for the first time in a while and find some open water. And I'd say a Carp and a Perch are better than nothin'! How big was the Carp that you caught?


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Ugh. The carp was fat and about 16 inches or so. Not the biggest one, but it was lofty. I saw some huge ones in there, but they spooked away as soon as I poked my head over the railing on the bridge. They left a big dirty cloud everywhere they went. I thought for sure that stretch of the Sevier would still have a lot of trout, but I guess not.


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## Grandpa D (Sep 7, 2007)

El Matador said:


> [quote="Grandpa D":qhfrrvfl]If you were fishing with a woolly bugger or nymph, don't bother with a tapered leader.
> Just tie on 6' of 6# or 8# tipit and the fly, with sinking line.


In my experience, you'll want more than 6' of mono beyond your flyline. I'm no authority on the subject but I do seem to catch fewer fish if the tippet gets too short. Personally, I use about a 6' tapered leader tied directly to the flyline with a nail knot. Then I have around 12' of tippet tied to the tapered leader with interlocking loop knots. When the tippet gets down under 5 or 6', I replace it. It is true that you don't need a tapered leader for stillwater. But I use one because it seems to keep my loop open just enough that it helps prevent tangles when casting. And I also like the setup for attaching tippets.[/quote:qhfrrvfl]
I'm not saying that my way is the best way, but give it a try and see which way works best for you.
If I'm using a sinking line, I want my fly closer to my fly line.
I fished with a buddy a few times that used a tapered leader and added tipit to it. We fished side by side and used the same woolly buggers.
I out fished him 10 to 1. The only difference in rigs was the length of line from the sinking fly line to the fly. I feel that using too long of a leader causes the fly to sink at a different rate than the sinking line. When you strip the line back in, the action given to the fly is altered because the fly is several feet lower in the water than the sinking line.
I fish with sinking line this way, but if I am fishing moving water with a woolly, I will usually use my floating line, a tapered leader and tipit. I will add weight as needed to get the fly to the bottom.


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## skeet4l (Sep 11, 2007)

LOAH, did you get a chance to take a look at the river below?


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Yeah, it was open, but I couldn't get down to it until it passed under the freeway. It seems like access is pretty restricted around there, but there might be some.

If I would have left Yuba a little earlier, I could have driven the frontage road a bit more in hopes of finding another road heading back that way (East). I thought I saw something like that on a map before I went. I'd like to fish right under the dam and if I could find a legal way there, I'd be pretty happy.


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## rugerdogdog (Nov 18, 2007)

Just a strange warning to add in here. Be careful going any downstream from I15 right there. I know there is a lodge with a sign on the freeway so there is some legal access there, but please beware the Sevier Ranches area. It's a long strange story that I will spare you all but those folks are some weirdos. Real secessionist anti-UN types. There are even State signs at both ends of their road warning you not to leave the roadway. I got away with going through there and even unknowingly shot and retrieved a coyote on their land. But I have some friends that found themselves in a very scary situation with them. Can you say Deliverance????


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

rugerdogdog said:


> Just a strange warning to add in here. Be careful going any downstream from I15 right there. I know there is a lodge with a sign on the freeway so there is some legal access there, but please beware the Sevier Ranches area. It's a long strange story that I will spare you all but those folks are some weirdos. Real secessionist anti-UN types. There are even State signs at both ends of their road warning you not to leave the roadway. I got away with going through there and even unknowingly shot and retrieved a coyote on their land. But I have some friends that found themselves in a very scary situation with them. Can you say Deliverance????


Good point rugerdogdog....I believe a private duck club has access to that river, at least from the freeway to the dam...they did a few years ago. It used to be good duck, coyote and fox hunting also...never did see a trout through there... :?


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Wow, rugerdogdog. I knew it was spooky when I saw that somebody had painted, "Turn around now" on the frontage road there. I didn't leave the roadway though. I dropped a worm off the bridge, slowly inched a carp up to my hand, removed the hook, dropped the fish and I was out.

Pretty freaky though. Thanks for the heads up.


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## fishman (Feb 16, 2008)

What is a blue fox :?:


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Well this one came back from the dead, didn't it?

A Blue Fox is one of the best spinners ever made. 

It's this:

[attachment=0qivw03y]blue-fox-vibrax-thmb.jpg[/attachmentqivw03y]

Not sure why it says Rapala right next to it, but that's the pic I could find right away.


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## cfarnwide (Sep 10, 2007)

rugerdogdog said:


> Can you say Deliverance????


I get the exact same feeling down there! Especially through Mills. Everytime I drive that little dirt road "Dueling Banjo's" starts playing in my head... :shock:


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## gwailow (Jan 20, 2008)

ha ha...try having one of them pull a gun on ya when your just a young stupid teenager trying to shoot a pheasant.


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