Good to Feel that Fight Again

Fishing Time: 7;30 am to 7:00 pm
Weather: 90s, no wind, clear skies
Moon Phase: 99% Moon
Location: Yuba/Utah Lake
Water Temp:  Yuba - 72 degrees
Bait: Yuba - swimbaits, rapalas, spinners, spinnerbaits, tube jigs. Utah Lake - worms
Who Went: Rick, Me

I’m sick of being bombarded by all the weekend warriors hitting the lakes every weekend this summer, so Rick and I decided to take some time off work and set out for a day of fishing on a Thursday.  The location was Yuba Reservoir and the weekday fishing provided for a far more relaxing day without the crowds.  We also had good weather with no wind, which definitely helped our situation.

We arrived at Yuba around 7:30 am to calm conditions and perfect weather.  We started fishing along the southwest shoreline of the lake where I soon landed the first northern pike of the day.  

It wasn’t big, but it felt good to have something fighting on the other end of my line.  We continued fishing down the southwest shoreline and found a promising cove with good depth and lots of brush.  As we entered the cove, Rick saw a pike swirl near some brush, and shortly after I was hooked up again with another medium sized pike.  

Shortly after landing my second pike, Rick hooked up and landed one of his own.  We worked the rest of the bay and caught a couple more small pike, but still couldn’t stick a big one. 

We headed down lake and tried a few of my favorite pike haunts, but the water turned to chocolate milk south of the narrows and our confidence waivered.  We casted for an hour or so with no bites before heading back up lake to clearer water.

We went right back to the same shoreline where we began our morning and landed a couple more small/medium size pike.  

Rick had a nice follower that bumped his lure right next to the boat, but didn’t hook up.  We finished our day back in the cove where most our action was coming from and put one more pike in the boat.

By now the weather was hot and the fishing began to slow, so we packed up, left Yuba, and headed to Utah Lake.  The catfish at Utah Lake were not in as good a mood as the pike at Yuba.  We motored out to Bird Island and anchored in 5 feet of water near the island.  Set up our rods, tossed them out, and sat back and relaxed.  Ricks bobber went down and he landed the first and only channel catfish of the night.  

We both landed a bullhead catfish, but that was it for the catfish at Utah Lake.  It felt good to finally have a successful day on the water.  Even small pike will make your rod bend and are fun to tangle with.