RMA Home

By Ray Schelble

(December 28, 2001) Charlie and I spent the day yesterday picking up trees from tree lots in the Provo/Springville area and figuring out how all this was going to work. After some chasing around and figuring out we decided it was going to work out great.

Yuba Park Ranger Jeff Rasmussen met us at the North Beach entrance and bird-dogged a way to drive right to the cove where we are going to put the trees. The water is pretty low, which creates several advantages for us. First, we can drive along the shoreline for about two miles right to where we will plant the trees. The ground appears solid enough that big trucks should have no problem and there is little snow along the way. We made it fine with a pick-up pulling a 20-foot flatbed trailer loaded with trees. It was fairly slow going and we had it in 4-wheel-drive, but we were not making ruts anywhere. Pretty much the most snow along the way is at Walleye Bay where we will plant the trees. It was interesting to see where we had caught fish before. We figured the flatbed held about 60 to 75 trees. Second, the low water means that most of the structure can be built and positioned on dry land. Charlie doesn't think we'll have to put much of it at all on the ice.

Charlie has talked to Tracy Meyers about pouring enough weights--about 400 he figures. That should work out ok. The picture was taken after our last load of the day Thursday. You can see how far down the water is. We figure we have about 120 trees in the pile. A dedicated hunter was going to take about 100 more today and Charlie had more he was going to take down, too. That means we'll have about 10 percent of the trees already there!

By far the toughest part of all this is going to be collecting the Christmas trees and transporting them to Yuba. Apparently there is a conflict on January 12 with the boat show, especially with B.A.S.S. members. I would still like to collect and transport as many trees as possible on Saturday, Jan. 12. For now, we will also plan on transporting trees on Saturday, January 19. We'll know after Jan. 12 what kind of effort we'll need on January 19. We'll plan on going down on Saturday January 26th to build the reefs.

Anyone who can haul a load of trees down on any other day is welcome to. Please call Charlie or me so we can direct you where to take them and keep track of how many trees are down there. Trees cannot have any decorations on them and cannot be flocked. Also, please remove any bases from trees.

By the way, the reservoir is completely frozen. We saw two anglers
between Walleye Point and the Narrows.

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(January 13, 2002) A lot has happened on the Yuba Habitat Project recently.

Last week Charlie Thompson (still working even though he retired) and Don Wiley, Charlie's successor in the Central Region, got permission from IPP and went down to some of their ponds near Delta to gill-net perch for disease certification by the Fish Health Board. If the results come back satisfactory, perch eggs from these ponds will be transplanted to the new habitat area at Yuba this spring to try and jump start the population.

On Friday the Habitat Council considered the proposal submitted by Charlie Thompson to fund the Yuba Habitat Project for the next 3 years at approximately $50,000 per year. The proposal was approved unanimously for all 3 years with very favorable comments from the Council members. Don Wiley submitted another proposal to the Habitat Council for a little over $5,000 to construct earth berms and islands along some of the shorelines at Yuba. Don noticed that irregularities in the Yuba lake bottom near shore can promote the growth of vegetation that can serve as perch habitat. The berms Don proposes will be rows of piled-up dirt. Some will be about 300 feet long and up to 12 feet high, located below the high water line and perpendicular to the shoreline. Others will be shorter and constructed parallel to the shoreline. It was proposed as a research and development project to see how it would work and received unanimous approval from the Council. This will be done in January while water levels are still low in the reservoir. Thanks to Doug Sakaguchi for his help with these proposals.

The Christmas trees continue to pile up along the shore of Yuba thanks to the efforts of the DWR Central Region, Rocky Mountain Anglers, B.A.S.S. and others. The push this past Saturday, January 12, transported about 550 trees. The effort included two end dumps provided by Cottonwood Builders through Jerry Schlief. These were loaded up with an estimated 300 trees using a loader at the Trans-Jordan Landfill arranged by John Hayes of South Valley Water Reclamation. These trees were dumped on the shoreline near the North Beach entrance and will have to be trailered to Walleye Bay. Whether it is possible and practical to use these trucks in the future will be looked at. The rest of Saturday’s trees went down on several flatbed trailers loaded up at West Valley City and Salt Lake County tree dump sites. Several hundred more trees are scheduled to be taken down during the week this week. Anyone who wants to take a load of trees down on their own please let me, Charlie or Don Wiley know so we can keep track of numbers.

The drive along the shoreline to Walleye Bay was good. It got a little
slick and snotty in a couple of places but it was never bad. Coming home wearing that pleasant pine fragrance almost makes you forget your muddy feet and how bad the truck looks. And then there's those pesky globs of pine sap stuck in your hair and on your clothes.

