Help with streamer fishing on Truckee

[Digger38]

I have fished the Truckee a few times recently and I have been considering trying streamer fishing. I just am not sure of what type of setup to use for streamer fishing the truckee? I was thinking about using a F6wt with 10ft sink tip with about 18" of 20lb maxima for my leader and 36" 5x tippet.....what do you think? Let me know if you think I have this totally wrong.

[chapmag]

When I fish streamers I use 3-4' of 8# Maxima on the end of a 5' sinking leader.

I think you'd break streamer flies off during the cast with 5x tippet.

[Fochetti]

I agree with chap, his setup sounds good. You don't need a long or thin leader when fishing streamers/sink tips. If you use too much leader the fly will just rise back up towards the surface defeating the purpose of your sink tip.

[Ralph]

I use a 6-8 ft piece of 10# mono looped directly to a full floating fly line. No need for taper - the weight of the streamer will turn over the leader. Adjust split shot or fly weight as needed for depth. Sharpen your hook every few minutes.

If you're fishing the bigger holes and runs of the lower canyon, try a shooting head (and basket). Casts easier, sinks faster, and less likely to be buffeted by currents than a snktip.

[Chris Evison]

I work out of Reno Fly Shop. The guys that do alot of streamer fishing (Dave- The owner and Mario) use 12-15ft sink tips with a staight chunk of 1x or 0x for leader about 3ft long. 3x Tippet gets broken off by Truckee big fish. I've used Rio DC 24 lines east of Reno and it worked for me. Any ?'s call the shoop at 775-825-3474. Now go hook a Truckee toad!

[bclem81]

chris is right on the money. 2-3ft leader max. the longer the leader the higher your fly will sit in the water and u dont want that, u want that to get down and get down fast. and 5x is like a hot knife through butter out there. ill never through anything less that 1x tippet or 12 lb fluro.

if u want a cheaper route but still want fluro go to walmart or some store like that, that sells line and pick up the 100 yrd spools of 100% fluro line, p-line makes a great product as well as berkley, and then put that on an old spool that had tippet on it and mark it with the lb of the line so u know. i use this for when i am throughing streamers as well as steelhead fishing, i use 12lb fluro for streamers, and 8-10lb fluro for when i steelhead fish. yes its not as thin as fluro tippet but i have never had any problems with fish refusing my flys, and well its fluro.

[bigfly]

Deeper in the canyon a sinking line is a good thing, but up higher I'll use a floating line, with a 6-10 ft 12# sinking leader,three feet of 8# smoke maxim maybe a split shot or two,and no weight on th fly. Setting to the sight of a large flash or "the shadow" is heart stopping fun for my money. Off color water below Boca alowws you to use some "Bling" now too. Swing that thang!

[Ralph]

Lots of times I'll high-stick streamers into the pockets and don't want ANY fly line in the water, hence the 6-8 foot leader rather than the 3'. You do get more loft, but that can always be cured with another BB!

[Digger38]

You guys are great.....I appreciate all of your input. I don't have any full sinking line except on my 8wt now but I do have 10ft sink tip line that I don't use that much. I can cut it down and tie a leader to it and give it a try. I was going to try the truckee tomorrow but after driving home today from Reno and seeing how muddy the water is I think I will wait till it clears up. I may head out to Pyramid tomorrow and see how the water looks there till the Truckee clears up a bit. I will keep you posted and hopefully I will have some pics by the end of the weekend.

[gilligan]

The river will clear by Thursday A.M. Looking from my house now, it doesn't look to bad. I only fish streamers now on a switch rod with a Rio Skagit Short, so easy it's like cheating.

www.gilligansguideservice.com

[CODY]

Gilligan, what tips are ya throwin with the switcher?

[gilligan]

10ft of T-8 on the 5wt, and 10ft of T-11, or T-14 on the 6wt. Sometimes even the slower sink Rio Versi Tips work good. Cheers...

[CODY]

Thanks, I'll be takin it up this weekend.