LT Advice???

[Rossflyguy]

Im hitting the LT next week but have never fished it. Does anyone have any advice or locations to get a start?? Im tying up some PMD and BWO emergers to start off with. Anything helps. Thanks.

[royewest]

I'll jump ahead of the chorus and say, your best bet of course would be to hire a local guide licensed to guide that stretch of water, like Frank Pisciotta (http://cyberfly.com/), for .5 a day or a day to get shown the ropes. Frank's superb in every way and you couldn't possibly regret the investment.

If that's just not possible, Frank's site and blog and this site have a ton of info on the area.

There's a fishing map of the BT and LT you can pick up at any local sports store, such as Mountain Hardware in Truckee. It's formerly a Streamside map but now produced independently. It describes every access point in detail.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Take some ants and small hoppers..............

[JGB]

but I have fished it with good results before...at least the part above Boca Reservoir.

Start above the Reservoir and fish upstream thru the meadow(?) section. Expect low, clear water ---> lite tippets and small bugs, except for some seasonal hatches, and flow releases. Can almost be like fishing a spring creek, although it does not have the physical characteristics of one.

Stop in here http://www.mountainhardwareandsports.com/fishing-report for advise/supplies, or try one of many guides that post/contribute on this board. There is also a gentleman named Andy Burk(I think that is his name) who has a store just off the LT exit from Hwy 80 that could be some help, or at least he used to...

The stream is a pretty touchy subject(reason for lack of responses to your query?) because it gets pounded by so many, please use your best stream ethics when you fish it.

(Maybe not a lot of help, but might get you started!)

JGB

P.S. Leave your waders in the car!

[Ralph]

Andy closed his store at the Boca exit several years ago. He lives in Elko.
The LT ranks right up there with Hot Creek in terms of crowds. Last weekend all the parking areas were full and cars were parked on both sides of the road. Quite a few guides around. . . some from out of the area who obviously aren't licensed. Pretty depressing how hard this beautiful creek has been crushed.

[Mike O]

Is there anything which can be done about the out of area guides, or has this been "lost in the budget crisis"?

[Rossflyguy]

Thanks for the info guys. Im there to mainly fish the BT but thought I'd hit the LT for one day, but definitely not on a weekend. If the crowds are too much I might just skip hitting the LT all together. I personally don't like to fish with crowds.

[JasonB]

Just my 2cents worth: skip it and fish the BT (right now at least). The crowds are one factor, the other factor, at this moment, is the amount of algae that must be contended with. I was up there about two weeks ago and it was very frustrating not being able to get a good clean drift without getting my flies gooped up, even my dry fly was getting slimed every other cast or so.

No shortage of big fish there, and a beautiful stream to hike but I honestly would have probably enjoyed it more had I left my rods in the car... or just spent my time on the Truckee. Again, just my take on things. I'm sure others would differ, and I would go back for sure if/when the algae dies back.
JB

[kylgrn]

I fished the LT once this year last spring when the water was high and it was a weekday, otherwise I avoid it because of the crowds.

[Frank R. Pisciotta]

Yes, I agree with Ralph and admittedly I've been part of the problem. Below is a cut & paste from my website at the bottom of the Little Truckee click-on.

Please read my semi-rant at the very bottom. I've taken a lot of heat from commericial intertests; but this is how I feel. I'm hoping that someone would really run with it. Locals & visiting non-guided fly anglers will avoid the LT, simply, because it is too crowed...IMO, because of too many guides.

I know this will open a Pandora's Box, but it is and will continue to be an issue.

"Here is the genesis of the Little Truckee story:

YES!! SPECIAL REGS FOR THE LITTLE TRUCKEE Special Thanks to All of You!

Thanks to Those of You Who Responded to the Plea at the End of this Page:
The regulations listed below are now a reality!! From the Boca Inlet all the way upstream to the bottom of Stampede Dam - Enjoy!

GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE!
(The following is a letter I had intended to send to California Fly Fishers, but inadvertently did not)

Your October, 99, News Casts noted the proposal for special regulations on the Little Truckee River, the beautiful, 4 miles tail water fishery between Boca and Stampede. Reservoirs. You did mention Ralph Cutter’s effect in this long overdue regulation change; rightfully so, because it is well deserved. Most recently, he hand carried 150 letters of support to the October 8 meeting of the Fish & Game Commission in Redding . Both he and Lisa have been quietly laying a solid foundation for years. Unfortunately, I feel you have overlooked a significant, final, driving force in the proposal: Rob and Cindy Legget of the Granite Bay Fly Fishers. Also, special thanks to Rob Ferrigiarro, Conservation Chair of the Northern California Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers, Nick Di Croce of Cal Trout, and the silent leadership of Dan McDaniel, President NCCFFF.

Although knowledgeable fly fishers had discussed the necessity to protect and enhance this fishery, via special regs to protect this highly utilized resource for years, it was Rod & Cindy who “took the bull by the horns”. They actively pursued the proposal, volunteering many hours of work necessary to bring the idea into reality, did the legwork at the administrative level and sought the support necessary to make the proposed regulation change viable. They brought their proposal to the NCCFFF, the organizational lead group in this matter, for endorsement. The council accepted and directed the change along with several others to the Fish & Game Commission. While the support of other members of the angling community is invaluable, if the change occurs it will be partially due to the hard work and follow-through of Rod & Cindy. I feel they should be acknowledged and given credit for their contribution…Current and future generations of fly anglers will be thankful.

