Happy Independence Day, everyone! We hope you all enjoy time with your friends and family this week and find some time to get outdoors and enjoy this beautiful weather. Typically, the 4th of July is one of the busiest times of year for our little town, and for those looking to mix a bit of fishing in with their long weekend, we would encourage you to focus on fishing the Truckee and Little Truckee in the morning hours, getting on the water before the rafters or swimmers make it out. If going out for a full day, try some of the less explored areas of Tahoe National Forest, and find your own little slice of solitude on a small creek or lake. There are a lot of them, and there’s a good chance they will remain quiet this week. 

As the water temps continue to rise on the river, in particular along the upper section of the Truckee, we ask you to be cognizant of what time of day and where you are fishing. As the surface temps continue to warm on Lake Tahoe, so do the temps on the Truckee River along the upper section from the Tahoe City dam to the Boca confluence in Hirschdale. While the temps up here still remain fishable most of the day, by about 3:00 or so we are seeing them near or exceed that 68 degree mark. In case you were unaware, 68 degrees is generally considered the cutoff for ethical catch and release trout fishing, any higher than that and you risk a delayed mortality due to low dissolved oxygen levels. When water temps reach this mark, most catch and release anglers observe a voluntary “hoot owl closure”. This practice assures the continued preservation of our valued wild trout in this river. We recommend carrying a thermometer with you when fishing this time of year, it is a cheap investment for the health of the fishery. As of now the section of river below the confluence of Boca reservoir all the way to the Nevada stateline is in great condition with regards to water temperature, peaking around 62 during the afternoon. Once you get into downtown Reno, the water will continue to warm up, and fishing in the morning or the use of thermometers is strongly encouraged.

As for the fishing, it has been very good. While the dry fly bite may have slowed a bit since the last report, we would still consider it great compared to a normal year. The hatches of PMD’s, Yellow Sallies and Caddis remain strong, with enough consistency to use the word predictable. And that’s not one we just toss around! While the hatches of Green Drakes may have faded just a bit, the fish know they’re still around and using the adults as a searching pattern for fishing an area quickly or using one to suspend a nymph have both been working with good regularity. We are still seeing these bugs, but not like last week, and with a bunch of nymphs still in the system, we guess there should be a couple more weeks of fishing these imitations. With the water temps continuing to creep up, the fish can be found in some fast water right now and using a tight line nymphing technique while fishing a heavy weighted anchor fly that imitates a golden stone, crawdad, green drake or baitfish paired with a smaller mayfly on your point, has been effective. Given that we are coming into the busiest time of year for fishing, we encourage you to do some exploring and try some different sections of river than you may normally fish and walk a bit further than normal from any access point.