East Truckee River - January 11th 2015

We hit the McCarran Ranch section of the East Truckee River today.   Got on the water at about noon and the bugs were pretty active.  BWOs and Chironomids ranging from size 16 (BWO) to size 20 or 22ish Chiros.  The fish were relatively active all afternoon with red midge patterns in size 16 - 18 having the best results in deep tail outs.  Also hooked up with the biggest fish of the day on a size 16 bead head hare's ear in natural color.   The big fish was an acrobat and skipped the photo session so we're at liberty to call it 15 lber, though 3 or 4 might be a little closer to accurate.  

The flows @ Reno marker have been pretty well stuck right at 200, even with the rain last night. That rain did impact water clarity a little bit.  The clarity had improved by the time we got off the water at 4:30 but it wasn't bad to begin with.   After this and the past few trips the main take-away seems to be that micro isn't a necessity right now.  Size 16 - 18 was right today and getting down to the bottom of the deeper tail outs is key.

Here is a shot of the one that didn't manage to outmaneuver us and a picture of Brandon bringing it in.  The tail out he's fishing produced all but two of our takes this afternoon, including the nicest fish of the day.