April 18th, Fly Fishing Report for the Truckee River, Little Truckee River and Pyramid Lake

Truckee River Fishing Report & Forecast

As of today, we are seeing the flows around Glenshire at 800+ CFS, while the gauge at Farad is reading just under 1,000 CFS. The forecast is calling for typical spring temps of upper 50’s to low 60’s here in Truckee. We expect a slow, but continued ramp up of the flows on the river, which is ideal. Despite a great snowpack last year, the temps in the spring were far warmer than normal which diminished the snowpack quickly and left us with water temps reaching the 68-degree mark by around mid-July. Even with a bit less snowfall this year, if we get a cooler spring there is still a possibility of avoiding these voluntary hoot owl restrictions altogether. Unfortunately, with the way the summers have been over the last decade, we would say this will be unlikely.

There are a couple of things to note about the current conditions. One would be that the flows between Glenshire Drive and Farad are not too far off from each other. This is thanks in part to the dams found at Lake Tahoe, Donner, Prosser, Boca and Stampede holding back water and filling the reservoirs for the summer. A quick look at the USGS Water Data page will show that the releases out of the Tahoe dam are 71 CFS, out of Donner Creek is 134, Prosser Creek is 16, and Stampede and Boca is a whopping 6 CFS. This is a total of 227 of the 950+ CFS that is currently down in the canyon section. This means that the majority of the water in the river right now is coming from the multitude of smaller feeder creeks along the Truckee River watershed. Once these feeder creeks begin to die out in a few weeks we should see the flows begin to let up and the releases from the dams resume. With all of that said, when the flows come up to these rates, areas along Glenshire become fast and “pushy”, limiting the areas of good soft water for the fish to sit in. The sections further downstream, perhaps in the canyon, will provide more, slow deep runs and because of this, more areas of good fishing water.

Due to the weather being cool, we are not seeing a lot of turbidity here on the California side. Using smaller perdigons, micro mays, and attractor nymphs like duracells and frenchies have been fishing a bit better than the larger offerings like stoneflies, worms, crawdads and eggs. These smaller flies are best fished on 4x tippet, and for the larger flies we are using 3x. In the coming weeks the big bugs will likely become the best bet as the turbulent spring flows dislodge these large meals. As of right now, they are still making great attractor nymphs and should be in everyone’s fly box. 

Little Truckee River Fishing Report & Forecast

Baetis, Midges, Winter Stones, Skwalas, Mother’s Day Caddis, and yes, even Green Drakes are on the LT right now. This is a really fun time of year to fish out here as the variety of bugs has both the angler and the fish staying on their toes (pectoral fins) right now. At 150 CFS, flows are slightly above average, and this makes for great conditions to euro nymph or indicator fish, but the top water bite is still happening for you dry fly junkies. The dry fly game can be a bit tough when this many bugs are present, and the fish aren’t their typical hyper focused selves when it comes to the hatches they are looking at. The most consistent for top water fishing will remain baetis, still coming off mid-day, and in particular, at the top parking lot. The winter stones have been around almost as much and have been providing a fair amount of eats as well, but the real curve balls have been the skwalas and green drakes. That is not a typo, green drakes in April.. While we are seeing them intermittently, but still enough to pique the interest in some of the trout out here. It doesn’t take a lot of size 8-10 mayflies around to get them interested after a long winter of eating 18’s to 22’s. Spring fishing on the Little Truckee is happening right now, and while it may not be any less technical than other times of year, it’s a whole lot of fun and will be a great place to spend a day testing your skills against PHD level wild trout.

Note: We have begun to see fish starting to occupy their redds on the LT. Please avoid wading on or near trout redds, fishing to actively spawning fish, or otherwise disrupting these vulnerable fish at this this time. If you ever have any questions about fishing during spawn, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Pyramid Lake Fishing Report & Forecast

As we enter in the final few weeks at Pyramid we have seen the bite slow and the average size of the fish reduced. In another couple of weeks, the fish will finish up their spawn and move back into deeper water. Once this happens, the bite can be very good once again for those getting out on a boat, pontoon or float tube and using deep water tactics to effectively fish in 20-30 feet of water. For the fly angler, this means using a slip indicator technique when fishing balanced leeches and midges, or using fast sinking lines and stripping, jigging or back kicking streamers, buggers, beetles or boobies. The use of fish finders can greatly up your odds in finding pods of fish as well as just knowing the depth when using slip strike set ups. We have just placed an order with Garmin and will have their Striker Sonar castable fish finders in stock very shortly. As of now, if you are heading out to the lake, the weather patterns will play a lesser role and the use of smaller flies and lighter tippet may be your key to success out here. It is not uncommon to fish size 14-16 midges with 3x tippet this time of year. We have always had luck on these bright spring days throwing the occasional curveball trout bugs such as copper johns, pheasant tails, durcells, to name a few. Keep in mind these flies are often not tied on hooks that are meant for trout of this caliber and there is a high likelihood of bending a few hooks out. This is undoubtedly the best time of year to camp out at the lake, and always makes for just a nice day outdoors. Especially when coupled with good friends, cookouts, cocktails, sunshine and stargazing, after all fishing should be about more than just the fish, right?