Northern Pike hunt!

Yuba was calling our names for the past couple weeks so we finally took advantage of some extra time we had.  Yuba holds some very nice Northern Pike and we were ready for the hunt.  We left the valley at 5:30 am and made it to Yuba for our Northern Pike conquest.  We were on the water at Yuba by 6:45 am and fishing by 7.  We went straight out from the dock across the lake to some man made rock structures and started casting, I was throwing a red daredevil and Jimmy put on a Perch Rapala.  Kid you not he got hit in 10 casts and sure enough it was a Northern Pike!

 Not huge, but not small, about average for Yuba, 24.5 inches and about 3 lbs.  He was ecstatic, I was very pleased too.  We had our first of 40 that could be caught in the boat and ready to catch more.  We fished for the rest of the day and got a few hits even had three near the boat and quick released on us.  I threw all sorts of gear at them, Jimmy stayed with the Rapala and got hits and a couple on but could not boat them.  I did catch a fish, of sorts, a 7 lb CARP!  I have never caught a carp on a spoon before, but sure enough, I thought I had a big Northern Pike on the line but no it was a carp and it was hooked in the lips.  We fished the entire lake except for the area they had closed off to boats!  Have no idea why they have shut down the east end of the lake right after Red Rocks marina and campground.  The buoys are set and say "boats keep out", no idea why the water is low but it is always low back in there.  Finds for the day included a big fishing net and child's life jacket both sitting on the shore completely away from anyone.  The net was obviously dropped earlier in the season in the rock piles.

The life jacket, no idea, but it was beached probably 10 feet out of the water.  We did get entertained by some folks jumping off the rocks at Red Rocks, the higher rock ledge was about 30 feet, and got video of this you can check it out at http://youtu.be/lZ-9-NXD7uM.  Back to the fishing report, we hit every rock pile and out cropping on the lake that was accessible.  Like I say we had numerous hits, just like the Northern Pike to play with their prey before attacking it, and had the three at the boat well enough to see they were Pike.  The day was a breezy which kept it cool, with a small ripple on the surface and blue skies. There were people everywhere on the lake, running every type of water vehicle possible.  Most of the fishers were having the same type of day we were, but one boat said they had landed 11 fish, we didn't ask if they were all Northern Pike.  We made it back to the dock around 2 pm and loaded and headed for home.  Great day on the water learned some good things from the adventure that will help us for next time.