Matt "Gilligan" Koles reports on March 26th, 2025

Matt Heron reports on February 12th, 2025

Well, winter has finally hit the peaks in Lake Tahoe and the Truckee River area. It only took until February. Better late than never as they say. We’ll take it!

It was hard to imagine that winter fishing on the Truckee could get any better after an amazing January. But it did. The first week of February brought us low pressure, rain, snow, sleet and anything else you can imagine. And boy, did it pay off.

Although the mountains above 7500ft got a lot of much needed snow, Truckee stayed relatively wet with lots of rain and very little snow as far as accumulation goes. Not ideal, but after two months of the region being dry, anything helps.

The Truckee River even got a huge push of water, a much needed “flush” if you will. The river peaked between 1,000 and 1,700 cfs last week and got pretty muddy for a day or two. As it should, it dropped and cleared to “fishable” visibility pretty quickly. Just the way we like it. 

Here are a few more details on conditions…

Flows: Water levels have stayed up, from downtown Truckee to Boca, and have hovered around 600-500 most of the week. We’re at 482 as we speak. Normal winter flows, pre-storm were 100-250 most of the winter. So bring your high water rigs the rest of this week.

Flows in the canyon are slightly higher at 624. They have been a bit higher than that most of the week leading up today. Flows prior to this week were around 400 or so. So, in reality, the canyon has only come up a bit and is in great shape.

Flies: We’ve gotten fish on just about everything this week, not unusual for water that has been slightly off color. Baetis 18-20s, rubberlegs 10-12s, leeches (any size), midges 18-20s, eggs and worms.

TECHNIQUES:

Nymphing: No secrets here, bobber and Euro techniques are putting the most fish in the net this time of year. If the water has any color, you don’t need to fish anything lighter than 4X. Go heavy or go home.

Dry Fly: There was some scattered dry fly fishing before the storm, but that mostly went away. That said, the midge hatches were really good and should come back into shape. Keep an eye on BWOs and maybe an early skwala or two.

Trout Spey: Swinging was a bit slow this week, the water was cold, and the fish didn’t want to move much to eat. That said I recently left town for a bit, and I can guarantee it turned on a bit with the water color. I’d be tossing small streamers and hold on!

Streamers: Again, cold water had the streamer bite on the slow side, but don’t overlook big meals in the winter months. Use 10 or 12 pound and fish the edges, drop offs, or even dead drift one. Trust me.

What’s Next?: March and skwalas will be here before we know it. One of my favorite times of year to get a big fish on a dry. Don’t miss out!

Looking for a Truckee River guide this winter or spring? Drop Lu and I a message. We’d love to set you up for an unforgettable day on the river.

-Matt

Matt "Gilligan" Koles reporst on February 12th, 2025

Been a cold week on the Truckee River. Lots of rain and snow though the next few days, and some warmer temps on out. 

These low temps mainly kept me off the river much of this week. Now that we'll get some weather again, things look good. The Truckee River always fishes well during and after these big storms. Remember, much of this snow does not reach the Eastern side of the pass. In fact we're snow free here in Hirschdale. It rarely snows in Reno as well. We can get some good snow here in Hirschdale, but this year not the case. All the snow is above 7,000 feet. 

So rig up those streamer and nymph rods because it'll be good. Both sides of the river should be firing. 

Matt "Gilligan" Koles reports on January 18th, 2025

Matt "Gilligan" Koles Reports on December 16th, 2024

Finally getting some snow in Tahoe

It's stacked up for mid-December. Not much down here in Hirschdale, but we usually don't get too much anyways. 

Flows are still great on the Truckee River, and the Winter fly fishing is good. Good all up and down the river. If you fish the Ca side, remember, lows will be very cold at night. You should wait till it warms a bit and trouts get a bit active. 

If you're down on the Reno side, you can get going at a normal fishing time, still be cold, but not Truckee cold. 

Nymph in the frog water, streamer fish in the frog water. That is the key. 

We have a good month or so, but then we'll have some great dry fly fishing down in the desert on the river. Not so much right now anywhere, unless you get lucky. 

Matt "Gilligan" Koles Reports on Nov. 10th, 2024

Truckee streamflow at Boca

Little Truckee streamflow above Boca

Truckee streamflow forecast

Hirschdale weather forecast

Matt Heron Reports on November 8th, 2024

Hot, hot and hot!

