Monday, April 30, 2012

Truckee River, Truckee, California

    I have a love/ hate relationship with the Truckee River.
     The Truckee flows out of Lake Tahoe, past Squaw Village, through the town of Truckee, California, to the California/ Nevada state line and into Reno, Nevada. 
   From Lake Tahoe into Truckee it is anything goes. You can fish with bait, lures, flies, whatever. 
   From downstream of Truckee to Reno is gold medal fly water. You can only use flies and lures with single, barb less hooks. It is mostly catch and release and there is one section of private water. 
    I have fished the Truckee for several years now. I love the river because it is so easy to get to. It is a great freestone trout river. There are lots of trout, including browns and rainbows - and you can catch some pretty large trout, often in excess of 25 inches. Many
people often get trout that are 5 pounds or bigger.
      I also hate the Truckee since it is easy to get to, becaue it means a lot of fishing pressur, which means it can be a very difficult river to fish. It is increasingly easy to get 'skunked'.
     Like the Little Truckee, poaching is a problem too - and the Truckee is very technical,
meaning you really have to do the right things to have success.
   You need great presentation and the right selection of flies. I really got frustrated with the Truckee last year - and for the most part I avoided it. But this year I have been in the area a few times and took my rod to a few of my favorite holes and I have done fairly well - all things considered.
     I went in July. Just as it gets dark in July, the Truckee can be wild. They get some pretty amazing hatches. I saw stoneflies, various kinds of caddis, little moth-like flies that I am still trying to name - not to mention giant Salmon flies.
   You can hear trout jumping. They sound like somebody tossed a small boulder into the river.
    There are so many bugs in the air I have to swat them out of my face. A giant Salmon fly landed on my shoulder. I wonder, even if I select the perfect fly how will any fish choose mine over the millions of 'real' ones on the water? Somehow I catch a couple of trout, and call it a successful night.
      I went back in August. There was a much smaller hatch this time. It was nearly non-existent, but I noticed a couple of kinds of caddis, and those little moth-like things.
    I think the caddis are the spotted sedge and the glossoma (a black colored sedge). I had used a big fuzzy march brown as an attractor dry fly - and added an olive emerger nymph dropper. I had a few hits, and hooked one. But he jumped and flipped in the air throwing the hook.
     I eventually landed another small one. I decided to change my set-up to match the sedge hatch better. But it was now so dark I could not tie the new flies. I had forgotten my little hat flashlight. Major mistake. So I had to call it a night.
    I came back the next night knowing what to expect. I went with the same march brown and nymph dropper to start the evening and had a few more hits. But this time I had pre-tied a different caddis dry and a dropper set-up - AND, I had my light.
        Sure enough, at dark the hatch came. Just before it got too dark I switched. The pre-tied caddis was a light tan color and could double as a little yellow stone. The nymph was a small brown hare's ear.
   Bang! Right off the bat a rainbow hit the dry fly, and I landed him. But just as fast as it started - the hatch ended. The river was quiet. I stayed for a few more casts, but got nothing. And soon it was too dark to fish any more.
      I fished in the morning too. I had pretty good luck. It was a very hot day, but I landed four - two browns and two rainbows.
     I also had several hits that I missed. I got out of the river at one point and walked a well
known trial upstream to another location. Along the way I met a lady walking her dog. She asked if I had any luck. I told her I had netted three so far. She said she was surprised. She walked this trail every day and I was the first person she had met who had had any luck. I'll take that compliment.
   I entered the river upstream, and proceeded to net the fourth fish.
       So, today I love the Truckee again. Ask me tomorrow and I may give a different answer. Read my story for the Little Truckee. The same applies for the Truckee. Bring your "A" game. But with luck and skill you will land a few - and maybe a whopper or two.
     Good Luck - and tight lines.

No comments:

Post a Comment