With this snow in town, access to the Little Truckee remains open as of today, but we recommend having an all-wheel or 4-wheel drive vehicle if heading out here as this road is not maintained during the winter. The Little Truckee saw a slight increase in flows this week, sitting at 200 CFS today. We would consider these above average flows for this time of year, and is very conducive for all methods of fishing, be it dries, nymphs or streamers.

We have hatches of consistent baetis most every day right now and the technical dry fly fishing it provides is a big draw for this river system. You can typically find these bugs hatching mid-day for about a 3-4 hour window, but on overcast days it is possible that they can go longer. While the nymph fishing and streamer fishing are a bit less popular out here, they too are great and can provide some excellent results for those willing to cover more water, also opening most of the river to good fishing while the dry fly fishing is mostly limited to just the upper parking area right below the dam. This makes fishing in the “upper lot” a bit crowed most days.

The fish here are notoriously picky when it comes to dry flies, and your fly selection, tippet diameter, leader length and presentation all must be dialed to have a good shot at the fish hitting the top. If any one of these factors is off, you may struggle a bit. What is surprising to a lot of people is how they are not as selective on subsurface presentations. Although fly selection, tippet diameter and presentation are certainly still a significant factor, you can often fish a great variety of flies and go up a diameter or two on your tippet and still have good success.

Because this is a tailwater, the temps and flows remain much more stable, providing good fishing most of the day. Fishing mid-week in the morning or late evening can be a great way to have this otherwise busy river more to yourself, especially if you combine that with a rainy or snowy day.