Rain + Yuba = ?

[Darian]

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

[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