The Truckee has fished very well this week, with quite a few days where we lost count of the fish caught and landed multiple fish in the 20” range.

The key to the river this time of year is fishing during the warmer days of the week as well as the warmest points of the day. Focus on slower moving water where seams and bubble lines are present and put an emphasis on small flies in the size range of 18-22. We have been doing very well indicator fishing, while the streamer bite remains fair and the dry fly fishing will be hit or miss.

When fishing under an indicator we have been using stones, worms or eggs as our larger attractor nymphs and placing a small nymph below it. Below our attractors, we are typically running a baetis or midge imitation.

Both the baetis and midge hatches are at the smallest size we will likely see all year. So, fishing smaller imitations will be crucial for success, and is often an overlooked factor of winter fishing. The patterns we fished with this week are Pat’s rubber legs in sizes 10-12, San Juan or gummy worms in red, tan or pink, Juju baetis in sizes 18-20 in all dark colors, olive quilldigons in size 18, all colors of zebra midges in size 20, and brown or red Manhattan midges in sizes 20-22.