May 27, 2022 Fly Fishing Report and Forecast for the Truckee River Region
A shift in weather expected this holiday weekend may make fishing a bit more challenging with heavy winds today through Sunday, once again returning to normal on Monday and through next week. This holiday weekend is known for “kicking off the summer” and always tends to be a crap shoot in terms of weather. Over my 15 years of living in the area, I’ve seen more inclement weather on this weekend than not. Don’t let this deter you, however, if you’re brave enough to get outside, we should see the fish responding positively to these overcast days and drop in temperatures. Typically, we see the wind pick up in the afternoons, so focusing on getting out in the mornings should provide you with a few hours of good fishing on our rivers and creeks, and although the lakes may be more challenging during a heavy wind event, they too should have a good window of fishing in the mornings. For those that do their homework in terms of wind direction, you should still be able to find some reprieve most of the day from the elements if you key in on areas protected from the brunt of the wind. We are happy to see these colder days right now, as every day of cool weather will mean one more day of fishable water later in the summer, so bring it on!
Truckee River Fly Fishing Report and Forecast
Spring runoff + off color water + overcast weather = great streamer fishing! Yep, I’m calling it, this weekend should make for excellent conditions for chucking meat as we are seeing all of the right criteria: cold windy days, overcast weather, high water with slight turbidity and good water temps. There are multiple ways to throw streamers and not necessarily any wrong way to do so, but we find the best techniques for streamer fishing here on the Truckee would be to use a fast-sinking line with a quick retrieve either directly across the river or even with an upstream cast, or using heavy weighted jigged streamers fish dead drift style on a euro setup. We have found streamers in the 2”- 4” range in olive, black, white, or yellow to be the most consistent producers, but as is typical with the Truckee both presentation of the fly and covering lots of water seems to be the most important factor.
If nymph fishing this weekend, we would recommend keeping the euro nymph setup at home and focusing on the indicator due to the heavy winds expected, which is a euro nymphers worst nemesis. The bug selection seems to be all over the map and we have been catching fish on everything from Pat’s Rubberlegs, to pheasant tails and prince nymphs, baetis patterns, as well as worms, eggs and crawdads. Getting a good drift, fishing deep while using ample weight and achieving a good drift will be the most important right now, but that’s nothing new. With a busy weekend expected here in town, we encourage you to focus on the mornings to be the first to put a fly into any given run. Don’t forget that we are open from 7 A.M. to 7 P.M. daily, including Memorial Day, so stop into the shop before you hit the water to get the latest on conditions and to pick up a few bugs.
Little Truckee Fly Fishing Report and Forecast
The Little Truckee continues to fish very well as the flows stay at 200 CFS. This is such a welcome sight with the last few years of low, fluctuating water found here. However, we can’t tell you how long this will last and taking advantage of these current conditions would be wise. We have still been finding the euro nymph game to be the best out here, but with the heavy winds expected this weekend, you may have to consider using and indicator, and we recommend going with anything in white or clear or even yarn indicators to help maintain your stealth. Last week we saw the dry fly bite pick up with a few good days of baetis and PMD hatches, but we expect this to take a backseat to nymphing during the heavy wind events, although a good mid-morning hatch of baetis could happen if cloud cover but no wind is present. Midges, baetis, worms and eggs are great bets right now and as the river sees more pressure over the last 2 weeks, dropping your tippet down to 6x and downsizing your flies once again may be necessary. Expect heavy crowds out here this holiday weekend, and please be sure to give everyone their space when fishing. So if you don’t like to fish around other people, we encourage you to fish elsewhere for the time being.
Other Fly Fishing options
This time of year can be somewhat overwhelming when it comes to your options of where to fish for the day as we have great fishing just about everywhere. On a holiday weekend such as this, the best game plan can often be just getting out and exploring some of the various creeks, lakes or streams that are off of the radar of most anglers. Without giving up exact names and in hopes to encourage you to find your own water, we highly recommend that you think outside of the box, bust out a map or google earth and try some water you have may never fished before, most of the waters in our area have fish in them and typically the ones with harder access or are that much further away from town limits can provide some incredible fishing this time of year. Even if your exploring ends up less-than-fruitful you still hopefully had a great day outdoors and got to see a part of the Sierra Nevada you may have never seen before. Remember, the fish are just the icing on the cake, and your fly rod should be just a means to get outside and enjoy a day decompressing in nature. At this moment most every body of water containing trout will likely be fishing at its best, and stepping outside of your comfort zone, trying some water you’ve never tried before, may just be the ticket to the fish of a lifetime!
Thanks again for supporting your dedicated local fly shop here in Truckee. We are getting more gear in every week so stop by and look around before you head out to the water.
– Miles