Truckee River Fishing Report & Forecast

While the change in releases out of Tahoe and Boca has kept us on our toes over the last few weeks, overall, the conditions along most stretches of the Truckee are pretty darn good. We would say it’s safe to assume fishing along the 89 stretch will be limited, but through town and down into the canyon remains really good.

Due to the good flows out of Lake Tahoe the section here in town, including Glenshire Drive, are still fishing well but because this water comes off the surface of Lake Tahoe, we are seeing water temps hit the upper 60’s by mid-day. In fact, we have also seen warm water temps in the canyon section, despite the cold releases out of Boca. Water temps at the Farad gauging station peaked on Tuesday afternoon at 66 degrees around 5:00pm.

Please remember that 68 degrees is the cutoff for ethical catch and release fishing for trout due to a lack of dissolved oxygen in the water once temperatures reach this point. Our self-regulated hoot owl restrictions are important for the health of our wild trout fisheries. Please carry a thermometer with you and take periodic readings throughout the day to ensure that you are not inadvertently stressing out the fish and causing potential delayed mortality by catch and release fishing.

With the releases out of Boca tapering off, the canyon section of the Truckee has been fishing incredibly well this week. This could be in part due to the high flows most of the spring, which kept angling pressure down, also keeping the cold water and food flowing for longer than normal. With the water temps in their typical summer range, the fish are consistently holding in some fast water right now, and anglers should seek out sections of river with an abundance of pocket water and riffles, and avoid deeper, slower pools.

This time of year is when the euro nymphing method really shines. It works great in both shallow and medium depths, it gets down quick in the often short runs that are associated with these water types, and the strike detection is immediate, bringing more fish to hand. We have seen good action on larger jigged streamers for your euro anchor flies, either imitating a crawdad or a sculpin, or better yet, both! Stoneflies have also been working well as an anchor. Up top as your tag fly, most of your medium sized perdigons have been doing the job, in particular, those that imitate PMD nymphs.

Little Truckee River Fishing Report & Forecast

The Little Truckee has finally hit a sweet spot in flows this week, dropping over the last seven days to a reasonable 185 CFS as of today. We hope to see these flows stabilize for at least a few weeks before they decide to lower it down to 45 CFS to work on the dam, but we are unsure what to expect here.

If you are heading out here, we encourage you to check the USGS stream flows on our website before you go, as big changes in flows may make for an unproductive day of fishing. As of now though, the river is fishing very well, with great flows for both nymph fishing and dry fly fishing. With extended high water most of the spring out here, the fish appear to be fat and happy and are especially feisty right now. They also appear to be a bit less picky and are taking some larger flies than normal, with the Rocksteady Stone putting a good number of fish in the net this week as well as the occasional jigged streamer eat.

If in doubt, or if fishing behind others, downsize your flies and lighten up your tippet for better results. The dry fly bite has also picked up quite a bit as flows return to normal, and the PMDs are around on a daily basis, hatching midday. Be sure to have not only the adult patterns but also have emergers and even spinner patterns at the ready to be able to match the fish's preferred life stage. When fishing on top, the use of 6x tippet is very important, as is a long leader to put your fly further away from the fly line.