Truckee River
The Truckee River flows have begun to show daily flow fluctuations that suggest spring runoff. Might be a bit early to be sustained but it isn’t too far off before we will be looking for peak annual flows and then to begin our slide into summer flows. The downtown Reno gage is bouncing above and below 500-550 cfs. The most important change since the last report are the river temperatures. River temps have jumped in recent days at the Sparks gage. Morning temperatures are in the mid too high 40s with afternoon temps easily jumping past 50 degrees. This is great news and has really increased the trout activity! Fish have been actively eating from late morning to evening. The warmer temperatures will begin to trigger a change in the entomology of the river. Expect the baetis and stoneflies to start tapering off, and say hello to larger caddis and mayflies making an appearance soon.
The trout are moving into faster water and keep an eye out for REDDs as we have seen a lot of spawning rainbows this week. Please make sure to leave the beds and spawning fish alone. That being said, pegging beads has been effective as have most mayfly and stonefly nymphs. The steamer bite has begun to pick up as well. It may be a bit premature, but on slower days the streamers can really change the day.
Truckee River Flies We Suggest: Perdigon, Spanish Bullet, Flashback BH Pheasant Tail, BH Squirmy Worm, Pats Rubber Leg, Jigged Brush Hog, Red Copper John, Carot, Bullet Head Skwala, Pullover BWO, Micro Mayfly, Truckee River Dozen
Pyramid Lake
The Lahontan Cutthroat trout have begun their spawn and fish are coming into extremely shallow water looking to find fresh water to run up into to spawn. The tribe plans to begin opening the hatchery in the coming weeks and the fish are ready for them. This can be a difficult time to fish as the trout have other things on their mind. I will focus on retrieving flies this time of year and try to entice the fish to bite out of aggression. Booby Flies and Pyramid Lake Beetle still produce fish, but a lot of the time I will experiment with larger flies and baitfish patterns like Jan’s Tui Chub or Bead Head Wooly Buggers to elicit a strike.
Indicators are still a great option for targeting the LCT. As the trout begin to school more competition increases as do the chances of catching numbers. We’ve all seen a line up of anglers where it seems that almost everyone has a fish on. That is also indicative of this time of year. Midge color is key. I tend to use brighter, more obvious flies this time of year. Red and gold is a good combination as are traditional white beaded Albino Wino.
Pyramid Lake Flies We Suggest: Boobies (Spanish Olive, Cat Whisker, Diablo), Pyramid Lake Beetle, Bellyache Minnow, Jans Tui-Chub, Balanced Leech, Holographic Midge, Pyramid Lake Fly Selection
