Rain + Yuba = ?

[trog]

Any sense how this rain might cloud up the Yuba for the weekend? Rained pretty much all night down here in the Bay Area.

[FireFly]

trog,
There was no rain overnight. Not real sure what the forcast is for Sat. or Sun. The river is in good shape as of now. I am going to spend today down there, I will let you know how it goes.

[Big Jim]

I am going to be there sunday...will you let us know what bugs you saw...I might have a little time to tie on saturday.

Thanks

Jim

[FireFly]

Jim,
We fished the Yuba Friday,we fished our butts off for three fish. All three fish were taken under a indicator on a caddis pupa. Very few bugs were on the water. We did see some BWO, a caddis would pop every now and then,also saw a few yellow sallys. The only look we got on top was on a march brown pattern, however we did not see a march brown all day. Good Luck!!!!! Let me know how you did
Rich

[trog]

Thanks for the report, Rich.

[Big Jim]

Thanks for the report... sounds like it might be tough, unless we just plain get lucky.

I will let you know.

Jim

[EveningHatch]

THE REPORT

Sooo...Trog and I went out from the bridge and worked our way down in the morning, no trout were caught on "traditional flies" - though we did catch 1 trout on an egg pattern, and had 2 hook ups, one on crystal bugger #8 or so, and one on the good old brown san juan worm.

We noted Caddis and PMD - light hatches in the afternoon between showers, morning was solid rain.

River was 4 ft of vis, slight green/brown tint from rain, where it was visible it ran somewhat clear with a bit of silt.

We did see fish, though they did not appear hungry. A couple of rises in the afternoon. Fished from 7am to 3pm roughly...

River flow was low but still could easily suck you down river in a hurry...legs are a bit sore today from wading, there were no places to safely cross where we were.

I personally tried 12 different patterns or so including: caddis emerger, PMD dry (wishful thinking, needed the bliss of casting without splitshot/nymph), Prince of darkness, Dark lord, a pattern we affectionately call turd with legs brownish creepy crawly looking thing, San Juan Worm, various 16-20 nymphs, egg pattern.

95% of the casting was nymph with indicater. Beautiful day, not much fishing pressure cause of the rain...great day to practice some casting in some tough water with not-hungry fish.

[FireFly]

Well, it sounds like you boys gave it a pretty good effort. I dont know, but that Lower Yuba can be very stingy at times. I am on my way down there right now for a few hours. Also going to fish Wendsday and Friday, hopefully by the end of the week I will have a more up beat report.

Rich

[trog]

Rich - Had most of our luck between 7:30 a.m. and 9 a.m., thought the wooly bugger hookup (on a sinking line in a deep hole) came around 3 p.m.
If the water clarity holds, you could be in for a good day today, though that river is indeed fickle.

Olaf (Trog)

[robdog]

I won a spot from DFG's lottery to fish the UC SFREC. I went there early in the morning. There was a caddis hatch going on. The swallows were everywhere on the water eating these flies, but I didn't see many fish. Hell, the swallows were pecking at my fly in the water. I don't think I was properly equipped, cause I had a fish on my fly, but it snapped off my leader. I think it was Salmon. Maybe I should have used my 8wt, instead of my 6wt. As the day warmed up & the rain stopped, I saw less fish. I think you have to fish during the limit light hours (dawn & dusk). I have never done this on the Yuba, but I will try this tactic in the future. It seems to work elsewhere.

[Darian]

Hey Rob,.... It sounds like you're thinking correctly. Later on it'll become even more important to fish early/late. :D :D

[Big Jim]

My brother and I fished the yuba sunday above the bridge. Rain in the AM and the previous night turned the water from green to brown. Fished hard with just one grab. Decent hatch of PMD in the flat sections around 11am but no surface action at all. Swung wets through the hatch with no takers. Tried every nymph in the book as well as streamers. Fished til dark. Yuba used to be reliable for dusk hatches in the spring, but nary a bug came off. Fourth time this spring I have stuck it out til the bitter end with no fishable hatches. Kick net produced paltry contents as it has all spring.

I think the river is hurting... probably from the floods of Jan 2006 when it reached 103k cfs.. but maybe from something else we are not seeing. My question is: is it the bug population which has suffered, or the fish population, or both?

Thoughts?

Jim