Spring Fever Clinic, Saturday, April 28th
Spring Fever Clinic on the Truckee River. Class will be limited to 6 people. This will be a intermediate to advanced level class, and we will cover mainly my rigs, and how I fish them, with what type of rods. This won’t be the way your grandpa fished, but a newer progressive way of fishing: nymphing, long line style, under an indo, preferably with a switch rod. Streamer fishing, newer techniques with large flies and sink tips. Dry dropper rigs with multiple droppers. You will learn what flies to use with patterns that I developed for the Truckee and when to use them along with the techniques listed above. We will be locked and loaded and everyone will get a chance to fish. I will have rods rigged up, but if you have a 6wt, nymphing specific rod, or lighter grain switch rod, please bring it. This will be on the California side as there will be more areas, and open water to fish. The price is $125 per person. It will be an all day class. Slots are filling fast and it will be first come first served. If I have a lot of interest, I may do a second class on Sunday the 29th. This will be a fun way to learn the techniques and flies that I use on Truckee River trout. Please email me if you would like to sign up, or call. I’ll need everyone to pre-pay, simply because if someone flakes out then someone else missed out on this awesome opportunity to spend the day with me.
Sneaking One In
Snuck a session with a client in today between storms, on a very cold and windy Truckee River day. We should get a good dumping the next few days. Won’t really hurt the fishing as long as it snows, which it will, snow good, rain bad. Access, of course, will be an issue up on the Cali side, but the farther you go down the hill it should be fine. Stoked, we need some snow. Things look like they will thaw out by this weekend. Ron with a nice bow from today.
I’m the new Lani Waller
No, not really, but I did get into some fish this last week up on the Trinity. The main thing about this trip was me getting to spend time and fish with my Dad I never wanted, Joe Cerniglia. Since having a bum knee, we really haven’t fished together in almost two years. Joe’s got a new knee, and new outlook on life, especially after he landed a nice fin clipped female of 29″, on our first afternoon. Fishing was fair, and we all managed to hook fish. I was mostly looking for Bigfoot, and not at my indicator. It’s also tough rustling up the nerve to fish the ultra foggy water. I’m sure we could have done a lot better if we did. I ran into a Truckee friend who guides for Clearwater Lodge, Jason Cochram, he rowed me through a run and I got this nice clipped male to hand. Give Jay a call at Clearwater and hook up with him if you are needing a guide for the Trinity. All in all it was a good trip, the crowds weren’t bad, the fishing could have been better, but really, that’s not what mattered.
Music and Fly Fishing
I met a dude back in January, the 1′st to be exact. We went out and fished the Truckee River. It was cold and I was hungover. We had the usual small talk, got any kids? wife? did you grow up in Truckee? We also talked about music, and than realised we had similiar interests, other than fly fishing of course. This is Justin’s new blog, a harmony of fly fishing and music, Reel Grease. Make sure to give Chuck Ragan from down the hill in Grass Valley Ca a listen. A good friend, fly fisherman, and longtime frontman for the one and only Hot Water Music.
That Last Soak of Sunshine
Looks like this will be that last week of Indian Summer, highs will be in the 30-40′s, with snow and rain for the rest of the week here in the Hirsch. I’m actually a bit excited about it. Clouds and snow mean two things this time of year, streamer’s, and b-dubs. G.G.S. headquarters will have the fire stoked, and the beer cold. Elliot got her last fix of the sunshine today, not so sure if she’s pumped for winter. It’s hard enough trying to get her to get her paws wet in the summer, but she’s a trooper, and she logs more time on the river winter and summer than most people I know.
The Little Brother I…..
Larry and I, the little brother I never wanted, hit the conservancy for a few hours the other day. We hit up America’s next top run, and though we didn’t kill it, we still manged to catch a few. Larry’s off again, Monday, to ride his bike to South America. Second times a charm I guess. If he makes it through Mexico, I’ll be impressed. People don’t always understand why I hang out with Larry, he never has money, doesn’t have a car, never has flies, or beers. But I only fish with two dudes, and when you fish with someone, well, I guess it’s just something I can’t explain. Good luck Larry, I’ll miss you buddy, the Truckee will be here when you get back.
The Dry Dropper Rig
Truckee River Ca from Gilligans Guide Service on Vimeo.
Here’s a little video I shot the other day. Troy is fishing a dry dropper rig, actually two droppers off the back of a big dry. I like to get a 7.5ft 4X leader, and cut it back a ways. I use 3-4 feet of 4X flouro to the first fly, a good sinking nymph like a copper john or something, and then about a foot of 5X flouro to a G-6. You can fish water that you just can’t with a nymph rig. We hooked about 6 fish in that slot.
