Truckee River - They've Made It

The ice is gone, flows have been steady and the water cleared up.  Less bugs than normal but usual winter suspects are still around.  We found some surprisingly plump and health bows sipping midges and annelids.  To be this healthy they must have found some deeper water to hold in during the lean summer/fall months.

 Dan with beaut.

Tied onto one of the best bows ever on the Truckee, lost him after a few minutes,  he just threw it.  Very encouraging sign that some of the big boys are still around.

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 - More of the Same

Midge and March Brown patterns produced the best today.  Fish seemed to be spread out, some in the soft water, some in the riffles.  Not many bugs but still a good day.

Truckee River - January Update

Fishing has been about as slow as my posting, but they're still coming.  Its a bit on the cold side and you have to bump in on their nose to get a take, just a plain old copper John and some shot has been adequate.  A couple pics of the last couple week, mostly browns followed by whities and lastly a couple bows.

Check out this pod of fish, they were chilling near the anchor ice, I hooked some and they're not all white fish...

Cuttbow with some color fade.

                                   More browns than I usually see, all were very healthy.

                                    Hope to get out there more this year, just been busy.

Truckee River - Get'n Schooled

Today this chunky hen took me into some heavy water. As I pursued her, I learned the hard way just how warn down my spikes were on the bottom of my rubber-soled boots. I slipped and tripped and went swimming on more than one occasion as I tried to keep up with the fish that wouldn't quit. I was exhausted, wet and embarrassed by the end of it all, but by some miracle, I didn't loose her. Anyhow thought it was funny so I put up a short vid set to "Can't Stop It".We saw some adult winter stone flies out, and as usually, lots of midges and sedges on the rocks. The cold snap has the fish a bit off their normal game, but a #18 zebra midge duped a few fish. The bows are all looking pre-spawn by now, red sided males growing beaks and hooks and hens fat with eggs. Won't be long and they'll be on redds.

As I was going to net this rainbow, a second HUGE rainbow hen came in behind it on the hunt. It appeared to be trying to grab my Skwala Stone dropper that dangled behind. It wasn't successful, but had it grabbed it, I'm guessing I'd have lost both fish since something was bound to give. I'll be back another day to see if I can't hook that piggy.

Truckee River February Update

Minimal runoff, mild weather and relatively warm water = active fish. Saw some nice fish rise in some heavy water today.



Midges and BWO are in good numbers and the fish are definitely searching for skwalas right now.











I caught a lot more white fish than trout this session, they're definitely active and where you find one, you'll find many.











I keep hooking sedges with my dropper.

Truckee River - Midgetastic

I'm big on midgin from Dec-Feb, though today, it became obvious that the fish are keying into the larger stone patterns as well. My second fish was taken on a brassie, but it already had a huge stone pattern embedded in its mouth from an earlier angler that may not have had the best knot (or luck).







You can learn a lot just about subsurface bug activity just by checking your flies. Check these impaled bugs, a midge and a green sedge.









I'd say the midge is a true size 24 and the sedge an 18. As a rule of thumb I try to stay at a size 18 or larger...things don't stay buttoned in the BT on little flies.














I harpoon a lot of bugs, which tells me my bottom fly is on the bottom a lot, and if you're not hanging up from time to time, you're not deep enough.










Every time I think I've got the Truckee figured out, I read a blog or meet someone that reminds me of just how much I still have to learn. Today, I finally bumped into a local legend, Doug Ouellette. He shared some fishing stories and then shared a couple pictures of what his line made contact with earlier that day...yeah, I have a ways to go. Doug is a very accomplished local guide with tons of know how and some very unique and fascinating techniques. If you don't have his site bookmarked, you should definitely check it out. Calvadaflyfishing.com.

Danny Jackpot was the camera man today and busted out a cool vid set to Larry Jon Wilson.

Truckee River - More Midge'n

This bit was from just after Christmas, my younger twin brothers were up visiting, they're cinematographers in Nashville, TN. They're not big on fly fishing but they love to film. I was fortunate to have them at my side on this half day winter midge session when the planets aligned the and rainbows came out to play.

