The Truckee River continues to fish well as we slide into Fall. The water dropped a bit this week as the Federal Water Master reduced flow coming out of Lake Tahoe. September is the month that river flows can bounce around a bit. This is largely due to upstream reservoir releases changing as a result of irrigation releases going down and flood control releases increasing. Things should stabilize again as October approaches.

Even with variation in river flows the fishing has been good to great on the Nevada side. Overnight low temps have contributed to happy fish moving around and on the bite.

Crayfish seem to be a major food choice still and should continue for the month. The locally designed Cray Z Emma is a great choice and as a new pattern has been a top producer this season. This is a heavy fly and if a lighter pattern is desired, to fish in shallow riffles, we suggest the Nemec Stone or a Jigged Bugger which are good patterns as stones but also can double as juvenile crayfish.

 

Smaller mayflies have worked very well for the guided guests this week. Think of the French Nymph, black Perdigon and Jigged Pheasant Tail.

The streamer bite has continued to be slow. We believe this is a result of most meat-eaters taking advantage of molting crayfish and not wanting to chase down a meal. As water temps cool we anticipate this changing and larger articulated streamers producing once again.

Chasing carp downstream of town can still be fun when afternoon air temps rise and the winds stay down. Water clarity downstream of Lockwood hasn’t been the best but workable in the backwater sloughs and along the edge of the channel. The Squirmy Hybrid and Jigged Bugger have been our go-to flies.

Flies we suggest: Cray Z Emma, Emma Stone, Nemec Stone, black Perdigon, Micro Mayfly, Spanish Bullet, Squirmy Hybrid and Jigged Bugger