Volunteer workers on January 12 included John Tomich and Wes Schneider, who coordinated the tree lot pick-ups, Rod Miller, Rayne Miller, Ryan Miller, Bruce Hersh, Dave Jackson, Neil McGuire, Rick Van Staveren, Don Martin, Ray Schelble, Kevin Lund, Jerry Pendleton and his two sons, and Art Stevens. Cottonwood Builders drivers Rich and Jeff were great guys and happy to be involved, and thanks to Max for coordinating their involvement with us. Thanks to everyone who has helped.

Please see that all volunteer forms are returned to Ray Schelble, John Tomich, Charlie or Don. The DWR qualifies for matching funds based on the number of volunteer hours.

The total number of trees now at the lake is at about 900. Our goal is to have 2,000 trees. We will probably have another day of tree collecting on Saturday, January 19. We’ll let you know for sure early this week.

Jim Morkin and Ron Colby are both working on sources for cable to string the trees together. Jim is pursuing it through Kent Summers who is checking with Utah Power. Ron has a source who is checking with Micron. We are looking for cable about 1/4-inch in diameter, give or take a little. The project will take about 5,000 feet of cable each year for 3 years, so we need a lot. Any over that can be saved and used on other projects.

Tracy Myers of B.A.S.S. has finished over 400 concrete weights under an arrangement with the Central Region. Don Wiley has said the DWR will transport them to the project site.

The designated day to build the reefs at Yuba is still January 26. Please feel free to pass on this information to those in the club who don’t have e-mail and others who may be interested. Look for another Yuba Habitat Project update early in the week. Also, let me know if there are any errors or omissions in this information or if you have any questions.

* * * * *

(January 20, 2002) This is an update on the progress of the Yuba Habitat Project.

We will meet at 9:00 a.m. at Yuba Reservoir at Walleye Bay on Saturday, January 26 to build the Christmas tree reefs. See details later in this message.

This project is becoming a fine example of cooperative effort. Since discussion of the project began in November we have invested in the neighborhood of 300 hours of volunteer time, several thousand miles in our vehicles, and have about 20 partnerships. The overwhelming majority of this has been since after New Year's. The DWR, Rocky Mountain Anglers, B.A.S.S., businesses, government and others (including retired Central Region Manager Charlie Thompson) have been very generous with providing work, materials and equipment for the project. We have about 1,700 to 1,800 Christmas trees down there.

The project picked up another partner last week. Through the efforts of Ron Colby of B.A.S.S. we have gotten a 5,000-foot spool of 3/16-inch cable donated by Micron. We will go down and pick it up this week. That will be enough for the project this year, but we will need almost that much each year for the next two years as well. So, anyone who is working on getting cable donated, thanks for your efforts and please continue.

Volunteers and DWR personnel were busy during the week. Tracy Myers hauled down a load of trees from Heber. Don Wiley, Charlie Thompson and others from the DWR Central Region took down multiple loads of trees and all 400 of Tracy Myers’ concrete weights. Brad Cutler and Ray Schelble went down Tuesday and helped them.

A group on Saturday, January 19, hauled down about 400 trees on four trailers and one truck/trailer combo. Temperatures in the teens with a stiff wind and blowing snow made the morning memorable. Baptisms of powdery snow down a sleeve or neck were common as volunteers loaded the snow-covered perch neighborhoods one at a time onto vehicles. Thanks to Jerry Schlief and West Valley City we had enough trees in the 3500 South 4500 West dump site to fill up all the vehicles. The Central Region also had a trailer loaded up and sitting in their lot in Springville that we picked up on the way down. Saturday’s help included Ron Colby, Jerry Schlief, Wes Schneider, George Walker, Howard Harmston, Neil McGuire, Art Stevens, Charlie Bonica, Rod Miller, Ryan Miller, Kevin Lund and Ray Schelble. Charlie Thompson hauled down another load from Springville.

If we can coordinate with Cottonwood Builders this week there should be
two more end dump loads going down that should give us our 2,000 trees!

