Get'n a Good Drift.

A good drift is essential to catch fish on the Truckee River. If you have drag on your flies you're just not going to catch fish. Most beginners have a hard time with this. Mending line is essential. The rods and fly lines you use play into this. A good clean fly line is crucial, as well as at least a 9ft rod. Leave your East Coast stick at home. I like using Switch rods and the Sage 99 series rod for nymphing the Truckee River. The extra length helps you lift line off the water when nymphing. If you have a regular 9ft rod, up line it one size, it will help load your rod better. Your not fishing from a drift boat on the Truckee. Even if you are with a guide you are the one, not me, that has to present your flies to the fish. Sometimes that's hard on a river like the Truckee. Anthony from San Carlos talked about that with me today. How drift boat fishing and wade fishing are two separate creatures, with wade fishing being much harder. Anthony is a fine angler and we had some fine fishing today with Crayfish, and Caddis Pupa.

Catching Big Fish.

Some fly fishers can and some just can't. It's not about making long casts on a casting pond it's knowing how to get into position and make accurate presentations on moving water. It's also knowing how to read the water so if you are blindly fishing you are indeed fishing to places that hold fish. After a while you will be able to understand where prime holding lies are on the river and begin to pick up bigger fish. Your rigging and knots are also important. If you do see a big fish feeding, peel the line you need off your reel first. If you need thirty feet of line than peel it off and cast your rod somewhere else other then over the fish. Don't false cast over the fish to build up line speed. The biggest mistake is not being ready when you do hook a large fish. Sometimes people get there fly line raped around something, say there reel for instance, and the fish runs and breaks them off.
What I also see people do is when they hook a big fish they have no exit strategy. You need a place to land the big fish you just hooked especially if your in heavy water. A lot of big fish you need to chase down river to recover the line the fish just peeled off your reel and land him in a calm area. I sight fished to these fish today and they all took my Jesus was a Carpenter Ant on the FIRST drift. You don't get many second chances with big fish so make your first drift count.

A Little Afternoon Session.

Keith Westra stopped by for a visit yesterday on his way to do some carp'n down in the desert. After an evening t-storm and a few to many beers Keith talked me into going fishing. We headed down in the canyon from my house and took the game trail down into the canyon. I mostly watched and drank beer while Keith worked his rod like a true artist, poetry in motion. We probably should have just stayed and drank beers on the deck, but to get to see such an artist only happens every so often. Keith thought he hooked a couple, while I hooked a buzz and watched the sunset. Afternoon t-storms are for casted for a few more days and should help the fishing.

Action Shots.

Here's some photo's of clients putting some wood to them Truckee River fish. I wish we had some nice grip and grins, but they just didn't bring the big ones to the net. Stephen from Elk Grove was glad his battle with his brown ended when it did as he said he was exhausted. Pound for pound I don't think there is any harder fighting fish in the West than Truckee River wild trout. Fish are keyed, and I mean keyed in on Caddis. Get out of valley heat, or the San Francisco fog and enjoy the fun on the Truckee River.

Pocket water.

It's time to fish that pocket water folks. The water has warmed and fish move into faster water this time of year. You need to fish areas in the river that loose elevation fast. The reason being is because their is more oxygen in these areas of the river, cooling are finned friends off. Look for seams and put enough weight on to penetrate the water column. High sticking, short line nymphing, or nymphing with no indo at all are all tactics to employ on the Truckee River this time of year. Eric from Palo Alto got some descent fish in the pocket water today

Wet Wading and Caddis.

Summers here and the Truckee is in perfect shape. Put those waders away and enjoy the cool water. Caddis are in full effect and lot's of different ways will catch fish now, dry droppers, drys, nymph rigs and streamers. My favorite is a big ugly dry with a few caddis droppers below it. You would be surprised at how many fish come up on a big dry fly this time of year. If you want to get out of the valley and beat the heat come on up and fish the Truckee.

Big Rainbows, and the PMX.

We have got a couple real big Rainbows to the net in the last few days. In the bottom photo Amanda from Virgina nailed one of the biggest Bows of the year on a Royal PMX dry! Today Alex from Santa Cruz landed a big female beauty, but I know he will think about that Brown he lost towards the end of the day. We have unbelievable big fish this year in the Truckee River. With all the water I don't think it will slow down until Winter.

Got Caddis?

The river is fishing very, very, well, as you can see with this nice trophy Brown Andy from Oaktown put in the net today. Today was Andy's first time nymphing on a river, or fishing a dry dropper rig. We got fish on both. Andy caught his first Trout on a fly rod today, as well as real gem of a Brown. Fish are eating just about everything, but this time of year they start keying in on Caddis Pupa. Don't come up here without some in your box. Think about it, the Bird's Nest came out of the late Cal Bird's vice to mimic the abundant Caddis flies we have here on the Truckee River. Swinging, and dead drifting them work equally as good.