Truckee River - The Underwater Experience

Now and again, I'll leave the rod at home and throw on some dive gear, making it a point to find out what's in our river.  I make it a point to explore each and every pool, the ripples and rapids, oh, and don't forget to check under the bubble line.  I find it very informative, it helps me understand how fish hold, where they lie, where they go when they flee, how they avoid heavy current while they feed, how the the rocks and structure create low pressure zones, etc.  It also reminds me that there are some huge fish in this river, and they're usually not rainbows!  This footage is much harder to get than it appears, this is a minute pulled from hours of raw footage. As always, some of the best footage didn't come out or my battery died so I never got the shot.  Wish some of it was clearer but these fish weren't cooperating with me.  More amazing than what I could get on film was how many fish I couldn't get on film.  In so many cases I could see a shadow turn tail and run before I could even get my camera started or before I could get close enough to even film the shadow.  They could see me well ahead of me seeing them in most cases.  The other thing to realize is, at least in the summer, these fish are never sitting in soft water, they're in current and usually heavy current, and while it may look effortless for the fish to hold in that current and feed, once you get in there with them, it takes everything you have to just hold your position, usually forward motion is out of the question, we're just not built like fish.  Enjoy!

Truckee River - September Update

Flows on the NV side have been steady at around 450 cfs and water temps are staying at 63-66 depending on the time of day so the river is really in great shape this year.  This is the time of year to be dead drifting crays, I like Tim's Dead Drift, it's got bead chain eyes which give is just enough weight - plus the Reno Fly Shop carries them. You don't want your flies to be too weighted, they need to blow around in the current naturally, put your weight (and lots of it) up higher on the leader - fish are hugging the bottom in fast water right now.

Mid Day on a Cray!

There are a lot of green sedges on river bottom right now, two were impaled by my dropper.

Truckee River - July Update

Well its official, the River is back in shape.  Flows are around 400, water temps in lower 60's and its clearing up nicely.  More big fish are around town than i thought, put 2 brutes in the net.  

AM Session - 25" and thick

I haven't fished the Big T in 6-months (crazy), after today's session, I'm wondering why.  Fish are right in the seams, where the water transitions from fast to slow.  Look for oxygenated pocket water during the hot months of summer.  Get some 17-lb high visibility mono and tippet rings to 3x w/ 2 AB shot and put the bobber away if your fishing pockets, find an 11ft rod and high stick it - that's the best way to get the drift in pockets and seams where the water speed constantly varies and is one speed at the top and another speed at the bottom.

PM Session - 27" and lean

Northern Nevada - Bows, Browns & Bucks

Fall is a great time to get out in Northern Nevada, the Truckee is in full swing with good mayfly and caddis hatches occurring.  Yeah, not as many fish around Reno as years past, but I've seen a couple of slobs.  Give it a couple more years, the River in town will be back to her old self.

I cam across this Wandering Garter Snake, he popped out of a rifle I was fishing with a healthy brown in its jaws.  Second time I've ever seen something like this:

             

Hey snake, try it on this brown...I've yet to observe redds yet but this cold snap could trigger the spawn.

Remember that bottom fly can tell you a lot about what's in the river.

Truckee River doe in Reno, not too afraid of me.

Broke away to the Nevada Oregon border for a great mule deer hunt.

I can't imagine a better overall year-round outdoor paradise.

Truckee River - Squeez'n it In

Lots of bugs, most everything is out, mays, caddis and stones.  Fish are moving for flies just get it to them, they'll take care of the rest.  Fish are right in the current stuck to the bottom, high sticking with a little shot helps.

Kid's baseball games, first communion, Mother's Day and more, don't see many hall passes in the near future (of course not counting Abaco Island for bones next week).   All my poor little soul is left with is a lunch break...before Reno, I never thought I'd be catching beautiful trout while on a parking meter.

Truckee River - More Fishing with the Boys

Browns have some girth right now, but why aren't they spawning? 

 Jack with the first bow of the day.