Next Saturday, January 26, is the big day to assemble the reefs. Based on his experience assembling two reefs at the site already, Charlie says that this part will go quickly. It shouldn’t be a long day if we get enough help. To give an idea of what will be going on: We will drill a hole through the trunk of each tree. Trees will be laid out in a straight row about 200 feet long, perpendicular to the shoreline (running from shallow to deep water). Concrete weights will be put in each row at regular intervals to anchor them. We’ll string cable through the trees and the weights to connect them all together. Each reef will consist of approximately 100 trees in a row. (We may make two rows of 50 trees to make it easier to string cable.) Because the water level is so low most of this can be laid out on dry land below the high water line with just the ends laying out on the ice. When the ice melts they will drop through. (On 1/19 Walleye Bay was covered with safe ice). We estimate we’ll need 25 or more people to help with this phase. Work on the reefs will involve carrying weights, dragging trees, drilling trees and threading and clamping cable. Also, people will be needed to shuttle a few hundred trees to Walleye Bay from the beach entrance where the end dumps dumped them. The DWR will bring along their two flatbed trailers for this.

We have two generators available and plan on using corded drills to drill through the tree trunks. The DWR should have enough drills and bits. We will have cable down there, the means to cut it and clamps to secure it. People have asked what tools or equipment they should bring. In my opinion, if you have a tool or something you think may be needed and you can easily bring it, please throw it in just in case. If we don’t need it, fine, but it just might really help out.

The DWR will provide lunch. Please contact people you know and arrange
to carpool down as much as possible. Make sure you bring warm work
clothes.

Again, we will meet at 9:00 a.m. at Yuba Reservoir at Walleye Bay on Saturday, January 26 to build the Christmas tree reefs.

As for the conditions down there, on 1/19 it looked like none of last week’s storms made it that far south. There was no new snow around the reservoir and the cold temperatures made solid, easy driving along the beach. On Saturday afternoon it was sunny, in the mid to low 20s and breezy. People have been ice fishing on the lake but reports from Ryan and Rod Miller indicate that very little is being caught.

Thanks again everybody for all your help and enthusiasm. See you
Saturday.

* * * * *

(January 28, 2002) Everything came together this week on this first phase of the Yuba Habitat Project. Weather wise, I’d say we came out pretty good even though we’ve had to deal with some cold and wind and snow. We have come a very long way since we first settled on the plans for the project at the December 6 meeting.

On Wednesday, January 23, Ron Colby, Brad Cutler and Ray Schelble met Charlie Thompson, Don Wiley and Richard Hepworth at Micron to pick up 5,000 feet of 3/16-inch cable they donated to the project. The wheels for this donation were set in motion when Micron employee Scott Snarr heard B.A.S.S. member Ron Colby talking about the project on Cris Draper’s Saturday morning KSL radio show. Scott contacted Ron about the possibility of getting some surplus cable from Micron, then pitched the idea to Micron’s Bill Brandon. This was a major contribution worth in the area of $1,500.

Saturday, January 26, at Yuba started with unruly mounds of discarded Christmas trees rambling along the banks of Walleye Bay. Estimates put the tree numbers at about 1,800. (We’ve yet to find someone who would volunteer to go down and actually count them.) At day’s end, 24 new habitat reefs were lined-up along the shore. Twenty-six DWR employees, fishing club members and interested anglers put the reefs together in spite of stiff winds all day. South winds were blowing sheets of sand across the beach near the North Beach entrance. Luckily, the temperatures were a bit milder than on the 19th. Don and Charlie towed flatbed trailers down to haul the last of the end dump trees from the beach entrance over to the project site. They brought generators, tools and equipment for the day’s work. Also, some of the volunteers brought their own generators and tools, which proved very useful and made the day go a lot faster. It was amazing to watch how quickly everyone set about accomplishing the tasks. Everyone found something that needed to be done and settled into a job. Workers hauled trees and arranged them in rows, drilled tree trunks, pulled cut and threaded cable, hauled and positioned weights and anything else that needed to be done. As with every other aspect of this, a lot was learned. For instance, the “cable threaders” found that using several shorter lengths of cable on each row made things move a whole lot faster than one long length of cable. For that reason, the clamps ran out before the loose cable ends did. Don Wiley will head down this week to clamp the rest of the cable ends. The cable ran out right at the very end, but that was easily resolved by tightly bunching up some of the trees. There appeared to be about 50 weights left over that will be used on other phases of the project this spring. Tracy Myers says he will start pouring more weights for next year. For lunch the group had a bowl or two (or more!) of Richard Hepworth’s tasty chili. It was a big hit. Everyone ate until they were full and there were plenty of drinks.

Given the wind, the terrain and the work, on Sunday some undoubtedly were still digging sand out of their ears, cockle burrs out of their shoe laces and pine needles out of their pockets.

