Flies for the Truckee?

Plans have come together for 3 days on the Truckee River the first week of July. Another guy and I will be floating the Truckee in his 2 man inflatable. I have 2 questions...

1. Am I correct in assuming we should concentrate our efforts on the section from the town of Truckee downstream (specifically from Trout Creek to Boca outflow) or are there sections on the first stretch from Lake Tahoe to Truckee where we should spend some time as well?

2. Any advice on specific flies we will need?

Thanks. Looking forward to the trip

Ck. Frank P's BLOG:

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...and the RENO FLY SHOP:

http://www.renoflyshop.com/fishingreport.html


PT/TB ;)

I'm going to go out on a limb here and try to persuade you to not drift these three sections of the river on the July 4 holiday week.

The first section of water you purpose to drift, Trout Creek to the Glenshire Bridge is largely made up of long flat glides and pools dotted along its course by shallow riffles and some well boulder pocket water nearer it's lower stretch. The entire coarse of this section has well worn foot paths along it and plenty of obvious free public parking areas. There is no need to float this meadow section, but doing so in the midst of trout season and during a holiday week is not going to win you any favor amongst the other anglers who will be vying for a spot of quiet water on a very busy week.
Think it over, this section is the closest to town, lodging, etc. it's one of the most waded, narrow shallow riffled and slow water areas on the Truckee river.
This river is not the Madison nor the Green. It's modest in width and the quality fish here tend to be spooky. You will not be able to effectively drift the first section without screwing up wading anglers who have taken the time to stake out a section and understand the unwritten code - the etiquette of this river. In this sections lower reach, it becomes more of a general use area.

The second section, Glenshire bridge downstream to the Interstate 80 bridge is a relatively short section, bordered on both banks by private property ( a club owns it ). It's largely riffles and pockets strewn with larger boulders.

The third section the Interstate 80 Bridge downstream to the Boca outlet. That outlet is the Little Truckee river, being discharged from Boca dam. This section is mostly a boulder strewn step gradient, think big pocket water. If the flows are lower, it'll be a bone yard of rock and picking your way through it in a raft or cataraft won't allow for any real fishing. The flows this morning down near the confluence of the Truckee and the little Truckee are running at around 700 cfs. Taking out there is not going to be easy. The water immediately upstream from the confluence is slow and deep with a very steep hillside.

The rafting companies put in upstream in the Little Truckee River just below Boca Dam and join the Truckee where you intend to take out. They start their floats, where you intend to take out ( think that one over for a moment. Why do they do that? )
There is another spot, just below the old Boca ( steel ) bridge where some put in, but it's not an ideal take out point either, especially for the first time Truckee runner. If you could navigate down past all three bridges, there is a very large slow deep run which tails out near a dirt parking area near Hirschdale, but it might take some talent to pick your way through the bone yard on down there and then you could have some access problems.
Again this entire third section is easily accessed via obvious parking areas, it has nearly 100% public foot access to both sides of the stream ( not to mention there's also a railroad line along one bankline too. ).

Please understand, I'm not against floating the Truckee in any way. But with the summer flows, the heavier than normal wading traffic that will be out that week. The fact that the majority of it is public and has ample free public parking, foot access and with the possible exception of a short section of private property, there is no advantage to drifting ( that term hardly describes what you'll actually be doing from the Interstate 80 bridge down. ) that river over walking in and wading it.
Basically, there's no way you guys are going to be able to run the river and fish, without screwing up a lot of other vacationing / wading anglers in the first and third sections and blowing off a lot of otherwise good wade fishing opportunities along the way.

Spring flows, fewer anglers, maybe.

These are my thoughts and opinion - and I'll stand by them.

If you still decide to go for it. Let me know when you plan to take out and I'll come down and film it from above the river, for posterity.

Dave

Have to agree with Dave E., would not bother trying to float the Truckee in July. Personally, I see no reason to float it at all, unless you really want to see the private section below Glenshire Bridge, but that's just me.

Planettrout gave you a very good list of sources, the only one I would add is Mountain Hardware for a local report:

http://www.mountainhardwareandsports.com/fishing-report

The stretch from Tahoe City downstream towards Truckee is a favorite section for recreational floaters on everything from air mattresses to water wings, and most fly fishermen stay away from it during the daylight hours. With all of the recreational traffic and the gin clear water, the trout are very difficult to find although I have done well in the very early morning and late evenings.

An option that you might consider if you want to float is the section of the Truckee East of Reno. There is an access at Mustang (Exit 23 off I-80) and you can float the river to US Parkway (Exit 32), a stretch of about nine miles. While the aesthetics of this stretch of the river are not much, there are some very large Browns and Rainbows that call this their home. Part of the float is through the McCarren Ranch where the Nature Conservancy has done an outstanding job of restoring the river. A one day license is $18.00 and additional days can be added for $7.00. There can be some good hatches along here but most of the fishing is with streamers if you're looking for the big fish.

I'll add my 2-cents worth to the good advice here - there are few good reasons to want to float the CA portion of the Trukee and lots of good reasons not to go that route. Bank access is pretty good just about everywhere on public land.

Cliff

On the "Ask About Fly Fishing" podcast there is a recent episode with Mikey Weir who guides the Truckee. He goes over every single bit of the Truckee from the upper Truckee south of Lake Tahoe all the way to it's terminus at Pyramid Lake.

The web site with that show is http://www.askaboutflyfishing.com/sp...ckee-river.cfm You'll have to create a temporary login id and they'll let you listen to the shows for free for a week. after that they want about $10 a year to have access to all their archives. It's a good show and I've learned a lot from it.

Have fun next week. I live down the hill towards Sacramento in the town of Colfax so the Truckee is right in my backyard. I should go fish it more often.

Quote:

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The stretch from Tahoe City downstream towards Truckee is a favorite section for recreational floaters on everything from air mattresses to water wings, and most fly fishermen stay away from it during the daylight hours. With all of the recreational traffic and the gin clear water, the trout are very difficult to find although I have done well in the very early morning and late evenings.

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Ah yes, this is what we often refer to as "The Bikini Hatch".

Another good place to look.

http://www.kiene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27287

An onging look at the Big T updated all the time by local guides.

Matter of face, that forum is the best for Northern California in General...


Map of the river, including some of the accesses.

http://tmwa.com/docs/your_water/2007...er_rec_map.pdf