Crick’n
Ain’t too many times when someone shows me where to fish, so when a friend calls and says, “you want to hit this creek” then hells yes, I’m down. Crick’n is fun and when there’s some big fish in it it’s even more fun. I ain’t gonna tell you where I was, but if you get off the grid there are lots of rad creeks in the Tahoe area and this year they have tons of water. The Truckee has come down a little today and next week it’s only supposed to be in the 60′s, let’s hope. This is Tony one of the dudes you talk to at the fly shop at Mountain Hardware in Truckee.
One Day At A Time
Been feeling like I’m in a 12 step program around here lately. The water’s been so high for so long, I’ve just been taking it one day at a time. I even had to resort to some stillwater fishing with some folks. The Truckee River has been in the 2000 range for forever it seems like. Unless you got mad skills, or know the river like the back of your hand, the fishing is very tough. Up on The Little Truckee River it is up to almost 900 cfs. I don’t think it’s been that high since ’06. Usually here in the Hirsch, it would look like a summers day at Coney Island, folks swimming, fishing, rafting, etc. Ain’t no one on the river. It’s been hot up here the last few days and flows have spiked again, maybe this will be the last big week of run-off. We have caught some fish up here though. These are some photo’s from the last few days. Nate holding a nice slab of a brown from the Truckee River.
Commit
More snow, more rain, and the river coming up nearly 1000 cubes again. Is this really June 6th? Time to stay higher up on the Truckee River until flows drop again. Like I said, higher flows = streamers, and to fish streamers you have to stay committed. You might, or might not get a fish to chase, but when they do, it’s life changing for some. Dylan from Davis stuck a nice fish on a streamer today, his first streamer caught fish, and I’m sure not the last. I’m guessing it was worth camping last night in the rain and snow. Dylan was even kind enought to bring some limited edition brews from Anderson Valley Brewery.
Memorial Day Bummer
It sure ain’t sunshine and hot dogs up here this Memorial Day weekend. We got five inches of snow again at the house last night, and most folks around town are over it. Beer and whiskey are good for these extended winters, and so is hanging out with my little brother I never wanted, my buddy Larry. We had a good time over the last few days, stuck some fish on dries, and ended up going to fish the creeks in his backyard home of Sattley, Ca. He even paid for gas. It’s a pretty cool place out there in the Sierra Valley, but if you ain’t from around there, your fly will never touch down on water. There are creeks galore running through pasture land, and some like the one we fished this afternoon have some Walter sized browns. Of course Larry lost his nice brown today, but what else is new. It has to be summer up here sometime, it just has to be.
Wait Five Minutes
You know the saying about the weather in the mountains, wait five minutes. It can snow every month of the year in the Tahoe area and after six months of snow, this time of year, it’s a bummer when it does. Though it messes up the singletrack around town, the fish don’t mind. If you have some Skipper Stones and fish the right kind of water they’re there, and they are willing. The water’s high, that ain’t changing, but the clarity’s good, and if you can hit the spots like Gordon did today you should catch fish. Gordon did well and ended up with some nice browns and rainbows. If you don’t want to fish, come up and ride some pow, I’m sure they’re getting a foot up top again.
Leland Expo
Hung out with the FFO crew down in Sonoma this past weekend for the inaugural Leland Expo at their Sonoma Valley Ranch. After awhile, you don’t get too stoked on these kind of things, but this was different. There seemed to be a younger crowd, people that actually fly fish, not a bunch of crusty old dudes cruising around looking for the bathroom. When Leland does things, they go big and this was no different. If you’ve never been to the FFO ranch, it’s pretty awesome. The weather was nice and the beer was cold. I gave a few casting tips to Tim Rajeff, told George Revel that distance casting is a thing of the past and drank some Trout Slayer Ale on tap, I mean if the shoe fits. I got to hang and watch Val Atkinson’s slide show, the dude is an amazing photographer and even nicer fellow. If I can get Keith Westra out of parking patrol, Val’s going to come up and shoot some photos with us on the Truckee this summer, stoked. Jim and Rachel Andras, guides from Oregon, are real nice and it was great to get to know them. The film tour was fun to watch, though after a few films they seem to get a little redundant. Elliot drank a lot of spilt beer too and got herself some leftover chukar which didn’t settle so well. I’m already looking forward to next year which I’m sure will be even a bigger blow out than this years. Also stay tuned for some new Red Truck gear that is in the works. br /
New Logo
New Logo on some new tee’s that you can pick up at Leland’s Expo in Sonoma this weekend. I’ll have them available for sale off my blog shortly.
My older archived blog posts
I have hundreds of older archived Truckee fly fishing posts on my old Blogspot blog.