Saturday’s workers included Charlie Thompson, Don Wiley, Shad Dallin, Keith Dallin, John Tomich, George Walker, Rod Thompson, Ryan Miller, Terry Opheikins, Kevin Lund, Tracey Myers, Dave Marchello, Kim Mellin, Niel McGuire, Rod Miller, Richard Hepworth, Ron Colby, Aaron Walker, Cliff Gallagher, Dan Smith, Terry Verbeck, Brad Cutler, George Sommer, Don Hill, Jerry Bateman and Ray Schelble.

To all who have participated in the past weeks, thank you for your enthusiasm and your work ethic. Whether it was loading and delivering trees in the cold and snow or building the reefs in the wind, everyone involved has done what had to be done and doggedly kept at it until it was finished. Also noteworthy has been the generosity of all the businesses, governments, agencies, and individuals who donated their time, equipment, materials and vehicles to the project. For an idea on what has been involved to this point, here are a few statistics: 38 volunteers have actively helped on the project, contributing about 500 hours and in the neighborhood of 5,000 miles on private vehicles, many of these miles pulling large trailers loaded with bulky trees. It has forged about two-dozen partnerships ranging from fishing clubs to businesses to city and county governments to other agencies. Keep in mind, this is all just the unpaid, volunteer contributions.

As for the future of the project, the months ahead will involve installing artificial habitat modules (most of them commercially built), building the berms (which will all be done with heavy equipment), moving perch eggs and evaluating the effectiveness of everything. Help will be needed with some of this, but it will be nowhere near as much work as the Christmas tree reefs were.

Don Wiley has followed up with State Parks about building the berms that were funded by the Habitat Council. Presently he intends on locating them along the south shore of the lake, which should minimize the destructive wave action on them as much as possible. He still needs to get some clearances and arrange for the heavy equipment but he expects to get them going the first or second week of February.

Another part of the project will involve building habitat structures from field fencing or hardware cloth with polypropylene rope. Rope strands will be fastened to 50-foot lengths of hardware cloth so they float up about 3 feet off the bottom. The hardware cloth will be anchored to the bottom at various depths. Building these structures would be an ideal activity and learning opportunity for a Scout project or youth group. They could also participate in installing them if they wanted.

* * * * *

(February 6, 2002) Another type of habitat was constructed at Yuba today. DWR construction crews completed the first of two berms at Yuba on February 6, 2002. Because of the low water levels, it was completely built out of water on the shoreline yet still below the high water mark. The end was
stabilized with two layers of fabric to protect it from wave action. It is located on the south shoreline west of Walleye Point.

Besides creating a significant structure on the shoreline, it is hoped the upper surfaces of the berm will encourage the growth of vegetation to provide shallow cover for perch spawning at higher water levels. Construction of the berms was funded by the Habitat Council separate from the other habitat currently being built at Yuba.

The State Park will mark it with buoys when water levels make it a hazard. A second berm will probably be completed on February 7.

* * * * *

Yuba Habitat Happenings

(April, 2002) The Yuba Habitat Project continues to move forward. The project steering committee met on March 7 to evaluate what has happened so far and plan what lies ahead. Also, attempts are underway to collect perch, and another work project is being organized for April 13.

Hundreds of artificial habitat modules called Aquamats were supposed to be planted this spring. Unfortunately, plans have changed. After only several months in the water, the Aquamats in Deer Creek lost their ability to float last fall. When talks with the company that manufactures them failed to provide a satisfactory answer, Central Region Manager Don Wiley contacted biologists at Canyon Ferry reservoir who have been using them. They reported the same type of problems. The consensus was to go with structures built from sheep fencing and polypropylene rope. Strands of the rope will be tied to the fencing. The fencing will be laid out flat and weighted to the bottom so the rope strands float up. Floats will be fastened to the strands to provide added buoyancy.

Another discussion centered around Christmas trees. Findings in other lakes have shown that the effectiveness of Christmas trees as habitat for small perch drops quickly after about 6 months when they lose their needles and small branches. Group members are investigating other means to provide cover. One suggestion to use artificial trees for reefs is being investigated.

Signs near the Christmas tree reefs to identify the project and inform the public were also discussed. The committee thought there should be signs on the shoreline and at access areas and possibly buoys on the area.

Attending the meeting were: Tom Pettengill, Don Archer, Salt Lake DWR office, Don Wiley and Mike Slater, Central Region DWR office; Charlie Thompson, DWR Retired, Wes Schneider and Ray Schelble, Rocky Mountain Anglers, and George Sommer, John Tomich and Ron Colby, B.A.S.S. The committee will meet again on May 9.

When the two berms were built on the south shore in February one was covered with fabric and one was left uncovered to see how they would weather. Wiley reports that as the water rises the covered one is holding up nicely but the uncovered one is washing right away. This information will help plan this type of structure in the future.

