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Summer is Here?

Well it went from Winter to Summer in one day up here. The weather this weekend is absolutely insane. The Cottonwoods and Willows are getting there leaves, and everything is vibrant up and down the canyon. We are still two weeks out, I think, for the Summer Caddis blitz. Green Drakes should be about two-three weeks out, and PMD's maybe a week away, but fish are starting to munch on both of the nymphs. There are still some March Browns and small Baetis out, but that should end this week. These photos are from yesterday on the Truckee with Emmet from Alameda putting a nice Brown in the net.

Doing Battle.

Landing big fish is not easy, you must be prepared for battle. You have to be willing to chase a fish down even if that means falling in to get the job done. I went into battle today on some big fish, but they all got the upper hand. I chased a few down the bank and even fell in Brad Pitt style and the fish still got off. These fish are red hot right now and they are not coming in easily. These pictures are of the small fish I did land. Streamers in the morning, and Green Drake nymphs in the afternoon.

The Spring of the Brown Trout.

I really can't recall a better Spring than the one were having right now for big browns on the Truckee. Usually it's the Fall when the big boys come out to play, but this Spring has been off the charts. The Rainbows have been exceptionally big as well. We still have Green Drakes, Golden Stones, Carpenter Ants, and of course Caddis to make an appearance in June, and folks there are some big fish waiting.

Record Lows...

There were two record lows set this weekend, 14 in Truckee on Saturday, and 18 last night. What a bummer, we have such a short Summer up here and for Winter to be lingering just sucks, not to mention the fact that my family was in town this weekend and we really didn't even get to go outside much. The good news is the cold weather has put the river back in great shape, vis and flows are good and should remain good all week. I took out Elliot for a few casts this evening and landed a nice bow on a d.d. streamer.

My Day With the Dean.

I finally took Frank Pisciotta the "Dean of Truckee area Guides" as he would say for a little float through the miracle mile today. Uncle Frank has been fly fishing and guiding around the Truckee area since the last Ice Age. Frank really helped me out at the beginning of my own guiding career so I owe Frank a lot. He knows a shit ton about fly fishing, bugs, and all that good stuff, so you think the guy would know how to use a long handled boat net. I hooked a very nice Rainbow today, I'm sure which will be the biggest I hook all year. All Frank had to do was just swoop him in the net. I brought the fish over to the net three times for the swoop, three times! On the third try Frank rapped the leader around his body and the fish was gone. I couldn't believe it. We only hooked two fish, both quality fish, but fishing was tough because of high, lowering water. Frank did bring lunch and beer, and lot's of old fish stories.

Brown Town.

After a long day and night driving to Berkeley in my old ass truck to do a presentation at the Grizzly Peak Fly Fishers on the Truckee River (by the way one of the raddest clubs I've spoken at, they drink beer, wine, eat food, awesome) I was not expecting to much from the river today, or myself for that matter. If I told you how many big Browns I hooked today you would not believe me. I only landed two, but had one on that was honestly the biggest Brown I've seen on the Truckee, or hooked into. I tossed my rig up along a bank where last year we saw a huge Brown holding as we floated by in the boat and today this dude took a look at my dry and then decided on the dropper. It peeled off about a 100ft of line in about 10 seconds and then he came un-buttoned. I really don't get bummed when I loose fish, but this fish would have been made into a wood replica. These fish today where red hot even with my fast 5wt I felt under gunned. I will catch and land his ass later, so more to come...

Along the Banks.

I often tell people the biggest fish I see are usually the ones I've spooked. A lot of the big fish hold tight to the banks. Where do you fish when you go to Montana, your guide will float you down along the banks. That's where the dry dropper rig comes into play. You can toss that baby up along the banks and if you have a good float'n dry you can hang some heavy flies of the back. I did this today and did exceptionally well. These where the only two that got there photos taken the others are a story for some other time. We have a nice slow melt going on and the river is in great shape, high, but fishable.

Get the Lead Out.

Get the lead out. If you're not catching fish this time of year you ain't using enough lead. When the Truckee is running over 700cfs, and cold, you need to go deep. Getting deep means heavy flies and lot's of lead. Like I said, I like to drift a very heavy tungsten type streamer with something like a prince, or john behind it. Got a few today on that rig, but this guy was the only one that wanted his photo taken. Oh, and leave you're damn 3wt at home that rods just a toy on the Truckee River.

We Got Some Big Bows as Well.

A lot of folks think that just the Browns get big in the Truckee, but we have some big Bows as well like the one Adam from S.F stuck today. This Bow ate my Double Beaded Beatis, its a nymph with two tungsten beads that puts it in the strike zone fast. We also hooked and landed some other larger fish as well. Had one guy come up to try to eat some trapped air technology, funny. There are March Browns and BWOs hatching mid-day, and the fish care dining on them.