Truckee - July

[bigfly]

Startin' to look REAL......summertime like.
Found some rising fish too.
Water is still biggish, but the color and temp is better everyday. Green/45-53+
River has stabilized flows, but a Tahoe lake release is eminent.
We're past the peak melt.
But, flows will be biggish most all season this year. Which is good for bugs, and fish....
Down in the canyon, below Boca, the T is still a "bit pushy".
We are entering what I call no-bling season as flows clear. Fish some twinkle on the top fly, natural on the bottom.
Golden stone nymphs lurking near shore waiting for the right day to emerge.
Sz 6 and very dark on their backs (Almost no gold) darker/lighter gold underneath
A client and I watched a swallow whack a golden stone adult flying yesterday. Easy come.....
The flying carpenter ants are done at this elevation (6000 ft). But still around higher up.
You can fish non-winged black ants, all summer. Fish love them.
Started kicking up smaller hoppers. Burks spent hopper sz 10.
And the large Sierra blue sz6. doing their buzzing-sound mating flights on windy afternoons.
Hopper/Golden stone w/dropper in slack water, or better yet, drowned.
Same goes for every other food form around. Drown it.
At these flows many bugs don't survive the emerge/mate/oviposit cycle.
Getting swept under in a foamy riffle.
Just because fish aren't rising, doesn't mean they're not eating.
Green drakes have appeared.. Find slack waters in the evening.
But watch during the day too. They may pop if the summer clouds appear and it gets muggy. They love that.
Maybe swing a wet, or fish a winged wet as a dropper..
HBI's nymphs are appearing more often in the seine. Some flying.
Still many BWO/Baetis nymphs.
Many, Little Yellow sally nymphs. Iron sally pattern works. sz16-18.
Evenings, a bunch of rises to these adults too.
PMD's are around a bit. Sparse right now, but building each day.
Same with micro-caddis, and lately a sz 8 speckled Caddis.
Saw a very large Caddis flying, October Caddis now?
Light rusty tan/yellow above, pale yellow underneath. Found an oct. house glued down too.
It's a strange bug year. Keep open mind and eyes for best success.
Never doubt a midge's value as a dropper. Bigger zebra midge sz 16.
Hooked up more on a streamer recently as well. Sculpins are on the menu.
Many dark morph finger-lings in slews/backwater. sz6-8 brown bugger. Swim it weightless near a bank.
As I posted this, a friend regaled me with the "fat fish footrace" he had.
Fifty yards of scrambling before his 3x leader parted.
Be prepared to run. Making a plan in advance can payoff. I recommend 1-2x for streamers, 3x under the bobber.
These fish are strong, after fighting the high water.
Since this is a year-round river, these fish aren't so easily fooled, or landed.
Be a little sneaky, get a good drift, and anything could happen.
Flows have come down quickly, temperature concerns are coming soon.
Fishing early/late is best.
Enjoy the weekend, be safe.

Ji

[Dan LeCount]

Im just worried about them turning up the flows soon, right when the big river starts to clear up. At least the creeks are fishing.

[Mrs.Finsallaround]

Hubby and I were just talking about the Truckee River this morning and whether or not we could fish it yet! He was thinking the flows might still be too high?

That sure sounds like a nice variety of flies could be used ...

[bigfly]

I always hesitate to use the word perfect, because we can always ask for more.
And what I like, others may not.
But right now is about as nice as it gets up here.
The flows are beautiful, and fish and bugs are active.
Crossing is possible if you are careful, both above town, and a ways down-stream.
Still mostly too big to cross in the canyon.
This cooling trend has kept water temps from going up. 54 deg.
I've been wet wading for a week.
I recommend a dive booty in wading boots, combined with quick dry shorts.
I fish from the bank mostly (sneakier), only getting wet when rescuing flies.
But bring waders for AM and PM strikes.
Little yellow sallie dries were making fish rise last night, as well as PMDs.
You could swing a streamer too.
Bring some bug juice for the LT. And some serious split shot.
Large golden stone adults are out now. VERY DARK backs on nymphs.. Bring a black sharpie.
A "doctored" Pat's rubberleggs (coffee colored leggs) worked yesterday sz 8.
Some fish grabbing at the end of the drift, so dangle it a little downstream before casting again. Just in case....

Lakes are full and fishy, trout near cold inlets, bass in the warm shallows.
I'm having a very hard time deciding, what to fish next.....
Hope you hook up.

Jim

[new-fly-fisher]

Thanks for the update, I'm hoping to hit the water for a few hours in the AM before our guests arrive at the house in the early afternoon. We'll be fishing at the derby on Saturday with his kids, hopefully we'll get them addicted to fishing too.

[Paul B.]

Thank you for the response B.F. I'll be up there this weekend.

[Chet Troutpuncher]

After fishing soft/shoulder water for what seems like forever, it seems many of the fish have moved into faster water. I was out mid-day in the canyon and had six grabs and two in the net. Both browns. I nymphed and also fished a dry dropper set up and all takes were sub-surface. One took a PT but the rest were on caddis patterns (surprise surprise).

[bigfly]

Chet, well played...
I thought golden stones were done but found two fresh shucks today, so still worth a try with a nymph.
It has been caddis silly though.
Green, tan are best, the pupa has been working best. I'm fishing a shaggy cdc style.
Although a bottom roller in toxic green, or tan could work and add weight too.
Lots of olive may nymphs... so an olive birds nest sz18.
Still seeing green drake nymphs in the net. But only the occasional adult.
PMD's are around,and a bunch of little yellow sallies.
Fish are starting to feel pressure. Be sneaky first. Then get a perfect drift.
Something big as a lead fly, then just rotate through different flies on the dropper.
From above town down to about the little T is beautiful, from there down is big flows still, but like chet said...fishable.
Some surface action most evenings... say, the last hour.
Flows are coming down, and water temps are rising. 62-63 in town.
Make sure the fish have recovered fully before release.
Not quite as much O2 saturated as temps come up.