On March 18 and 19 the DWR attempted to collect prespawn perch from the pond at the Intermountain Power Project to transplant to Yuba. The attempts were unsuccessful due to problems created by the early season and cold water temperatures. Brad Cutler and Ray Schelble went down to help on both days. Rick Laub joined them on the 19th. Another attempt will be made the first week of April.

An Eagle Scout candidate is working on the polypropylene rope structures down at the Central Region offices at Springville. A group effort to plant them will take place on April 13 at Yuba. Wiley anticipates about 12 people and 4 boats will be needed.

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More Habitat Installed In Yuba

(May, 2002) Some more habitat was created in Yuba Reservoir this month. On April 13, volunteers built and installed about 25 Aquacribs and installed five rope structures that were built through the efforts of a Utah County Eagle Scout. All were put in Walleye Bay.

Coming down to help were RMAs Brad Cutler, Duane Hone and Ray Schelble, John Tomich from B.A.S.S., and Don Wiley and Mike Slater of the DWR Central Region. Eagle Scout Chad Hall, his father and a couple of his brothers showed up to help as well. John noticed the group was a little short-handed to build the Aquacribs. He took off on a recruiting mission and came back with a group of teenagers to help. They disappeared after the Structure was built but, unfortunately, before they got the boat rides John promised them.

The rope structures consisted of strands of polypropylene rope about 3 feet long tied to plastic fencing about 75 feet long. To add to the natural buoancy of the polypropylene rope, floats were fastened to the rope ends. The structures were laid out in a line from shallow water to deep water. The floating strands will give perch a place to lay their eggs and provide cover for small perch.

Low water may affect some of the plans for structure this year.

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Yuba Habitat Happnin’s

(June, 2002) The Yuba Habitat Committee held a meeting at the Salt Lake DWR offices on May 9. Items discussed included:

• The good fishing this spring is an indication of the disappearance of the perch. The walleyes have little to eat and will bite more readily.
• Up to 200,000 perch eggs were moved into Walleye Bay from the IPP pond near Delta.
• There is a good chance that Yuba will be drained next year for dam repairs. This will affect what we do for habitat. We need to take advantage of this to benefit what we are doing.
• We will probably be doing the Christmas trees again next year.
• Spring gillnetting has been completed. In 2001, walleye over 14 inches were estimated at 7,600 fish. This year their numbers are estimated at about 2,500.
• The habitat will be monitored carefully through the summer.

Attending the meeting were Wes Schneider and Ray Schelble from RMA; Ron Colby and John Tomich from B.A.S.S.; Don Archer, Don Wiley, Mike Slater, Tom Pettengill and Randy Radant from the DWR, and; Charlie Thompson, DWR Retired.

Artificial Christmas Trees

Because of the needs of perch, Christmas trees provide particularly good habitat for them to spawn in and to protect young perch. The needles on the trees are important to their effectiveness, and once the needles drop off their effectiveness as perch habitat declines. Several months ago the idea was tossed out in a Yuba Habitat Committee meeting that we look into trying artificial Christmas trees.

Wil and Karen Jefferies reported a large number of artificial Christmas trees at the Park City K-Mart that had been moved there from other stores as part of their liquidation sale. As a result, we got a great deal on about 170 trees. It took two trips to get them all down, thanks to help from Kevin Lund, Wes Schneider and Ray Schelble from RMA and Ron Colby from B.A.S.S.

The DWR funded $2,000 from the Yuba habitat funds and RMA donated $500. The retail value of the trees was almost $13,000.

These trees afford us an opportunity to see how well artificials will work. They will be stored at the Central Region until they are ready to be assembled and planted.

* * * * *

Report From Yuba

(August, 2002) I had occasion to pass by Yuba Lake on Tuesday, August 27, but not to fish. As may be expected, it is really low—at 12 percent of capacity according to Sevier River Water Users Association figures (www.sevierriver.org). Surprisingly, the main state park boat ramp still has concrete running into the water. There were a half dozen boat trailers in the parking lot and water skiers were on the lake.
Getting there is a bit of a challenge. There is heavy-duty highway construction on I-15 for the last 10 miles before the Yuba exit. Traffic is down to one lane in both directions. Both Yuba exit ramps were dirt trails marked by orange barrels and not well marked.
It will be a great improvement, though. They are putting asphalt down in place of the bumpy concrete that was there. The sections where they switched traffic onto the new pavement were awfully nice.
Whether you fish or not, now is a great time to go down and check out the areas you’ve been fishing all these years.
No matter what the weather does, next year looks like it will be more low water at Yuba because of scheduled dam repairs. A meeting on the Yuba Habitat Project will be held this fall to determine how to proceed. At this
time it looks unlikely that work on the Christmas tree reefs will be practical this year.
As the water goes down, brush and other vegetation is growing down the shoreline with it, which should help provide habitat when the water comes back up.

