But that is not by any means the case. In the past several weeks, the DWR, at times with help from Rocky Mountain Anglers, B.A.S.S. and others, has been busily at work providing for the water’s future. Credit for keeping things moving along and coordinating the work goes to Central Region Aquatics Manager Don Wiley and his staff, who have done an outstanding job.

More Habitat Work
One of the first orders of business was to begin habitat work on the shoreline. By working with contractors the DWR was able to add a couple of shelf structures along the shore. One, an access road for the contractors from the dam along the south shore, was simply left as it was. The contractor also cut another shelf into the shoreline from the dam toward the state park. Once the water comes back up, both these roads will provide shoreline irregularities that fish can use.

With the help of Habitat Council funding, the DWR created a reef of boulders, which is visible along the south shore of Yuba east of the state park and boat ramp.	The rock reef was located relatively deep and will provide great cover for small fish as water levels go down. The dam and state park are visible in the background.

Another project involved the construction of a rock reef, visible on the south shoreline east of the dam and state park. This location was chosen in part because of the inaccessibility of other areas of the reservoir to heavy equipment because of the soft ground. Using $19,000 in Habitat Council funds and some donated time and machinery from B&H Stone, boulders were arranged in rows perpendicular to the shoreline, similar to the arrangement of the Christmas tree reefs several years ago. This perpendicular arrangement will make it more likely that at least part of the structure will be in the water as the reservoir fluctuates. These reefs were not located as shallow as other habitat in Yuba to provide some deeper structure in the reservoir. Their effect on the fishery will be evaluated in the coming years. Judging by how they look on dry land, the reefs will be a great addition.

Fish Stocking Efforts
In recent weeks the Yuba fishery has gotten a big boost for its short term and long term well-being. First, a generous plant of rainbow trout was added. This included about 1,500 nine to ten inchers and about 60,000 smaller fingerlings. Many of you remember those nice, fat Yuba rainbows that were quite common several years ago. There’s little doubt that these trout plants will do well.

On November 12 at Jordanelle, Doug Miller and videographer, Jason, interview Terry Opheikens as Brad Cutler steadies the boats and George Walker takes a break from fishing.	A net full of Jordanelle perch goes into an aerated, oxygenated tank to make the trip to Yuba. According to official estimates, 500 perch made the trip, which could result in as many as 5 million eggs next spring.

Then, RMA and B.A.S.S. got together with DWR personnel on November 12, 13 and 14 to catch some mature perch from Jordanelle Reservoir to transplant to Yuba. As Doug Miller described in his coverage on his Doug Miller Outdoors TV show, it looked a lot like tournament day as anglers spread out across the reservoir. Because cold weather had driven the perch deeper, the challenge to anglers was to find perch that were shallow enough (in general, in less than 30 feet of water) so they would not have fatal problems with their swim bladders due to the change of depth. Several pockets of shallower fish were found the first day that drew clusters of boats. Late in the day, George Sommer and Dan Smith found the mother lode of shallow perch in a small cove. This fishing hole received all the anglers’ attention for the next two days. According to official estimates about 500 perch were transplanted. Depending on a few variables such as how many mature females were in the mix, at 20,000 eggs per female Don Wiley estimates they could result in up to 5 million eggs in Yuba next spring.

After that, on November 24, a truckload of 50,000 two to five inch perch was delivered to Yuba. Purchased from a Minnesota hatchery with $20,000 allocated by the Blue Ribbon Fisheries Advisory Council, these fish were lucky to make it here. Besides having to deal with bad weather most of the way, the delivery truck got locked up sideways with a semi on an icy South Dakota highway and cracked one of their holding tanks. Fortunately, they were able to transfer the perch to other tanks and continue their journey. At Yuba, after inspecting the load for other species of fish, plants or nuisance species on the boat ramp, the perch were released through flexible tubes. They all appeared very lively and healthy and quickly dispersed.

Biologists sort through yellow perch from a Minnesota hatchery to double check for unwanted fish species and plants. The perch were purchased with funds from the Blue Ribbon Fisheries Advisory Council. Note that the Yuba water level is now up to the boat ramp.	Yellow perch are released from the hatchery truck through a tube. All appeared lively and dispersed quickly in the reservoir. The ice build up on the truck is from an accident with a semi that broke the tank.

Media Coverage
The ongoing work on Yuba has received a good share of media attention. Doug Miller of KUTV Channel 2 has had several informative segments recently on his show about the trout plants and the Jordanelle transplant operation. (Thanks to Brad Cutler for ferrying Doug and his videographer around for the day.) Brett Prettyman brought along a photographer and did a story on Jordanelle for the Salt Lake Tribune, and Ray Grass of the Deseret News also did an article. KUTV Channel 2’s Reese Stein did a great news segment on Saturday, November 29, about the November 24 perch delivery. Besides drawing attention to the ongoing work at the reservoir, the media coverage has helped educate anglers on some of the challenges facing our fisheries and how diverse interests are coming together to work on them. In the case of Yuba, these interests have included: the DWR; Utah State Parks; the Sevier Bridge Water Users; anglers, including Rocky Mountain Anglers and B.A.S.S.; property owners; the Habitat Council and Blue Ribbon Fisheries Advisory Council; construction companies and businesses from the private sector and; other agencies such as local governments.

Down the Road
The next Yuba project for anglers will likely be in March, when some 160 artificial Christmas trees, purchased from K-Mart last year with funds from Rocky Mountain Anglers and the Habitat Council, will have to be assembled and placed as spawning habitat. Again, B.A.S.S. member Trace Meyers has agreed to pour concrete bases for the trees. Since perch spawning habitat needs to be relatively shallow, it was decided that placing these just before the spawn will allow a better idea of where water levels will be.

Yuba reopens for fishing on January 1, 2004. Other than having to immediately return to the water all yellow perch, limits on other species will again be in effect. Hopes are that the trout planted this fall will grow quickly and provide a boost to the fishery in the short term, both to keep anglers on the water and to help maximize use of the state park facilities.

In a couple of years, the status of the walleye will be assessed. Retired Central Region Aquatics Manager Charlie Thompson observed that after the reservoir nearly dried up in 1979 the fishery came back without any help. It is expected that will again be the case with the walleyes, after the perch have had a chance to gain a foothold. Hopefully, with some more work, some care and some patience, we will again have a rising perch/walleye fishery in three to five years that will sustain itself better than the boom and bust fishery of years past.

Back to the Top