Few Utahns know that the toothy, aggressive and large predatory fish patrol several waters in the state, chomping whatever they can fit into their mouths and some things they can't quite squeeze in all the way, like ducks, frogs and other pike.

Yuba Reservoir, back on track after being drained for dam repairs in 2003, is once again producing pike, along with walleye and perch. Anglers and biologists familiar with the reservoir say Yuba is primed for phenomenal pike fishing, with the real possibility of a new state record in the coming years.

"You don't come down here expecting to get your limit, but just one of these guys makes your day," Holladay angler Ray Schelble said while filleting a 36-inch, 12-pound pike he landed at Yuba last week. "This place is about to break loose with some fantastic fishing for pike and walleye."

The state-record pike - a warmwater species introduced to Utah more than 30 years ago - was caught in 2002. The 25-pound, 43-inch pike was reeled in months before the reservoir was drained.

"The last state-record pike was taken out of Yuba when the fishery was in a boom cycle. We are entering another productive cycle, and there is a good chance we will see some fish right up close, if not beating that last one," said Richard Hepworth, an aquatic biologist for the Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR). "There are already at least two really good size classes."

That means good fishing for anglers, but could spell trouble for the delicate perch population at the reservoir.

Concerned anglers like Schelble and biologists like Hepworth are hoping a new wave of anglers will discover pike fishing at Yuba and become as predatory as the fish they would be seeking.

"Pike are basically eating machines, and they came on faster than the walleye [another predatory fish] since Yuba started to fill again," Hepworth said. "Those predators need a prey fish, and at Yuba they are perch."

Although he will fish for anything, anywhere, Schelble is a walleye angler at heart. He knows Yuba can provide some of the best walleye fishing in the state when the conditions are right.

"The perch are key at Yuba. If we don't have them, we don't have walleye or pike," he said.

Schelble, an active member of the Rocky Mountain Anglers, was part of a group of volunteers who caught perch on rod and reel at Jordanelle Reservoir for a transplant to Yuba in an effort to jump-start the forage fish population before the predators could become established.

Now it is up to anglers to do their part in keeping the reservoir at a fishing optimum.

"What we would like to see happen is that the walleye and pike never reach their peak, which forces the perch to crash," Hepworth said. "If the number of predators continues to increase, we are destined for a bust."

In the past, Yuba has provided two to three years of really good fishing and then five or six years of poor due to the cyclical populations of the fish. Hepworth said if enough people keep their legal limits of pike and walleye it could stretch the length of the good years and perhaps, if everything goes right, eliminate the boom-or-bust cycle altogether.

Schelble understands it is hard for some anglers to make the connection that taking home a limit of fish can help a fishery.

"We like to think that fish we catch will only grow larger if we put them back, but in this case practicing catch-and-release can actually end up being the downfall of the fishery," he said. "The pike and walleye fishing at Yuba is a unique opportunity for Utah anglers. Unique for the species available and unique because we can help keep Yuba near it peak by taking home the fish we catch."

The pike limit at Yuba is six with no size restrictions. Anglers can keep 10 walleye at the reservoir.

Anglers familiar with tiger muskies at Pineview Reservoir might be wondering why those predatory fish - a sterile hybrid of a northern pike and a muskellunge - are protected, with a strict limit of one fish over 40 inches, and why biologists are asking for anglers to keep pike at Yuba.

Pike in Utah are not sterile and, given the opportunity, will eat themselves out of house and home while building their numbers. They have good natural recruitment on wet years and poor spawning success in dry years. The tiger muskie population is sterile and is controlled by state biologists.

Although not as popular table fare as their warmwater brethren walleye and perch, pike have a flaky and fairly mild-tasting meat that is pleasing to most palates.

Anglers who think releasing a 14-pound pike or a 10-pound walleye won't hurt anything should consider the number Hepworth came up with from a massive national report on keeping a balance between forage fish and predators. The report, which included 48 North American lakes with walleye and perch populations, showed that 3.7 pounds of walleye had to be harvested per acre of water per year to maintain a healthy balance. That may not seem like a high number, but the last time Yuba was in a boom, the average harvest on predatory fish was 0.8 per acre of water per year.

At Yuba, with an average water level of about 180,000 acre feet, that's roughly a harvest requirement of 666,000 pounds of walleye and pike each year. If the average size of the fish is 2.5 pounds, anglers would need to keep 250,000 fish to meet the goal.

That may not be a problem if enough people make the trip to Yuba and realize the thrill of watching a pike follow the lure to the boat and thinking the chance to hook the fish is over, only to watch it smash the bait and take off back into the depths.

brettp@sltrib.com

Pike by the numbers

* 25 pounds and 43 1/2 inches - state record caught in 2002 by Henry Fenning at Yuba Reservoir

* 49 3/4 inches - catch-and-release record caught at Lake Powell in 1998

* Waters with fishable populations - Yuba and Recapture reservoirs, Redmond Lake, Lake Powell, Green and San Juan rivers

* Six - statewide limit with no size restrictions. Limit of 12 on the Green and Colorado rivers