January 27, 2023 Fly Fishing Report for the Truckee River and Pyramid Lake
This is such a great time to be up in the Truckee area as we have 176% of our average snowfall already this year, the post-holiday crowds are light, the weather is outstanding and the fishing on the Truckee River is the best we’ve seen in a long time.
For those of you that have been wanting to try fishing the T in the winter, we highly encourage you to give it a go. If the thought of fishing this time of year is intimidating, consider booking a guide trip with us, we would love to show you what fishing this time of year is all about! This week we went out with Gregg and Adam, who were interested to try their hand at it after reading our weekly report, and they saw firsthand the potential that this river has with a beautiful 25” brown stuck on a streamer. The day before while fishing in Nevada, I found my biggest rainbow yet out of the Truckee estimated at 25” and 5 pounds. Two Truckee River trophies caught a day apart and 60+ miles apart! It’s a great indication of the rivers health and it’s all boding well for a great 2023 season.
Truckee River Fly Fishing Report
Access continues to get easier here on the California side with these continued sunny days. While the upper river along Glenshire Drive still has a few feet on the ground, by the time you reach the Farad exit, the snow is light and travel is easy. In Truckee, the morning temps have been down into the teens and afternoons in the mid-forties, so take your time getting on the water this time of year as the fish will become increasingly active throughout the day.
The flows continue to drop gradually and we saw a decrease of around 100 CFS from last week, overall though the water is higher than this time last year and the entire system is in excellent shape from Tahoe City to Mustang Ranch. The water remains very clear all the way through Reno, so we recommend downsizing your nymphs to a size 18-20 and lighten up your tippet to a 5x on most sections of river. Baetis and midges are on the main menu for these trout this week and the bite on stones, eggs and worms has slowed significantly, so try fishing two small flies under the indicator and focus on any slow water, deep buckets or the tailouts of long riffles. The streamer bite is excellent this week as well and for those looking to throw meat, fish slow runs up against banks or in front of rocks, and don’t be afraid to go big this time of year to tempt these big fish, we often go as big a 6”, and use a lot of weight to slow down the fly and keep it in front of their face longer.
Pyramid Lake Fly Fishing Report
Pyramid has seen some slower days this week as we see continued sunny skies, and as expected we’ve the bite windows best first thing in the morning, before sun-up, and again in the afternoon from 3-5. The storm expected to move in Sunday will certainly help for short term, but until we see extended overcast days in the forecast, expect to work hard for your fish out here.
Grinding for fish out here is nothing new to the seasoned Pyramid Lake shore angler, and this shouldn’t deter you from coming out here at all, it’s just a part of the game and any bobber dunk or strip set could be that fish of a lifetime. Often times the slow days where few fish are caught are also the days where that one mega shows up, the fish here don’t really ever stop eating and for a 20+ pound fish to keep its mass, its got to eat… a lot! Both the bobber and strip bite have been working and when its slow, regularly switching off between presentations can produce best, and can help you maintain your sanity. Of course a lot of people think the whole idea of fishing out here in the winter is insane to begin with. Yep, it’s definitely type-2 fun!
At the shop:
– Fly Fishing Friday is this evening, Jan 27th at 6pm. Free to all.
– Saturday is Intro to Fly Fishing, 6pm. Free to all.
Hope you can get out there and take advantage of these amazing conditions. Thanks again for supporting your dedicated local fly shop.
