We have seen a slight decrease in flows in the canyon section of the Truckee this week with the Farad gauging station dropping from 475 CFS to 400 as of today due to flows tapering off out of both Prosser and Boca. This is not a very drastic decrease and shouldn’t change conditions much. It will allow anglers to be able to cross the river at certain areas a bit easier and maybe make a few runs a bit easier to fish. The water temps are currently rising to around 62 by the afternoon, making for very comfortable conditions for wet wading, while still being cold enough to not put any stress on the fish. With the warm, sunny days and it being fall, we have a great combination of active fish, good flows and comfortable conditions for the angler. What else could you ask for? 

As water temps remain slightly warmer than normal, the fish continue to hold in fast water this week making tight line nymphing the most effective method right now. Even though we haven’t seen the shift in weather patterns we think of when switching over to throwing streamers, the fish have begun to take a swung fly with far more regularity over the last couple of weeks, and sculpin or crawdad imitations have been working well early mornings or late evenings. Even the dry fly fishing has been a fair option with the October caddis making an appearance in the upper sections of river, providing a great dry fly option to use with a dry dropper set up in the low flow sections of the river, particularly in the evenings when they are most active. Alternatively, if the fish are rising with more regularity and purpose instead of those random “toilet bowl flush” rises indicative of the large caddisflies, then try using size 18 BWO dries or emergers to dupe them. If you’re after numbers, then using nymphs will be the best method time and time again. We have switched from dead drifting crawdads to mostly fishing stones and my tan rock steady stone in a size 6 or 8 paired with a small mayfly pattern has been consistently putting some great fish in the net. If nymph fishing the upper section of the river (think from Glenshire upstream along 89), now is a great time to use October caddis pupa for your larger nymph choice. This is also an excellent time of year to consider fishing an egg for obvious reasons.