* * * * *

Yuba Update

(February, 2003) The final decision when to drain Yuba and work on the dam
will be made the first part of April. As it looks now it is about a 90% sure thing that it will happen this year. The most likely time will be the first of September. On the bright side they are holding extra water in Piute Reservoir
that will be released into Yuba when the repairs are complete.
This might be one of the best times to drain the Yuba. According to the survey results Yuba is on a greased slope and going down fast. The spring of 2002 showed an 87% decline in walleyes from spring 2000. In 2000 there were estimated 39,000 walleye in Yuba. In the spring of 2002 the estimate dropped to 5,000.
Attempts to monitor the habitat improvements have not gone well either. The artificial structures are looking good. However few fish have been seen on them. The use of underwater cameras, scuba diving was thwarted by the poor visibility, and shocking and gill nets did not produce fish. With the water situation no more habitat projects are scheduled for Yuba.
The idea is being considered about using some of the artificial Christmas trees that were purchased for Yuba in Dear Creek. The water visibility is good and there is a good population of perch. This would only be a test to evaluate the productivity of this type of artificial structure. Only about a dozen trees would be used.

* * * * *

Dam Repairs to Drain Yuba

(April, 2003) RMAs have known for some time that Yuba was being drained this year for dam repairs, but how long and how much it would impact the reservoir wasn’t known. How the project would proceed, the impacts on the reservoir and what could be done to speed Yuba’s recovery were discussed at two meetings of the Yuba Habitat Committee on April 17 and May 8, 2003.
The April 17 meeting
The details were firmed up just before the April 17 meeting and presented at the meeting. As the plan stands now, Yuba will be gradually drained through the summer. According to the water users, Yuba should be empty by August 15 and begin refilling about October 1.
The dam repairs, which have been mandated by the state, include a new outlet structure with guard gate, a seismic stabilization berm and riprap on the upstream face. It was originally hoped that a smaller, secondary dam would be built up lake from the dam to retain some water and some fish. However, Clyde Bunker and Dean Anderson of the water users informed the committee that funding was not available. They did, however, say they would be in favor of a secondary dam if the DWR could find the money to build one. After much discussion, it was decided that the expense and time required to build a secondary dam would most likely be prohibitive, not to mention dealing with the muck at the bottom of the reservoir to anchor it. Don Wiley of the DWR Central Region was going to explore using DWR construction crews and report on it at the May 8 meeting.
What this means is that what is left of the Yuba fishery will be lost and will have to be started from scratch after the lake starts filling again. Plans are to replant the reservoir with perch as soon as possible after the work is completed and then with walleye at a later date.
The May 8 meeting
At the May 8 meeting, Wiley reported that a secondary dam could be built by DWR construction crews in about a week near the island in the narrows. After considering the costs and the benefits that would be realized, the committee decided that it was better to spend the money and effort on replanting perch after October 1 when the reservoir started refilling. Bunker reported that the water levels are dropping already and are about a week ahead of what they anticipated this year. He also said they anticipated little to no runoff this spring.
After some research, Wiley found a source in Arkansas that could provide 100,000 yellow perch that could be delivered to the reservoir in mid October for $40,000. This would provide a good start on bringing the fishery back. Committee members and others will be researching funding sources and working through DWR channels. It is likely that perch would be planted for two to three years before attempting to plant walleyes, but there is a possibility that enough walleyes will make it through to repopulate the reservoir by then without outside help. There was discussion on trying to get some rainbow trout to plant to provide a fishery in the meantime.
Impacts of Draining the Reservoir
Because of the impacts to the fishery, an emergency order has been signed by DWR Chief Kevin Conway increasing bag limits. Effective May 19, daily limits on Yuba will be increased to 12 walleye, 12 northern pike, 16 channel catfish, 8 trout and 20 yellow perch. Then, from August 15 through December 31, 2003, the reservoir and river within the high water line of the reservoir will be closed to all fishing. It is likely that the closure will extend past December 31.
In spite of the obvious negative effects to the fishery, the state park and the local businesses who profit economically from Yuba’s anglers, there are a few good points. First, the fishery is near the bottom of a down cycle and the loss of fish and fishing will be as minimal as it can get. Wiley pointed out that the adult walleye population decreased from 21,000 adult fish in 2001 to about 5,000 in 2002. If the reservoir had been drained five years ago when the fishery was hitting its peak, it would have been a disaster to anglers.
Second, the drained lake will add another season of growth for brush growing along the shoreline and below the water line, which will provide a great benefit to the perch as the reservoir refills. Yuba State Park Ranger Chris Evans said at the April 17 meeting that state parks would prohibit ATVs below the high water line and enforce the ban to protect this brush. Anything that helps the perch also benefits the lake’s walleyes that use the perch as forage.
Third, draining the reservoir will knock back the numbers of carp, although this will likely be temporary.
Bunker and Anderson made it clear to the committee that the water users share the opinion of the anglers when it comes to draining the reservoir. Unfortunately, the state leaves no choice but to make these safety-related
improvements to the dam. The information they provided the committee has been invaluable.
The water users also expressed their support and interest in the ongoing efforts to create yellow perch habitat in the reservoir. In recent years, RMA and B.A.S.S. have joined forces with the DWR Central Region and other parties to enhance habitat. The biggest concern, they said, was that habitat structures would break loose and interfere with the reservoir’s outlet structure, which has not happened. The DWR Central Region monitors all habitat structures in Yuba on a regular basis.
President Wes Schneider, Will Jefferies, Terry Opheikens and Ray Schelble have represented RMA on the committee. Anyone with any questions or concerns is encouraged to contact these committee participants.
Representatives from B.A.S.S., the DWR Central Region and Salt Lake office, Utah State Parks, Yuba water users and the consulting firm of Bowen, Collins and Associates also participated.
In another activity related to the Yuba Habitat Project, six artificial Christmas trees were planted in Deer Creek’s Rainbow Bay on April 29. The trees were from two trailer loads purchased on closeout from K-Mart with funds provided by RMA and the Habitat Council. Because Deer Creek offers better water clarity than Yuba, the trees can be better observed to get some documentation of how well they work and how well they hold up. Mike Slater and Richard Hepworth from the DWR Central Region assembled the trees and came up on a windy day to install them. RMAs Will Jefferies and Ray Schelble met them at the reservoir and got in a little fishing, too. (Not much catching, though.)
Another Yuba Habitat Committee meeting will be held on June 9 to discuss further details, what can be done to best take advantage of the empty reservoir and how to proceed to re-establish the fishery.

