Truckee Tahoe Fly Fishing Report August 27, 2021
The recent closures of Tahoe National Forest will remain in effect through September 6th and could be extended if red flag fire conditions continue. This will heavily restrict access to most of our local waters and we strongly encourage you to respect this emergency closure by staying off national forest land until further notice. This will include the Little Truckee River as well as most of our local reservoirs including Boca, Stampede, Prosser and the Jackson Meadows area. The lower section of the Truckee River from Hirschdale to the Nevada state line remains open to fishing and given the current low flows, the best fishing will be found here anyways, as this section has the highest flows.
Truckee River Fly Fishing Report
As flows continue to drop on the river this week and National Forest closures restrict access those looking to get out, most will be relegated to fishing the Hirschdale area downstream to the Nevada state line. The canyon section is fishing well overall and we seem to be finding good numbers of smaller fish on nymphs and for those looking to headhunt the larger fish we recommend using streamers or crawdad patterns. Continue to look for fish in a variety of water types and try fishing any riffles, seams off of boulders, or the fast water at the top of deep buckets. We have noticed a recent change in bugs of interest when nymphing, and it seems like fish are really keying in on smaller BWO nymphs and midges so try dropping your bug sizes down to the 16-20 range. With this drop in bug sizes and the low water your tippet should also be downsized to 5x-6x for best results. We have seen some significantly cooler weather recently which has gone a long way to improve conditions and fishing later in the day is now an option, but it seems fishing will still be best mid-morning so try getting out early and call it a day between 12-2 pm. The low water could cause the river to warm faster however, so please continue to carry a thermometer and check temps periodically to insure your able to ethically catch and release fish and please call it a day when temperatures exceed 66 degrees.
Recommended Flies for the Truckee River
Juju Baetis #16-#20, Zebra Midges #16-#20, Rainbow Warriors #16-#18, Peaches and Cream #14-#16, Olive Mic Drops #16-#20, Anato-Mays #16-#20, WD40’s #16-#18, Pheasant Tails #16-#20, Flexy Floss Worms #14, San Juan Worms #12, Gummy Worms #12, Dead Drift Crays #8, Mini-Loop Sculpins #8, Ziwis #4-#8, Baby Gongas #8, Sculpzillas #4-#8
Little Truckee River Fishing Report
The entire Little Truckee falls under Tahoe National Forest land and is closed to all recreation including fishing. Please respect these closures during historic fire conditions and fish elsewhere during this time.
Truckee Tahoe local still water fishing Report
The National Forest closures will also affect access to most of our nearby lakes. Please do some research and find water that is outside of national forest land for your next still water fishing outing.
All in all, fishing is good if you can get out early, avoid the smoke, avoid the closed areas, and safely navigate the exposed slippery rocks from lower flows.
Tight lines! Miles and the TCO crew.
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