The Truckee River is in great shape! The water is cold, slow, and clear, but the fish are actively feeding later in the afternoons. Some days, it takes a few fly changes to find out what they are looking for, but once you find the right fly combination we are catching amazing quality of fish. This is typical for this time of year, for any winter fishing really. Smaller fish require less calories in general, but when the water temperature consistently drops below 48-50 trout metabolism creeps to a minimum. Smaller fish with their smaller caloric necessity may only feed once or twice a week. But the bigger fish still need to feed more often to maintain a healthy weight.

We are catching most of our fish in slower “Indicator” type water. I’ve ventured into the realm of micro ESN (European Style Nymphing) leaders to really tackle the slower water and to refine presentation. Sunnier days with a higher thermal load will encourage fish to move into faster currents, but you should not be focussing on water faster than a walking pace this time of year.

Over the holiday we had the chance to release our State of the Truckee River podcast episode with Travis Hawks. This annual episode gives you a snap shot on the condition of the Truckee River and how the fishery is fairing on a year over year basis. If you haven’t listened to it yet check it out here. It is great news and we appreciate Travis and NDOW for making the information available.

Keep looking for Blue Winged Olive mayfly hatches in the afternoon as we should really start to see this hatch increase as our days get longer and we get into a more stormy weather pattern

Flies we suggest: Spanish Bullet, Quill Jig, Hot Spot, CDC Red Tag, Zebra Midge, Baetis Nymphs, Carot, The Ticket, Para Adams, Para Olive,Psycho May BWO, ID Thief