* * * * *

Blue Ribbon Fisheries Council Approves Funds for Yuba Perch

(May, 2003) The draining of Yuba Lake this summer has changed a few plans and created uncertainty about the reservoir’s future. The reservoir will be drained by August 15 to upgrade the dam and will remain empty until October 1.
In an important action at their May 22, 2003, meeting, the Blue Ribbon
Fisheries Advisory Council (BRFAC) approved $40,000 for the purchase of 100,000 perch to be delivered to the reservoir after it begins filling this fall. The perch will be three to five inches long and should give the reservoir a jump start on a comeback. Don Wiley and Richard Hepworth from the DWR Central Region presented Yuba’s situation to the council members with video tape and a Powerpoint presentation showing the cooperative effort made by the DWR, RMA and B.A.S.S., businesses, governments and others to improve habitat on the water. After the presentation and a discussion, the BRFAC voted unanimously to fund the perch. Will Jefferies and Ray Schelble from RMA attended the meeting to support the proposal.
In addition to the trees, it is likely that the DWR will ask for volunteers to catch perch by hook and line to put in the reservoir this fall, probably from Jordanelle Reservoir. Information will be passed on to RMAs as it becomes available.
The Yuba Habitat Committee will meet again on June 17 to discuss what can be done while the reservoir is drained to improve habitat.

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Latest from the Yuba Habitat Committee

(June, 2003) The Yuba Habitat Committee met again on June 17, 2003. The reservoir is steadily going down to meet the August 15 date to start work on the dam. On July 2 it was 20 percent full according the Sevier River Water Users web site at omni.sevierriver.org.
The group decided that, with the reservoir being drained, we should wait until the water comes up before installing any more habitat. The plan is to put in the artificial Christmas trees (which have been doing very well up at Deer Creek) in about next March or early April, just before the perch spawn. Plans are proceeding to plant 100,000 perch this fall.
In looking at the opportunities presented by the low water, the DWR Central Region’s Don Wiley had an idea to construct some bottom structure while the water level is low. Certain humps and bottom structure in the lake draw fish and often it doesn’t take much difference in the bottom to have fish hold on it. Don suggested building some small humps or ridges, maybe as small as 2 to 4 feet high, in areas of the reservoir that would be accessible to anglers at low water. These would be too deep to help spawning perch in the springtime but could add bottom structure that would improve the opportunity to catch fish. They would be small enough to not present a boating hazard and could help improve the walleye harvest levels to better manage the fishery.
Bring your ideas on this to the July meeting and we’ll talk about it. The next Yuba Habitat Committee meeting was originally scheduled for July 29 but has been changed to July 30 at Yuba Lake State Park.