I’ll start with a Truckee fishing report and end with Hoot Owl closure updates.

Wow, what a difference a few weeks makes. We thought last week was warm, but were we wrong. It got even hotter! The high for today as I write this it supposed to be 97. That’s pretty ridiculous for Truckee the first week of July.

The good news is morning water temps on the Truckee are holding in there and the fish are still eating!

Most fish this week are being landed on mix of Hopper-Droppers, Euro nymphing the pocket water and the occasional dry fly fish on a caddis or mayfly.

The hatches we saw a few weeks ago have slowed down quite a bit, maybe even a lot depending on where you are on the river.

The bugs we are seeing are a mix of sz 14-18 caddis, some PMD's in 16s, some golden stones in 12s, and Yellow Sallies in 16s. If you want to blind cast a sz. 10 Green Drake, there are still a few fish looking up for them!

That said, Hoppers with deep droppers have been really good to our guides this week and should get even better as more hoppers show up for the summer. I would suspend one or two flies at least 30” down and hold on. The dropper bite has been good with a few fish eating the hopper.

Euro has also been excellent too. Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles. Get down fast and fish them. Trust me.

Fish this week have varied in size, but like most summers there’s a lot of fish in the 8-14” range. With a few fish 16-20” being landed. As some of you know, it can be numbers, not size this time of year.

Flows: 

Flows above and below Boca are starting to stable and looking more like summer conditions by the day. From town to Boca is at 381 cfs. Farad in the canyon is dropping by the day, 744 cfs.

See all flies HERE.

Hoot Owl Closures:

Unfortunately, it’s that time of year already where we need to take a serious look at water temps and protecting our fish. Ridiculous to think about since we still have snow left!

Please fish with a thermometer and consider getting off the water once the water temps hit 65-68 degrees. This is nothing new, Hoot Owls have been happening for as long as I can remember and it’s the best way to protect fish once dissolved oxygen levels dip.

Above Boca we’re seeing it hit that temperature anywhere from 11-3pm. This basically means that late afternoon and evening fishing is off limits from Boca upstream to Lake Tahoe.

With releases coming out of Boca, the water temps are a bit better but still fish with a thermometer through the canyon. I’d check every 30-60 minutes or so to be safe.

Daily Classes:

Classes are still going strong on our pond at Everline Resort. Definitely drop us a note if you’re looking to get in on the action. Class fish are being caught with a mix of dries and hopper droppers depending on the time of day.

Justin and his son with a few nice class fish! Thanks Ethan W.👍

Even with the heat, we’re still cranking this time of year and getting into fish daily. Drop Lu a note if you want to fish this summer. We’d love to get you out there!

The Little Truckee

With hot temperatures affecting Northern California, most bug activity on the Little Truckee will be in the mornings and evenings. Cash and Owen from LCO fished it mid-morning and observed PMDs, baetis, midges, and some caddis. Despite the presence of adult bugs, the fish seemed to be wary to eat on top. As such, nymphing on a dry dropper or tight line rig will produce fish during the sunny hours. Use small mayfly and caddis nymphs on light tippet, but make sure to keep your eyes out for rising fish.

The nymphs that produced the best were homemade PMD patterns in sizes 16 and 18 with small tungsten beads. For action on top, consider fishing a Hackle Stacker PMD or an olive Sparkle Dun.

Flows were prime at 2500 cfs, but the crowds were thick. Be prepared to hike to find spots that haven't been taken, and consider fishing transition water that most anglers discount.

The Truckee

The Truckee is also in perfect shape, and it offers the opportunity to get away from crowds. Indicator nymphing in the remote canyon section worked well for Owen and Cash. Try using a size 14 caddis pattern like Gil's G6 Caddis. PMD and drake nymphs worked well too.

Look out for hatches in the morning and evening. Yellow Sallies, Drakes, Caddis, and PMDs were abundant in the evening, and fish started taking emergers on the swing around 6 pm.

Be careful of land boundaries in the canyon section. An uninformed landowner hassled Owen and Cash while they were within the Tahoe National Forest, but his comments served as a reminder that anglers need to know where they stand.