Little Truckee - CA

[JohnScott]

If you were going to build a seven mile long trout stream, you could probably take a mold of the streambed of the Little Truckee tailwater below Stampede Reservoir and build off it just about anywhere there is enough cold water to support a good mix of aquatic insect life and trout. There is everything you would want, from deep pools, bends, fast riffles, deep slow runs, shallow runs, seams and slots and drops, plus instream cover in the way of wood and rocks. All you would need to add would be a couple hundred CFS of "gin clear" water, bugs and fish.

The past two days, the Little Truckee was running around 140-150 CFS. Maybe a little on the low side of what I imagined would be a really good flow in that size streambed.

Looking upstream from my first access point in the "meadows" on Tuesday.



Looking downstream from the same spot.



Another spot along the stretch that I fished yesterday.



Another spot from yesterday, with some local residents.



The local fly shop, such as it is, led me to expect a PMD hatch and maybe some green drakes starting around 10:30 a.m. and ending around 1:30 p.m. So I prepared accordingly.

In four hours on Tuesday, I actually counted five PMD's and one green drake. Never saw a fish, never saw a fish rising. The pattern I started with did bring up a couple trout - the first one, a smaller fish, hit it but didn't hook up, the second one hooked up but took his release long distance. The second fish was in the 14-15" range.

On Tuesday, I talked to a couple other fishermen. One had not seen a fish or gotten a hit. He seemed a novice and I wasn't too surprised at how he described his experience. He had talked to another fellow who had caught one fish.

Wednesday, I wanted to fish higher up, but the parking area for that access was full by the time I got there. Eight vehicles, which probably meant more than eight fishermen. The upper end probably was the better water to fish, just below the dam at Stampede, but I didn't want to go compete for water. I ended up starting below the stretch I had fished the day before and fishing up to the lower end of that piece of water. Got there a bit later, which may explain why I only saw two PMDs and no green drakes. Did see a couple caddis, literally a couple, like in two.

Didn't get anything Wednesday except some exercise and the picture of the family of ducks. Talked to a fellow who seemed to be pretty savvy. He had fished for hours and had not seen a fish nor had a hit.

So .... the fish are always right. But I have to admit, that I walked away wondering if there were any fish there to BE right ??? The conditions were less than ideal with rather low water levels and very high air temps. And I couldn't fish early or late as I would have preferred since the main point of my trip down to Truckee was to see my son and his family who were staying in Truckee for the week.

Not that I wouldn't go back, given the beauty of the place and the character of the river - but I don't think I would go out of my way to fish it unless someone I could trust told me it was fishing well.

[Wild One]

Fished a couple streams and lakes that fall into that category out west. It is so frustrating to be on a beautiful piece of water that looks unbelievably fishy and see nothing....MAN!
Still, thanks for sharing some peaceful pics.

[bassman]

The Little Truckee is really a great place to fish. Sounds like the water was slow, low and warm. It does get that way some times. I have fished it a lot. Have had days with no fish at all, but have also had days with many fish. It is really hit and miss. I try to fish it everytime I go visit my dad. He lives in Truckee. It is a beautiful river. Wish you could have caught it in better conditions. John

[CO_Flyfisher]

Fished the Little Truckee yesterday. I parked at the top parking area just below the Stampede dam and worked my way downstream about 1/2 mile. I was the first one there, but that might have been because I slept in the parked car overnight. Hotels in Truckee are EXPENSIVE!!! However, nobody else showed until about 7:30am. It turned out to be a pretty good day of fishing.

The water was flowing at about 130 cfs, and temps ranged from 50 first thing in the morning (6am) right below the dam to 56 degrees down river later in the day (5pm).

There were fish in the water, but you really had to look hard to find them, and then you had to fish right to them as they weren't moving around too much to get their food. They tended to be in the deeper, slower water just below a good riffle or boulder (which oxygenates the water).

There were multiple small hatches all day, however, the fish all but ignored them. Small PMDs first thing in the morning (size 18-20), then some golden stoneflies (about 16s), then caddis (also 16s), then drakes (big - size 12s), etc.

