Truckee Update

Despite being fairly blown out through Reno, the Truckee is high but fishable once you head west a ways and fish the CA side. Proof of this was sent to me by Michael who's been sticking some beautiful fish up there on brown colored stones and wd-40's:


That spotty rainbow looks like something out of an advertisement for an Alaskan guide trip. Awesome.

--BJ

They're here!

The annual carpenter ant flights are starting up now that we're getting some warmer weather. The river's high, but fishable, especially further up. Try some big ant dries on the banks, or fish a drowned one like a nymph. This hatch isn't long lasting, but can be epic for a few days.

--DL

The Little Truckee

Don't forget to check out the reports tab from time to time to see how things are fishing in the area. And take a look at this beautiful trout from the little truckee so you can wish you were fishing while sitting in your cubicle all day (ok maybe that's just me...):

This is Mike who got into some fish this last weekend on the little truckee with Dan the man Lecount:




-- BJ

A different sort of fish ladder...

Pyramid Lake. The place has some sort of alien magic to it. Whenever I'm there and remember to take the time to breathe in deep and take a slow look around I get the feeling that being on the surface of a different planet wouldn't look a whole lot different. Except I bet they wouldn't have trophy cutthroats swimming in the water:


Most guys who have fished Pyramid a lot would look at Justin's fish above and say casually "yeah, that's a nice fish." I still hold it in high regard as I've never managed to hook a fatso of this caliber. It was caught on a sparkly green woolly bugger fished on a sink tip. For my part I've only managed a couple of small ones on some sparkly nymphs fished a lot higher in the water column.


Now I know there's a lot of you out there dedicated to the pursuit of these cutthroats-- let's hear from you! E-mail me your big fish stories with a hero shot picture... and while you're at it let's hear about that secret fly that "gits'em" everytime! (renotroutblog@gmail.com)

-- posted by Brian J. who now thinks casting a 30ft shooting head in the wind is fun

Shout out

Here's a quick shout out to Michael who's been one of the brave few sending me photos of fish (renotroutblog@gmail.com hint hint)-- seems a SJW with a pheasant tail dropper was a good combo for these greedy, fat truckee rainbows. I love this first shot:


--bj

One fish day

Last week I made it out on the truckee a couple of times. I put a few fish in the net with a BWO emerger fished with a downstream presentation way back in the tailouts of a few pools, but for the most part it's been tough fishing through the downtown area. One particular day I was able to fish with Justin for 4 hours or so-- and between the two of us only one fish was hooked and landed.

I got the skunk but watching this fish lose it's mind and come flying out of the water multiple times made my day. I'd like to say we stayed cool and collected and got this guy netted and back in the water with a nod and a handshake but... instead I think I did that stupid high-pitched laugh that we all some of us do when we get excited. Justin and I also yelled "Soonnn!" a lot-- which is something I am truly proud of.

In the end this one fish made it an awesome day on the water:

25" brown trout taken by a generic dark-colored #14 mayfly nymph trailed behind a stonefly nymph.

posted by Brian J. who thinks this is a considerably higher quality post than the last one.

The East Walker in March

I had a great time on the east walker the weekend before last. The weather man said "snow" and I think that thinned the crowds but it ended up being overcast yet warm. This brought out the bwos as well as put the fish in the disposition to eat things. The best producing flies (for me) were a #18 disco midge and a #8 stonefly nymph tied on a scud style hook:

My Stonefly nymph:

a chewed up disco midge:

There were BWO's, and midges hatching galore and lot's of various mayfly nymphs and cased caddis underneath every stone. The disco midge did really well in the morning and then afternoon and evening the fish really started keying in on the stonefly nymph. It became apparent why that evening when adult skwalas were spotted crawling about on the shore.

trout snack:

My two best (or perhaps just "favorite") fish of the day were two browns that weren't quite 20" long -- one of which was quite skinny-- but were feisty and, I think, quite healthy. In the end it was Justin who caught the fish of the day though-- he put away a large number of fish on small attractor dries including a beautiful 21" brown trout.

Truly a great day on the water! --BJ

Truckee Update & Monday Links

The River:

As you can see the river has taken to fluctuating a bit and is on the rise. There has been a couple of days where the river is totally blown out but there has also been some days where guys have been catching some very decent fish. Last time I was out there I saw a lot of bug activity with big baetis (#16 or so), lots of midges and even a bunch of skwalas coming off the water. That last part is pretty exciting IMO:

So make sure you have some skwala patterns handy for this spring. For inspiration check out the shit eating grin of a guy who just brought to hand a monster brown (the picture doesn't fully do it justice) on a skwala dry-- this happened last week:

Monday Links:

In other news I was happy to see two back to back messages in my e-mail declaring that my two favorite e-mags have new issues up:

This Is Fly: I never would have thought so many of my obsessions could be covered in one magazine-- art, music, and fishing. So check it out if you like any of those things. Or go there if you curiously want to see the newest 80's throwback sneakers next to the newest set of line clippers.


Catch Magazine: Focused on fly fishing photography this Brian O'Keefe & Todd Moen creation is abundant in fish porn, inspiring fishing photos and best of all-- embedded fishing videos that will blow your mind (usually two per issue).