Matt "Gilligan" Koles Report on 9.2.2020

Summer hanging on.

Record heat for the weekend. Though it does feel like summer is running out of gas. Mornings are cool, afternoons are hot, but that’ll change soon.

Not much change since last week's report. We’ve been smoke-free for the last few days. Been very Smokey in Tahoe and the Truckee Meadows. Smoke is good for fishing, much like cloud cover. Mornings have been good on the nymphing front.

Trouts are still in the faster water. Maybe not so much early, but the majority of the day.

It’s just about that time. Fall is around the corner. Then I’ll get more serious on the streamers.

Matt Gilligan Koles Reports on 6.8.20

Crazy weather.

80 the other day, snowing yesterday. Been a weird spring weather wise. We haven’t really seen the heat yet, and looking to stay somewhat mild to the end of the month. Good fishing weather.

The Truckee River is just starting to fire off. I’ve had back to back to back, solid days. Lots of grabs with the tight line nymph rigs. Pretty much anywhere you go up and down the river it’s good. She’s still big, lots of water coming down the pipe. Probably mellow out in a few more weeks. It’s always really good these first few weeks of June before the heat of summer. Then you gotta get out in the mornings and ditch the afternoons.

On the CA side of things…I’ve seen a few drakes, so one of these evenings this week, it will go nutso. Caddis should make a showing this week if it gets warm. So the dry fly fishing in the evening will be good.

Of course, nymphing with the said patterns will produce. Pretty much anything will all work right now, if its the right size and has a bead on it.

Matt "Gilligan" Koles Reports on 5.27.20

Heating up on the Truckee River.

It will get hot this week. When it’s 90 in the Hirsch, it’s hot. Upper 90’s in Reno. There’s about 10 miles between us and the desert, it gets hot. Water’s still cold. Fishing all day is good. About low 50’s, water temps, during the day. That’s perfect water temps. Trouts are waking up and moving around.

Flows are still up. I’m guessing they’ll drop in a few weeks. It’ll make the wading a lot easier.

So, nymph up on them. That’s your best bet, at least here on the lower river. Lots of bugs out, but those big fish don’t budge. They stay on the bottom and look for the easiest available food source. Good news; the smaller fish are very active as well with the warming water temps. This is a good time for higher numbers of fish, if you get in the right sections of river. They’re sill tight though. When the flows drop, they will move out into the mid-river slots. All of that water is still too fast.

Yes, the Truckee River is open. No, you will not get pulled over by the police if you’re out of town.

I’ve been very busy. All of my full days are filled up in June. I do have half days open, especially the last few weeks of June. Once summer rolls in, the best fishing is, morning-mid-morning, and again very late in the evening.

Matt Heron Reports on 3.10.2020

We actually got some weather this past week. Saturday and Sunday a storm rolled in and gave us 3-6 inches of the white stuff in Truckee. It isn’t much but we’ll take it!

The water is still low and clear, temps are in the low 40s or so. Like past reports, very normal for this time of year.

The bug thing also hasn’t changed. We’re nymphing with baetis, midges, winter stones, eggs and skwalas.

Although we’re mostly fishing the bottom this time of year, don’t be afraid to fish midge pupa suspended mid day. We’re running into pods of fish suspended off the bottom when the mid day midge hatch pops.

Not much as far as dries go unfortunately.

Don’t forget to check out our new podcast too!

Give us a call, we have guides available everyday and good luck out there! 

Matt "Gilligan" Koles Reports on 3.10.2020

Coming into Spring on the Truckee River. It’s already about mid-March, and from now into Summer is the time to be on this river. Spring is my favorite time for big fish.

Finally, a change on the river. Flows have been bumped up out of Boca. The river is about 480 cfs here in the Hirsch. Near the same down the length of the river as well into Reno. Almost 600 out East. That’s a signifiant change, flows have nearly doubled. Good change.

I haven’t been that exited about fishing the river on the CA side, but now, yes, she’ll be good. I’ll probably start doing some trips around home here soon. I’ve still been down on the lower Truckee River in Nevada. We’ve had our good days, we’ve had our bad days, we’ve had our wind days. When it’s good, man, ain’t too much better. When the trouts have lockjaw, it’s a long day.

Excited about Spring, and the higher flows, and the skwalas, and streamer fishing and the longer days. We still need more snow, and I don’t think winter is over just yet.

Matt Heron Reports on 3.4.20

We actually got some weather this past week. Saturday and Sunday a storm rolled in and gave us 3-6 inches of the white stuff in Truckee. It isn’t much but we’ll take it!

The water is still low and clear, temps are in the low 40s or so. Like past reports, very normal for this time of year.

The bug thing also hasn’t changed. We’re nymphing with baetis, midges, winter stones, eggs and skwalas.

Although we’re mostly fishing the bottom this time of year, don’t be afraid to fish midge pupa suspended mid day. We’re running into pods of fish suspended off the bottom when the mid day midge hatch pops.

Not much as far as dries go unfortunately.

Don’t forget to check out our new podcast too!

Give us a call, we have guides available everyday and good luck out there!

Matt Gilligan Koles Reports on 2.27.20

Mild weather for the Truckee River. 

Having a long, mild, dry streak here in Tahoe/ Reno. This is very typical to get prolonged dry spells in the Sierra’s, but this is an exceptional one. The snow we have is melting. Will we get more snow? Looks like the long range models are coming into agreement on a pattern change. How much rain/ snow is the question. Anything will be better than nothing.

Not much change since last week on the fishing front. Weather and flows have remained the same for the last month. If you like fishing in a t-shirt in February, this is your chance. It’s still cold at night, and the water is cold, so don’t go busting through the pocket water yet.

Matt "Gilligan" Koles Reports on 2.20.20

Good solid fishing on the Truckee River.

Feels almost like spring in Tahoe/ Reno. Super balmy for mid-Feb.

When I say good fishing, I’m talking the Nevada side of the Truckee River, not in Ca. That’s where I’ve been spending my time. The water is low and clear and cold still in Ca.

So no more dry fly fishing down on the lower river. Lots of bugs, but not that many fish looking up. Not sure what happened. Still hoping for it to pick back up again. I did put on some nymphs and we did catch fish though. We caught fish in every water type. Not just the winter type frog water. Climate change.

Of course if you want to go hunting for big fish, you got to streamer fish, and stay committed. Luckily, we got a few on Saturday, thanks to some cloud cover and a falling barometer. That was after 2 days of nothing. It just takes the right pressure/ weather, to get trouts to turn on and chase. Sometimes you can nail those days down, but you just don’t know when, or what day that will happen. You just got to throw those things around until it does. I wish I had an app for that.

So enjoy the spring weather in February. 4 years ago we had the driest Feb. to that point on record, and a pretty good wet March. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Matt "Gilligan" Koles Reports on 2.10.2020

Mild weather on the Truckee River.

Looks like this month may stay dry and mild. Hopefully, we can get some storms in March. Reno hit 70 last week. Most ski resorts are at about 80 percent of average on the upper mountains. We will need a good end of this month, or March to get back somewhat closer to average. There is water stored in the lakes and reservoirs, but it would be nice to top them off.

Why do I talk so much about the weather? Well, this time of year the fishing is greatly influenced by how warm, or cold it is. Last week I saw skwallas out on the lower river. That’s pretty early. I didn’t see them until April last year, but it did snow almost every day last February.

So the good news is you will see fish looking up. Flows are down and there are bugs out. Much different than our last 3 springs. Not only was last winter/ spring cold, flows were way up from release out of Lake Tahoe. They were the in ’17, and 18′ too. That won’t be the case this year. We will have dependable good spring fishing.