Truckee River Fly Fishing Report

Finally, I feel as if the Truckee River is coming back into it’s own again. She’s starting to fish like the old river we love and remember. I thought we’d take a big hit from the low water event that happened late summer and last fall, but I think we came out all right in most sections of the river. Sure, a few fish didn’t make it, but overall the river seems pretty healthy.

I’ve mostly taken a beak from fishing Pyramid Lake lately to get a good handle on the river again. Flows are average for this time of year pretty much through out the entire Truckee River.

We need way more snow, or we will repeat what happened last summer except this summer will be worse because we have no water in storage. Please do a snow dance or something.

The California side is fishing good, pretty much the same as it normally would this time of year. Better than normal because of the above average daytime highs. This is at least from Boca on down to the state line . Remember, flows last year never really got all that bad except for maybe the month of October, and it never got lower than 40 cfs. The fish are fine and dandy here in the Hirsh. Fish are chowing down on nymphs, the usual winter type flies. Zebra midges, baetis nymphs, worms, stones, etc. Remember to look for the slower deeper water. 3-5 feet deep is good. Streamers swung on a switch, yes, good idea.

Through Reno fishing has been a bit inconsistent for me. This part of the Truckee River took a huge hit. 14 cfs at times late last fall. Not good for our trout. This is truly a urban trophy trout fishery; hopefully our trout only took a slight hit. Though I have fished through there, I haven’t spent enough time fishing it. I can’t give a definitive answer either way on the state of that section. The fish are there, just not sure if they’re there in the  numbers like they used too. Time will tell I guess.

East of town through the Nature Conservancy, the lower stuff is all good to go. I’ve been down in there a lot, and it’s business as usual. Fish are fat and happy eating nymphs and coming up and eating baetis on top. Just how they do this time of year. These baetis are bigger than you’d except for winter, think more spring blue wing olives. If there’s a good overcast day be ready for some fish on top, but if not, have the mayfly nymphs at the ready. February and March are some of the prime months for dry fly fishing down there. After that you can have some lights out streamer fishing. Fun, fun stuff coming on up on the east side.

A few spots left for out Pyramid Lake clinic on the 31st. Switch clinic is full, and remember you can still take advantage of my winter rates until the end of this month.

The Truckee and Little Truckee have been in great shape since the first of the year. The last two weeks have been some of the best winter fly fishing we’ve ever experienced.

It does come at a price however, the Watermaster seems to be dumping quite a bit of water out of the local reservoirs.  Not totally sure why but we might as well fish while we can. Locally, we’re all doing the ‘snow-pack’ dance.

So far in '15 the normal winter bugs have been working. Most of the fish landed so far have been on Sz. 16-20 baetis, 20-22 midges and as of this week small winter stone nymphs.

The dry fly game has been inconsistent, but good when it does happen. All of our dry fly eats have been on baetis and midges on the same sizes above.

We’ve also been getting into fish with natural colored streamers down river. There is a bit of color and with the warmer temps the fish are responding.

Our guide staff has several openings over the next few weeks so we should have no problem getting you on the river. Remember, fishing is on fire right now and there are no crowds. Can’t beat it.