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Yuba

(October, 2003) It's been a tough year at Yuba Reservoir south of Nephi. Five years ago, Yuba was the state's premier perch and walleye fishery. In spite of work over the past few years by the Division of Wildlife Resources and angler groups to try and keep it that way, the perch fishery crashed and the walleye fishery followed. In 2003, the state mandated upgrades to the dam that required the reservoir be drained. By Aug. 15, all that was left of Yuba was a stream through its lake bed and a shallow pond in the area in front of the state park. All that is behind now, and things are starting to look much brighter. Work on the dam finished on schedule and the reservoir started refilling in early October. On Oct. 22, the Sevier River Water Users dedicated the new dam and threw a party to celebrate. As the reservoir continues to fill, plans are being carried out to speed its recovery.
According to DWR Central Region Aquatics Manager Don Wiley, approximately 1,500 nine- to 10- inch rainbow trout were planted on Oct. 30 to get the fishery started again. The delivery of 50,000 yellow perch, about 10,000 of which will be mature enough to spawn next year, has been arranged pending confirmation that they're free of disease. If approved, these perch will be purchased with funds from the Blue Ribbon Fisheries program and should be swimming in the reservoir by late November.
Draining the reservoir has also improved it. The dry shorelines now sport a crop of brushy growth that will provide excellent spawning habitat for yellow perch, which will be the primary forage fish in the reservoir when the water comes back up. Water users, surrounding property owners and Yuba State Park officials have been great supporters of efforts to build fish habitat at Yuba to try and improve the fishery. All have worked closely with the DWR and representatives from Rocky Mountain Anglers and the Utah B.A.S.S. Federation during the dam repairs. Yuba is closed to fishing until Jan. 1, 2004. In 2004, the former regulations will again be in force with the exception that yellow perch caught by anglers must be returned immediately to the water. The rainbow trout in Yuba are intended to create a fishery for anglers until the yellow perch come back. Walleyes should also be available to anglers one day, as well.

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Clubs Help DWR Bring Yuba Back

(November, 2003) When Yuba Reservoir was drained for dam repairs this summer it seemed like an exclamation point at the end of an era. The reservoir’s plump, aggressive walleyes and perch had been thinning out in every sense for the past few years. To many, completely draining the reservoir seemed to underscore the demise of the fishery.
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.
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.
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 sha llow 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 the ir 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.
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 government.
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.
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.
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.

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Volunteers Plant Artificial Trees at Yuba

(April, 2004) Over 20 volunteers from RMA, B.A.S.S. and others joined DWR employees on Saturday, April 17, 2004, to put together and “plant” artificial Christmas trees at Yuba, the latest project in the effort to improve habitat there. About 180 trees were assembled on concrete bases and boated out to strategic areas of the lake. Tracy Myers of B.A.S.S. arranged to have the bases poured and the DWR provided lunch and drinks.
Rather than wire them together into reefs as was done with the real Christmas trees several years ago, these trees were dropped in loose clusters, similar to the trees that were tested in Deer Creek last year. They were mainly placed into Walleye Bay near the narrows and around the new rock reef on the shoreline east of the boat ramp. In mid-April the rock reef was almost completely submerged.
The artificial trees were purchased at a K-Mart liquidation sale in May, 2002, with $2,000 from the Habitat Council and $500 from RMA. The retail value of the trees was almost $13,000.
Volunteers included John Tomich. Mike Ptaschinski, Brad Cutler, Kevin Lund, Will Jefferies, Wes Schneider, Clay Schneider, Kriss Garcia, Mike Garcia, Rod Miller, Ryan Miller and a friend, George Sommer, Dan Smith, Greg Carn, Ray Schelble, retired DWR biologist Charlie Thompson and several others. Don Wiley and Mike Slater spearheaded the day for the
DWR, and several other DWR employees showed up to help.
Yuba is known for its muddy water, and it was surprising to see how clear the water is now. It still has a turquoise color, but the bottom is very visible to surprising depths. One explanation was the absence of carp due to the reservoir being drained last year.

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