Like A G-6
In summer, if I had one fly to fish the Truckee River it would be my G-6 Caddis Pupa. In green, or tan, sizes #12-#16, it catches fish faster than any other fly, like a G-6. The Truckee has an insane amount of caddis, usually by early summer, fish start feeding with reckless abandon on them. Fish it deep, on the swing, or off the back of say an elk hair caddis. It’s a cross between Barr’s Graphic Caddis, and the best and most famous pupa ever, Lafontain’s Sparkle Pupa. Some shops got ‘em, but they will go global this fall from Solitude Fly Co. Fish are on the pupa as you can see in these shots from the last few days.
Bunny Love
Streamering, now is a good time. If you look at the photo above, that’s the Truckee River running at 1600 cubes in all her glory. You can’t really indo fish the lower river at these flows, as your flies just won’t stay in any pocket long enough for a fish to see them. Sink tips are a good idea, so are heavy weighted conehead flies. You don’t need to get it out there that far. The fish are tight to the bank in about a foot, or two of water. With the advent of the new Rio Switch lines and Mow tips, streamering now on the Truckee River is pretty easy. That’s as long as you got a switch rod. I’ve been rocking a 10 foot mow tip, 7.5 feet of T-11,2.5 foot floating, or Mow Medium, on my 5 weight switch. I’m not spey casting, as I’m merely just two handed roll casting. I cast upstream and let my flies swing into likely pockets. It’s a wade fishing rig, and now my “go to”streamer rig system. It’s much easier than trying to backcast all day and getting your bunny stuck in the bushes. I like my Conehead Living Dead streamers in black, and olive. Hooked some nice browns today that I watched sail downriver to Reno. Of course, it’s snowing again this afternoon, but the flows have dropped some and the clarity is perfect.
High Water Rigging
The Truckee River has been and will be high for sometime. There are still fish to be caught if you adjust your tactics. Go get yourself some Rio indicator leaders in 2, or 3x. The Rio indo leaders are all level fluorocarbon tippet and sink to where the fish are. You can make your own, leaders that is, but this is much easier. Then go into Mountain Hardware in Truckee and get my Skipper Stone Golden, tie it on about 9 feet down, or wherever you want it to sink in the water column. Go about 14 inches and tie on a wire worm if the water’s dirty, or something like a prince nymph if the water’s clear. Remember, you sould go down a tippet size on your dropper fly. Put a few BB shot about 8 inches above your top fly. Loop some trapped air technology about a foot from your fly line. Fish inside slots and softer winter type water. My guide tip of the week, use Dinsmore tin shot, they won’t slide up and down your leader, and you won’t have to tie a knot to hold it in place. Sometimes, I’ll bust out the old Water Gremlin lead shot and stack them behind the tin for the real deep slots. Dry dropper rigs will be next.
Blue Diamond Phillips
I might as well do the fly of the week again as the Truckee’s still pumping and there ain’t a lot of fishing around here except for the LT. I guess I could get creative, but I’d rather go shred some dirt on my niner. This fly has wrecked ‘em the last few years, looks like a beatis to trout, but hell, I’m not a trout so..I even tie these guys up to a size #6 and fish them deep in the big holes up from my house, works well. I gave it a nice 70′s look in the photo. Put a little hard as nails or epoxy over the sili-skin, so them toothy critters don’t chew it all up.
- Hook: Scud, Heavy sz#16-18 (for baetis)
- Bead: Tung, Silver
- Thread: Uni 8/0, Black
- Body: Blue Mylar
- Rib: Blue Ultra Wire, Small
- Tail-Wing: Hen, Brown
- Wingcase: Metz, Sili-Skin, Opal
- Thorax: Simi Seal Dub, Purple
Fly of the Week, Baetis Nymph.
This time of year this fly is usually on the end of my rig. Whether it be on a dry dropper rig, or a nymph rig, this fly works. A lot of the Baeits nymphs on the Truckee River are dark colored. I think the trigger for this fly is the black wing case made of Thin Skin, a product by Wapsi. I use Thin Skin on a lot of my flies it holds up and is shiny just like the real bugs. I usually fish a Sz#18 before the hatch and switch to a larger nymph, Sz#16 during the hatch. I’ve caught fish all over the West on this fly. Tie up some of these guys this Fall and give them a try.
- Hook: Tiemco 2457 Size #16-18
- Bead: Tungsten Gold 2.0 mm
- Body: Uni 8/0 Black
- Ribbing: UTC Ultra Wire, Size Small, Olivebr /Tail: Hen Hackle, Black
- Thorox: Blue Ribbon Flies Zelon Dubbing, Longhorn Green
- Wings: Hen Hackle, Blackbr /Wing Case: Thin Skin, Black
Fly of the Week.
I think I’ll start the fly of the week and see how it goes. This is my Baetis Soft Hackle. This is my no #1 fly in the Fall on the Truckee River. I fish it deep on a nymph rig, or sometimes higher up off a tippet ring on a nymph rig. You can fish it off a back of a dry in the film, or swing it through a pod of rising fish. It just works…
- Hook: Tiemco 2487 size #16
- Thread: Uni 8/0 Gray (head)
- Body: Uni 8/0 Iron Gray
- Thorax: Wapsi Life Cycle Caddis Dubbing Gray
- Colar: Whiting Farms Hen Hackle Medium Dun
- Tail: Hen Hackle Fibers, Medium Dun
- Ribbing: UTC Ultra Wire Size Small, Green, or Olive