Truckee River
The Truckee River has hovered around 600-700cfs at the Reno gauge over the last few weeks and finally jumped over 800 overnight. Fishing has remained good on the Nevada side and should continue to do so. With warmer air temperatures, the river will likely come up in flow and turbidity will increase as a result of low elevation snow melt.
There are a variety of bugs moving around in the river right now. Mayflies, caddis, and stoneflies patterns have all been catching fish with the specific choices changing throughout the day. Most mornings we see a hatch of large mayflies in a size 12-14 around 11:00 am. Fly patterns that have fished well lately include the Jig TNT PMD, Spanish Bullet, Jigged CDC PT, and the Micro Mayfly. You’ll have to play around with hook size a bit to key in to the bite.
Later in the day, caddis patterns are fishing better as the water temperature increases. The OCD Caddis, Carot, and G6 Caddis are good choices. Fish are really starting to move into faster water and a flashy caddis can be a good bet.
Streamer fishing has improved lately and fish are looking to feed on bigger offerings. Faster retrieves have been working best. Try fishing a streamer through faster pockets along the bank. The Barely Legal and Sparkle Minnow are good choices right now.
With flows on the rise, it is important to search out certain water types where fish can escape the fast current. Inside bends and tailouts are good places to start as they give fish a chance to get out of heavy current. With higher flows, trout can be found in shallower water than normal. Be sure to make drifts close to start!
Pyramid Lake
The LCT have another spawn in the books, and even though we are still seeing shallow cruising fish, a lot of fish are returning to deeper water and actively feeding in deeper water. The last week, with its cold storm, has shocked the fish some, but with a return to seasonal temperatures next week the LCT should return to their normal behavior.
The surface temps before the storm were pushing 60° by mid day and should return to that quickly with nice weather in the forecast. The trout were eating balanced leeches (~7.5 feet down) and the retrieve bite equally well. The tui-chub should be moving into shallow water soon too, and the feeding frenzy will be on. Belly Ache Minnows are a good tui-chub imitation for the strip and the Balanced Chub is good under the indicator.
Until the lake consistently rises above 65° the LCT should remain in pretty shallow water. Look for drop offs of about 10+ feet and vary your depth and sink time often to find where the fish are targeting their main food source. The trout will begin to move around more around this time, usually chasing bait balls, so moving from spot to spot is a good idea. Even though the fish will begin to look for the chub more, fishing midges will still be very effective as they will be readily available for the rest of the season.
Flies we suggest: Mini Jigged Leech, Tungsten Bead Balanced leech (white, wine, black), Micro Midge (Red,ASB,Albino), Pyramid Lake Bugger (Cowboy, Martini Olive, Cat Whisker), Booby Fly and Beetles (Cat Whisker, Olive, Dark Lord, Tan/White)