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.
Well, the stones were in effect, both mature nymphs on about every third rock I flipped and a few adults floating down the river. A large fish was even seen gulping an adult on the surface. This was one of those trips where half the fish didn't make it to the net, but the good news, they're now honing in on Skwalas (aka Spring Stoneflies)! In addition, we saw a decent number of adult Strophopteryx Fasciata (Early Brown Stoneflies).
In the canyon I lost about a 2-foot brown who came unbuttoned within 10 seconds, but not before flashing me his size. Later I turned a heavy rainbow. Closer to town, Jackpot had battle-royale for around 8 minutes or better with a fish that never showed itself in the off-colored water. The guess is its was a really big brown. It eventually came unglued and unfortunately, our buddy from Sacramento who was filming forgot to press record, though he did remember how to set the hook and land his first fish on the truckee (a brown). The only other thing that made it to the net was a fat fiesty rainbow hen featured in the film. The common theme...they all wanted Stoneflies.
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.
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.
