TCO Fishing Report - January 31th, 2025 for the Truckee River, Little Truckee River and Pyramid Lake
It appears that we finally have a shift in weather as we head into February and the storm window is open with a significant storm looking like it may hit us next week. After last week’s dusting here in town (Although Reno received 3 inches), and this weekend’s warm storm coming through we are starting to hurt for a good snowpack on the crest to keep our river running cold this summer. Let’s hope to see that change shortly! As for the fishing this week, it remains good. While conditions may change a bit with this rain/snow mix in the forecast, the Truckee will likely drop back into shape in just a few short days. This is also an excellent week to plan a trip out to Pyramid, as the bite has picked back up significantly over the last week and should only get better with the incoming weather.
Truckee River Fishing Report & Forecast
With the last week of cold weather, we’ve been seeing the bite start off pretty slow, even through mid-day, with the best fishing often being from around 1:00 until dark. As of now the water has been cold and clear and the smaller flies are going to be the ticket when these conditions are present.
Over the last week we have been doing best on midges and baetis fished down to a size 20, but with Skwalas around the corner, the more opportunistic fish are still taking olive or brown stonefly nymphs in sizes 10-12 with some regularity. We typically begin to see Skwalas around the end of March and some years they can last all the way through June, but you can begin to use the nymphs pretty well before the actual hatch. We have been getting reports of Skwalas already starting to emerge on the Yuba, which is certainly a few weeks early, but given the weather it isn’t hard to believe.
With this wet storm starting today, the larger attractor nymphs will begin to fish well again, and you can put away the 5x for the time being. Streamer fishing should also pick right back up when cloud cover is present. While the streamer fishing was good a couple of weeks ago, we have noticed it slow down quite a bit, likely due to how cold the days have been.
Little Truckee River Fishing Report & Forecast
The Little Truckee remains well pressured as access has been open here most of the winter. The dry fly fishing slowed significantly last week, once again likely because of the cold and dry days as of late. We are encouraging anglers to give this fishery a break and allow these fish some time to recover before summer hits once again. The storm coming in this week will likely impede access to the river.
Pyramid Lake Fishing Report & Forecast
Pyramid has kicked right back into gear over the last week or so, and the fishing remains great right now. The fish are really starting to transition on to some of the shallower beaches and beginning their pre-spawn feeding habits.
When fishing shallow and gradual beaches, midges are often the bug of choice and fishing 6-8 feet is a good place to start, depending on the beach. Stripping streamers should also be great this week with the shift in weather, so don’t get stuck staring at a bobber all day and try to put in some time with the single hand rod as well! Fly selection can vary so much out here and having a good selection of sizes and colors can make a big difference in your level of success.
For midges we are mostly fishing size 12 to 14’s in wine, black, brown or red, for streamers, black, olive or chartreuse and white boobies have been putting fish in the net for us. If you’re heading out there, don’t forget to stop on in and shop our selection of flies, grab a few Jaydacators and some 1x fluoro, we’re always here to help out with rigging formulas and beach selection as well!
Euro Nymphing Clinic
Sign up for our Euro Nymphing Clinic with TCO Guides Nate Cutler and Mike Doubek this May. This will be a two-day intensive workshop on the fundamentals of Euro Nymphing on the Truckee River. The clinic will include both on-the-water and off-the-water instruction.
Participants will receive a selection of flies, leader building materials and a swag pack in addition to quality instruction from our guides.
$700.00 per person for two days of instruction and guiding.
Reserve your spot now - limited spaces available!