The drake hatch only lasted about 45 minutes (twice; once at about 11, then later at almost 3), and there weren't a lot of them. This was the only surface action I saw all day, and many of the bugs I saw went untouched as far as I could see down the river, even when I knew there were fish in the area.

It took me a good while to hook anything. I became frustrated after no luck in 4 hours of fishing (when I could see the fish) and finally pulled out the seine, because none of the nymphs I was told (or read) would work were working for me. I filtered a lot of light brown pheasant tail looking nymphs from the water, so I tied a couple different sized pheasant tails on (that I tied). I immediately started get hits, so I decided to stick with those until the hits stopped (they never did).

However, I just couldn't keep anything on for more than a second. When I would get a hit and set the hook, the fish would shake their heads a couple times and quickly come straight toward me! Since I couldn't keep up, the line got slack enough that the fish could throw the hook and get away. I've had this happen before (Yellowstone comes to mind), but since barbless hooks are required on this water, it makes it extremely difficult to keep the fish on. The strikes were very subtle, and you've got to keep the line tight the whole time once you set the hook, otherwise they're gone!

I actually had a fair number of takes once I changed flies. My first landed fish was only about 10", but the next one was a healthy 18" 'bow. I ended up landing 5 fish in about the next 7-8 hours of fishing (not a very good success rate for me), but had at least 3 times that many hook-ups. I landed two that were about 10", then a 17", 18" and a 19" fish with a hook jaw.

The 19" fish was VERY nice!!! It was my last cast of the day, as it was about to rain. I had been trying to get him on and off for most of the day, but he was in a lie that was nearly impossible to reach at the bottom of a ~5' deep pool just at the edge of some faster water. Occasionally he would venture out into the current some, and that was the only time he was really vulnerable at all. I pointed him out to a couple earlier in the day as they walked by and asked what I was looking at while I was observing him and trying to figure out how to get to him. The lady had a hard time seeing him, and she literally gasped when she finally saw through the water. She said it was one of the biggest she'd seen there.

The great thing about hooking him was that I got him on what would have been my second-to-last cast of the day (I always give myself three last casts before I go once I've decided to leave), and I didn't realize he'd moved until I hooked him. I had 5x fluorocarbon on, so I knew that if I kept enough pressure on him I should be able to get him in. He made a couple of nice hard runs down river, but I managed to keep him under control. I finally ended the fight about 30 yards downstream after he spooked from the net in a mad dash for freedom the first time I tried to land him. I couldn't believe how bright the pink on this fish was! One of the brightest, most colorful rainbows I've ever seen in 20+ years of flyfishing. So yes, it did turn out to be a pretty good day.

[JohnScott]

CO -

Great report on a good day on the Little Truckee !! Very much enjoyed reading it and getting confirmation that there are actually some trout in that river, at least sometimes. I'm sure it helped that you got on the upper end of the tailwater earlier in the day - although it sounds like you put in a VERY long day on the water.

Don't know if I will ever get back there, but if I do, I will go out of my way to fish it, based on your report.

Thanks.

John

P.S. The "one last cast" doesn't count unless you catch a fish with it !

[CO_Flyfisher]

It was my first time fishing the river. I fished for almost 12 hours, with about 30 min for lunch back at the car. I was told by a reliable source before I went that the higher up the river, the better (or at least until the water gets too shallow). There is a lot of good water on that first 1/2 mile or so.

Since there aren't a lot of fish (relatively), the ones that are in there get fished really hard and are VERY smart. This was some of the toughest fishing I've ever had!!!

If I required that I always caught a fish on my last cast, there would have been many days I would have been fishing waaay past dark. That's where the "3 more casts" rule came from.

Great day on the river though. Couldn't have asked for better weather. Even the little bit of rain was nice. The drive back to San Jose was a different story.

[Beaver]

CO,

Thanks for the great report. Glad you had some action there. Sounds like you found the answer. I'll have to try that next year. Most of my fish on the Truckee were on a pheasant tail nymph.

Beaver