Frank R. Pisciotta
www.CyberFly.com
Truckee California

The Final Plea that was Posted

Please inform the Fish & Game Commission via E-mail & hardcopy that you support the regulation changes for the Little Truckee River below Stampede Dam. The final meeting of the Commission to determine changes for the Millennium season is December 3rd 1999 in Sacramento .......so it is urgent that you act now.

The proposed changes recommended by Fish & Game biologists are:

1---Barbless Artificials ONLY
2---MAXium 14"
3---Limit 2

The potential for a "blue-ribbon", Wild Trout fishery is tremendous with these regs!!!

Send your letters to: Robert Treanor
California Fish & Game Commission
1416 Ninth Street
PO Box 944209
Sacramento , CA 94244-2090

Send e-mails to: rtreanor@hq.dfg.ca.gov

Whether letter or e-mail, - send me a copy & I'll send you a "secret" fly to fish the Baetis hatch.

Thanks to the Northern California Federation of Fly Fishers & Cal Trout for the organizational support....individuals who have been extremely active have been Lisa & Ralph Cutter & Cindy & Rod Leggett of the Granite Bay Fly Fishers

POST-LITTLE TRUCKEE CAMPAIGN BACKGROUND:

the 2002 spring issue of North West Fly Fishing I authored an article on the Truckee River (...on the California side). It was well received. Both the Publisher and Editor wanted me to write about the Little Truckee River. I declined because I felt it was too small of a stream for fear that any exposure would diminish the ambiance of this special place. Well, in 2005 they got a well-known writer & fly tier, Andy Burk, to do so...OK. Then in the winter of 2009 it was featured on Trout Unlimited's national TV program "On the Rise"! So it was exposed. I felt I knew lots more about the river, its fish and its hatches…so I wrote an article for the regional magazine Sierra Fisherman. My intent was to fully educate fly anglers about this wonderful little stream, with the hope that everyone tread lightly and respect the trout and their fellow fly anglers.

My latest campaign is to limit commercial guiding* on the river because, IMO, it is being exploited for profit. To say the least the local guiding community is perturbed at me...and I can care less. The non-guided angling public is being deprived of enjoying this river because...simply...there are too many guides there. Most are strictly "takers" and not "givers"; in the latter sense that they do get involved with hands-on fishery restoration projects, lobby politically to protect and enhance the local wild trout fisheries immediately around my home town of Truckee and do not give $$$ to the local fishery conservation fund.

…I appreciate you’re reading of the last paragraph’s semi--rant

Frank R. Pisciotta"

*I've been lobbying for the below to anyone who will listen the last 4-5 years.

1--Maximum of two USFS permitted guides/four client per day for each of the four USFS permit holders

2--No commericial guiding 4-8 days per month...examples, 1st and 3rd Thursday & Saturday and 2nd and 4th Wednesday & Sunday

3--Close the fishery during the winter!

[jayclarkflyfishing]

Frank
Thanks for all you do for the fish and fisheries in the Tahoe Basin! I agree that something has to be done about guiding on the LT. I have access to guide on the LT but choose not to for the most part because of the amount of use that the river receives. I help out on a handful of group trips there every season, but that is the extent of my operations on that river.

Removing the winter fishing season will go a long way in protecting the spawning fish that seem to draw anglers into the LT in the shoulder seasons.

Once again, thanks for all you do for our fisheries!

Jay

[Frank R. Pisciotta]

Roy & Jay...Thanks for the kind words.

I'm hoping that the younger generation of fly anglers "picks-up the torch"...so to speak...from us older and progressively getting burnt-out trout activists who have been in the trenches "speaking for trout" (as mentioned in my 2nd Cal Trout Streamkeeper award).

Here is the clarification:

Ralph mentions guides who are unlicensed who are guiding on the LT. There is a distinction being a licensed guide via the CA DF & G and being a USFS authorized permit-holder while guiding on Tahoe National Forest lands. The former can guide on lands that are NOT on Tahoe National Forest lands. The "licensed" guide CANNOT legally operate on Tahoe National Forest lands if not authorized under a USFS permit.

There are four (4) permit holders currently authorized on Tahoe National Forest lands. Two as recently as 2009 had 10 and 13 guides authorized to operate under their permit. As of 2011, per USFS request, I have four (4) authorized under my permit. The fourth permit holder has none operating under his permit.

All authorized guides in the Tuckee area should be displaying a 2012 blue-colored permit badge when guiding on local forest service lands. If not, they are suspect and not operating legally.

Frank R. Pisciotta

www.flyfishingcalifornia.blogspot.com

[kylgrn]

I tend to just leave the place alone with exception of maybe one or two trips a year during the spring before the crowds hit the place. Solitude is almost as important to me as catching fish so I would rather just let it be.