The Truckee River fished great this week during the sunny days and warmer air temps. For nymph fishing, the name of the game has been going small on your dropper fly, down to a size 18-20 in most cases.

With the storm rolling in, expect the fish to switch gears on their preferences, especially when the water begins to gain some color. Stoneflies, worms, eggs and even crawdads will all be your best friend once flows come up. These larger meals become dislodged off the bottom more easily during these rain events. This also means that you should also increase your tippet diameter, based on both fly size and water clarity, 3x is certainly not out of the realm of possibility this week. It’s always nice to fish big hooks and heavy tippet for that extra bit of security when fighting those bruiser Truckee trout.

Streamer fishing will also be a great way to cover water this week, and sculpin patterns in black or olive will be solid choices. A lot of times a rain event like this after weeks of snow will actually bring up water temps, making fish more active and willing to hunt down their meal instead of needing to get bumped on the nose to take a fly. However, with regards to the water temperature, it will also be a question of how much ice and snow will flow into the river. Keep an eye on that USGS data this weekend.