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With a few lackluster sessions on the BT under my belt, I tested the LT for a few hours. Mid week, no crowds, great flows (68 cfs)...can't ask for more. One immediate hookup on a bead head caddis pupa, but then I remembered, I don't come to the LT to nymph, I come for the technical dry action. With the exception of a few random rises for PMD's mid day, there is not much surface activity until about 8PM, but then it goes bonkers, especially the last few minutes before dark. 
Crazy caddis hatch, fish don't discriminate during these heavy caddis hatches, the hard part isn't getting a take, its getting the set. Had about a half hour of serious lip ripp'n just before dark, finally! Standard issue 15-17 inch head shakers, what you'd expect....the only way to totally forget about work.
Perhaps someone can shed light, why are there restoration efforts on the LT if this is allowed? I've never seen this large a flock, and never unattended, did they get out from a pasture or is this the dirt bikers revenge for blocking their trails :-) I don't begrudge people who make a living off livestock, just thought it was a bit much, anyone have any insight?
On Friday my pops and I hooked up with Matt "Gilligan" Koles for some spring fly fishing on the Truckee River East of Reno. I have to tell you, going with Matt makes it seem so easy to catch fish, but it ain't.
The water East of Reno is tough to read and difficult to effectively fish without a boat, having the guide is a huge plus. We put a few nice bows in the net but lost some nice ones too. 
I had a healthy rainbow pop me in some heavy water and had a hot brown wrap me up around debris on the bottom, but hey, that's why they call it fish'n. 
All in all, it was a great day, great weather, and a great guide. Folks, if you want to know where the big dogs lie...now you know who to call. 
I didn't see many bugs today with the cold snap, just a few BWO's and a couple caddis. Though some of the rainbows are finished spawning, as evidenced by numerous abandoned redds, some aren't. Today, in one of my usual haunts, I found a hot bed of spawning activity right in town. I snapped some pics but all you can see are a couple of silhouettes. This gravel bed had no less than a dozen fish moving over it and fending off redds, though I only observed one active pair spawning. I'd say about 3 or 4 of the fish I observed were over 2 feet including the pair that was still spawning, the male looked like it was a toad. It was cool just to watch them (just watch them) from a far. In another week or two the bows should be done with their ritual and back in their normal feeding slots. I got a few bows and lost a few, none near redds.
have been up the past couple of weekends to ~545 cfs due to higher flows coming out of the dams at Tahoe and Boca, but still, the water was in great shape. 
For the second part of the qualifier, they do the same on Pyramid Lake. We learned one guy got 600cm in one day on the Truckee, that's 240" between 11 fish for an AVERAGE length of 21.5" per fish! Out for 30 competitors, 6 will move on to the US National Fly Fishing Championships and possibly make the 'Fly Fishing Team USA' World Team. That's the team that would represent the US in the The World Fly Fishing Championships in Bohinjska Bistrica, Slovenia. It was a cool event to observe, though we did have to give way to competitors which were hitting some of our favorite runs...oh well, it was for a good cause.
I cutoff my midge dropper and rigged up a double Skwala rig, hit some faster water and had some luck. I only landed a few smallish bows, but big brownies can't resist this T-Bone of the insect world.
Fellow contributor Dan and I attend the Fly Fishing Film Tour in downtown Reno. What a great event, sweet videos and lots of avid anglers that love fly fishing as much as us. It was a treat to meet many of the moguls of the Reno and Truckee fly fishing scene (including event coordinators Matt Heron and Dave Lass) and catch up with some old pals. This was the first one they've done in Reno and the turnout was excellent. I highly recommend going to next year's event, we'll post it when it comes up.
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.
