Truckee River - August 14

Man it's been awhile since any of us has bothered updating. We've all been buried with the responsibilities that life brings, and haven't had much time to fish. Combine that with the fact that we have more water than we no what to do with, and you've got poor fishing conditions.

I finally made it out to the river this weekend for a few hours, and can tell you that it was very pleasant. Great weather combined with excellent flows equals very good fishing conditions. Unfortunately, I didn't snap any pics on the phone, and didn't bring the camera along, so you'll just have to take my word for it this time.

I decided not to venture too far from home, so I hit a nice spot in Verdi that we had success with in the wee months of winter. I haven't really been researching the hatches, so I went with a traditional #6 Golden Stonefly nymph trailed by a #16 Prince nymph and a #18 caddis (brown). Apparently it's been so long since I've been out that my fingers forgot how to tie proper knots, so it took me awhile to rig up.

I got on the water around 7 am and fished 1 deep run for about 2 hours. I noticed some sporadic surface action, but couldn't really see any major hatch on the surface. I figured it must be emergers that the fish were keyed into. I managed to hook one decent sized rainbow, but due to my poor tying technique, the bugger made off with my entire stack. The hooks were barbless, so I'm hoping he shook them. I managed to get a few more hits in the same spot, but decided to try my luck elsewhere as the fish weren't staying on the hook. I moved downstream a few hundred yards and hooked another small rainbow in a clear pool, but he spit my flies back at me immediately. I continued fishing this spot for another hour or so, but it started warming up and I decided to pack it in.

All in all, I had 2 lost, and another 10 or 12 hits in 4 hours. Not bad for not having fished the Truckee in at least 6 months. The flows right now are fantastic, and the fish are biting. From here on out, I'm hoping I can make it out at least 1 day per weekend, so expect frequent updates! Be sure to pack hoppers. The Grass Hoppers are out in full force, and I will post a hopper-dropper pattern on the blog this week that should help you get started.