Matt Gilligan Koles Reports on 11.19.19

Finally a change in the weather.

Not a big change, but at least it feels like fall now, or early winter?  Seems like it’s always feast or famine in Ca. You just never know what kind of winter we’ll have. We get pounded with snow, or we don’t.

Truckee River is cold and low in Ca. Don’t mean you can’t catch fish. If you know the type of water and rigs to fish in cold water, you’ll get a few good ones. Winter fishing.

In Nevada on the Truckee River the water is higher and warmer. I took a temp of 59 last week, crazy, for mid-November. The nymphing has been really good, streamer fishing not so good. I think that above sentence will flip flop now.

Matt "Gilligan" Koles Reports on 10.22.2019

Rolling through October on the Truckee River.

Not much weather wise going on up here yet. Some days lots of wind, cold at night, nice in the afternoons.

Lower fall flows on the CA side and through Reno. Good out East. 375 here in the Hirsch, lower in Reno, and higher out on the lower river. Good fishing pretty much all over. Would be nice to have some rain and foul weather, but looks like that ain’t happening for awhile.

Your fall bugs are baetis, and lots of baetis. You may see some mahogany duns, and some big fall orange caddis. Sunny days are not good for dry fly fishing, cloudy days be what you’re looking for. Trouts like cloud cover. Both on the dry fly front, and the streamer front. Of course, nymph with the above mentioned patterns.

Matt "Gilligan" Koles Reports on 10.14.19
Nice balmy fall weather on the Truckee River. 

Cold as balls in the morning. Warms up nice in the afternoon. Typical fall weather in Tahoe/Reno.

As far as the fishing, well, it’s good. October is a great month here and anywhere to fish for trout in the West. I think November is better than October, but the weather sure is nice right now.

Flows have dropped, nice and easy wading flows. 400 and change here in the Hirsch, a bit higher out East on the lower river. Kinda wishing we had some rain and cloud cover. Would make the streamer and dry fly fishing much better. It’s coming.

Up here feeling the best fishing is after it warms up. Really cold out early. No bugs, and not a lot of active fish until the water warms some. Down lower in Nevada, not as cold and not much difference want time you’re on the water. Water is clear pretty much everywhere except out East, so get a little more stealthy, and maybe down size your tippet. Baetis pretty much dominates the sub-surface menu this time of year. Streamers if you are chasing bigger fish. Sculpins, crayfish, and smaller baitfish patterns all will work. You have to see what they like on each particular day, just like nymphing.

Everyone wants a big brown trout. Put in your time and maybe you’ll get one. If you’re out on a guide trip with me, I can tell you right now, it will likely only happen if you stick to streamer fishing all day. If you lift your tip and don’t strip set, that’s on you, ha ha.

Get out and enjoy.

Matt "Gilligan" Koles reports 9.29.19

Crazy September weather.

Had one of those, didn’t think I could make it to the take out days this weekend because of the heat days. Waking up today with a few inches of snow this morning in the Hirsch. Crazy September weather.

Mainly, I’ve been floating down on the Nevada side. Not too good streamer fishing with the heat. Good nymphing though. Mainly tight line nymphing, And yes, we do it from the boat. Wrecked ‘em on Friday, did good on Saturday. Big fish, all rainbows. Mainly all on crayfish. Water temps were in the low-60’s. Meaning trouts are not in the slow water. They are in the faster water. A thermometer is a valuable tool for the fly angler.

So nymphing is good. Streamer fishing not so much yet. That will change with some cooler weather if it continues to stay cool. Who knows.

For now, think crayfish. Baby crayfish are out in abundance. Also, think smaller baetis patterns. Put movement on your crays if you ain’t getting them. We’ve been drilled over and over about getting a dead drift. Guess what, nymphs move, especially crayfish. Sometimes you should just throw everything out the window you’ve heard from the so called experts and do your own thing.

Matt "Gilligan" Koles Reports on 11.12.19

Less like summer and more like fall.

Much cooler the last few days. High’s in the 60’s, colder overnight. Not too hot in Reno either. Reno hit 100 degrees for 4 minutes this summer. They had 20 days over 100 the summer before. That all means we can look forward to some good fall fishing from here on out on the Truckee River.

Flows have been bumped down a bit. 500 here in the Hirsch, perfect through Mogul, good out East through the Nature Conservancy.

Just started dropping the boat in out East. Not great yet, but close. This cooler weather will get the water temps down and trouts active. We do a lot of streamer fishing down there. Be prepared to get your ass kicked, either by not getting any grabs, or getting ripped on a fish of a lifetime. Just the way streamer fishing is. This year if you complain that the steamer fishing is slow, I’m cutting off your rig and throwing the bobber on and sending you to the lower Sac. Kidding.

A note on fishing licenses: In California you have to have a printed copy of your license. Not in your phone. Sorry, that’s the rules.

In Nevada you can have a copy of your license saved in your phone. It’s sometimes hard getting a license online in Nevada. Call the number and have someone help you if you have problems. When you show up to the boat ramp at 7 in the morning there’s nothing I can do.

Looks like the clinics on the 5th and 6th of October will be a, tight line clinic, and a steamer clinic/combined.  $300, 9-3:00. There will be 4 people max. We’ll have lunch and beers. This will be on the CA side of the river. I will write something up this week. $50 bucks more than the normal clinics, but with all the knowledge combined, and the less people, well worth it, ha ha.

Matt "Gilligan" Koles Reports on 8.29.2019

Last big weekend of the summer on the Truckee River.

After this weekend, and after the burners leave, we’ll have the place to ourselves for awhile. Burners, ugh.

Pretty warm out still in the afternoons, and looking like that for the next week. Typical late summer weather pattern for us. Cool too cold at night, and hot in the afternoons. Hirschdale is less than 15 miles from Nevada, and it gets hot later in the day. If you go fish anywhere in the canyons, you get a nasty downslope wind early, and you better dress accordingly.

Good fishing mid-morning all over the river. Flows are pretty great, and the fish are chowing on big golden, or nocturnal stones, and molting crayfish. Not on top, down on bottom. Caddis are still out, but less bugs now than a few months ago. I’d fish something big and small. Good to get the streamers rolling again. It’s still too early for good streamer fishing, but if you get out early you’ll get a few whacks on sculpin and crayfish colors.

Matt Koles reports on 7.11.19

Truckee River Fly Fishing Report

July 4th has come and gone. 

It’s officially summer in Tahoe. Go in Safeway in Truckee and you’ll see why. Flows are perfect on the Truckee River.

There was lots of folks on the river this last week. Guides, anglers, floaters. All the weekend warriors were out. Nice thing, you can still find solitude as they’re lots and lots of river miles to get away from people. In fact, I never fished next to another soul all week.

Caddis mainly now. Lots of them out. Pmds would be next with a splattering of green drakes and yellow sallys and things like that. Nymph with the mentioned bugs. Big bugs like crayfish and golden stones should be your anchor flies.

Evenings are happening. They’re not so much on the caddis as they’re mainly on the smaller baetis. Splashy rises means they’re eating caddis, or more so, the pupa just under the surface. Good dry fly fishing right at dusk.

Weather has been perfect. So far, gotta be the mildest summer I can remember. It will get hot, but now we’ll only have about 6 weeks of it. Then it gets cool, and then it snows, and well, enjoy the nice weather while we have it.

I need room in the garage, so I’ve priced my raft to sell. $3,200.00 is a very good deal on a very good raft.