 Jack with his second respectable brown

A dramatic sunset on the Truckee

Fly Fishing Northern Nevada - The Trifecta

1 Angler, 2 Days of Fishing, 3 Bodies of Water, 4 Species of Trout.....High 5.  I had the pleasure to fish what I feel are Northern Nevada's three best fisheries in a recent spur of the moment outing.  22 hours of fishing in 2 days amongst the most beautiful bodies of water the Battle Born State has to offer.  Midges, BWOs, caddis, streamers...they all worked, but midges followed by BWOs took the day for all three waters.  A Tasmanian Rainbow below, speckles protrude well below the lateral line.

Fish were best measure by the pound.

 Magnificent Colors

Bows and a Tiger Trout stacked up and doing anything but feeding

 Bring your A game to nymph these super clear spring heads

 A healthy post spawn cutbow

Morbid obesity is the number two cause of death amongst trout....ok bullshit.

 Browns are rare in one location I was at....getting two back to back was a treat.

Super ladder and a Pyramid Lake sunrise

A little Lahontan Cutthroat, monsters are alluding me this year, you have to put in your time and I don't.

The Truckee River entering Pyramid Lake

A feisty rainbow from the Truckee River in the brown waters east of town to finish it off

Truckee River - September is off to a Good Start

They're smoking that dead drift cray right now.  Tying into fish in some skinny water this time of year, they're holding right up against the fast riffles and white water in the medium to medium fast current.  Had a really fun day, only wish I was on the water earlier, that's when the fishing is the best. This deep-bodied hen took me for a ride.

After good success clunk'n and plunk'n with lead and a big indicator, I picked up a few more fish high stick'n the same water...you're just able to cover different water without an indicator.

Great to see some browns out and about.

 One fish wanted a salad (nymph), everything else wanted a steak (cray).

Truckee River - A Cray a Day

That's about all that they seem to want, at least the bigger fish.  I lost a toad today on cray as well, think it was a brown.  This nice bow is shaped like a torpedo, long and lean.

 Right behind the white water is where they lurk

 Trying to avoid the bait dunkers has forced me into fishing some new waters, thanks bait dunkers!

Truckee River - Down and Dirty East of Derby

....Derby Dam that is.  I finally took some time off work and spent a full day actually fishing, morning till dusk, first time in months.  I really did some exploring on the eastern stretches of the Truckee and spent most of the day fishing waters I've never fished before.  The mid day water temperature has finally dropped to an ideal 59 degrees and fish are very active.  I found some really cool riffles and runs and also found some dead water.

Its a tight squeeze getting under the tracks to Derby Dam.  As you approach, you're greeted by some beautiful wetlands full of cottonwoods turning color.  Remember, there is no fishing 1,000ft below the dam, which I'm sure is due to the Lahontan Cutthroats which come up to spawn in April and congregate at the base of the dam.

Here is a nice run below the dam but above the ranches further down. This section of the Truckee gets relatively little water as compared to the upper river, so don't expect a lot of deep runs/holes.

This little bend has some great riffles and good riparian habitat that's been largely untouched by man.

A few miles down things are different.  Here is what man has done to mitigate flooding, isn't it beautiful. The Truckee looks more like a ditch here than a freestone river. There are some good runs below this point, but the water gets very skinny and public access becomes increasingly difficult without a boat.   The fishing was good below Derby but the catching wasn't so mid day I tried some new waters below Clark.

Check out these beetles, they were hatching by the hundreds.  I couldn't positively identify them, the closest I came was Carabus intricatus, a type of blue ground beetle, but I know its not what they are.

This brown took a copper john, but I probably could have hooked him with a streamer.

Look at what he coughed up as I netted him.  Its hard to make out but it looks like a juvenile trout.

Everything seemed to be working today, so its no surprise that one would gulp a G6 Caddis.

This is a great bend with deep water, but there are lots of signs that the bait dunkers exploit this hole frequently.

A majestic view of the Truckee River Canyon looking East towards Wadsworth.  

Even streamers caught the attention of trout today.