Truckee River - A Brown and a Bow to Go

After getting my butt skunked on a float East of Town last weekend, I had to get back in the saddle. Went to the old haunts...business as usual. Water today was over 500cfs due to the big rain storm we just had, water looked like tea with sub 12-inch visibility, but the fish were still midging. This brown is missing part of its tail...no doubt a mink attack survivor.
Check out this log, a beaver had it for dinner, ate every inch of bark (inner bark that is). Inner Bark is what beavers subsist on during the lean winter months.

Truckee River - Another Rainbow Session

Finally a half day session! I'm finished moving into my new house and I'm back in the saddle again, meaning I've earned a hall pass to fish for a half day, which is just what I did two days before X-mas. Damn it was cold, but the fishing wasn't. The vid sums it up. I just upgraded to a Mac system with all brand new software, etc. Needless to say, I'm stepping up my video content.

This vid is a week old...it took me a while to learn my new software. That aside, TODAY, I had a great session and stuck some pigs, and best of all, my twin bros from Nashville TN filmed it on professional equipment. I think I should have it posted in a couple weeks. The ice gives an indication of how cold the air is, but its deceiving in that it doesn't tell you the how hot the fishing may be.

Reno Petroglyphs?

Been moving into a new home last few week, so I've been on a fishing sabbatical so to speak, but I'm dying to get back in the game as we settle in and life returns to normal.

Came across some wood carvings that reminded me of petroglyphs, only these carvings likely came from the indigenous boengrip tribesmen which lived here from 1988 to present (pronounced bong-rip). Anyhow, they guarded a deep hole with some spooky but fat fish that saw me on the approach and bolted.

One lethargic bow just couldn't resist a midge pattern, but every other fish seemed to. It was slow. The mallards in this bend practically ran me out, they felt the fishing was so slow they were doing me a favor...no respect for fishermen!

Truckee River Midge Munchers

Can't fish this weekend so I'm pulling out some archive footage. This is from back in January, the nights were in the single digits, the days were in the 20's, the flows were about 200cfs and water was crystal clear. I had to break through anchor ice to get to the water and I had to break ice of my guides to cast. In those conditions, fish are slow and lathargic. You literally have to bounce your nymph off their nose. Fish won't move far, the food is too small (and too low in calories) for them to spend much energy on any one morsel. They're also very selective and midges (#20-24) tend to dominate the menu. While dragging my stack over this particular run, on more than one occassion I had to pull midge larvae off my hook. Yes, the midges were so abundant they often ended up impaled on the hook. It was so cold, I didn't take a picture of the phenomenon, but should have.

Anyhow, these two fish came on back to back casts, though about 20 minutes lapsed between those casts. After releasing the first fish, I lost all feeling in my hands and had to run back to the truck to thaw out. I also had to stick my reel in front of a vent in my truck for de-icing because it froze up solid on me. Despite the cold water, the fish were feeding. They feed every single day, bet on it.

Truckee Insect Medley

January and February were awesome on the Truckee and March is off to a good start, despite fluctuating river levels. We haven't had to leave the comforts of town yet, too many hungry NV fish to go to CA. Lots of bugs out there, midges have been blanketing the water most of the days and trout have been honed in on them for months now, however, BWOs are in good numbers between 1 and 3 and are quickly becoming a preference. A few sippers have seen sucking down cripples. There are good numbers of Skwala's on the rocks, but I've yet to see an adult. I've been prospecting with a Skwala nymph at the top of my stack for 4 weeks w/o a take on it. A few caddis were present but not enough for fish to key in on.

Watch the water flows before you head out and fish, head up river if the water is too high where you are. Don't be discouraged if the water muddies up, throw a slighly larger partern with a bit of bling on it and two BB's. All the fish need to gulp a #22 midge is 1-2 feet of visibility. If we get a cold snap and the water drops below 200cfs, go to the fast runs and heavy water you'd otherwise not fish in the winter, you can get a nymph down on the bottom and may be surprised at what you pull up.