Northern Pike At Yuba Reservoir

Nothing like an early fishing trip to get Friday started off right. According to some fishing reports that I read, the pike were biting at Yuba Reservoir, so I headed down to see for myself. I arrived around 7:30 am, got my pontoon set up and was on the water in no time. The morning started off really windy, and I battled waves for the first few hours. Fishing started off hot, hooking up on only my second cast! The first pike of the day was soon in the net, and it was a little one. I took a quick picture and released him for another person to catch.

About 10 minutes later, a had another pull on my line, and this time I could tell I had a bigger fish on. The pike made my drag sing a few times as I slowly wore him down. When I got him to the net, it was much bigger than the first. It measured in at 26 inches, which is a new personal best for me with this species. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of him. I didn't want to mess with my camera and try to manage a larger fish with sharp teeth at the same time.

First pike of the day.

The fishing died down after the quick start, so I headed to a different area of the reservoir. When I got there, I could hear the clucks of chuckers. It sounded like they were everywhere, and I soon found out why. When I got closer to the bank I spotted 30-40 of them right at the waters edge. Once they saw me, they made their way up the boulders and into the bushes. The chucker hunt starts tomorrow and it looks like I have a new spot to try if it turns out that this is a legal hunting area. There were also some really interesting petroglyphs on a cliff face nearby that was an added bonus to this trip.

 

A few of the Chuckers that came down to say hello.

Native American petroglyphs overlooking the reservoir.

 I ended up catching two more little pike to finish the day with a total of four. All of them were caught on 5 inch Rapalas of various colors. Wire leader is a must for anyone wanting to go and catch one. With as much fun as it was catching these smaller pike, it leaves me wanting to make another trip down here to see what it would be like to dance with one of the trophy pike that are here. You'll definitely be seeing me again Yuba!

These were just babies, but they were still fun to catch!