GUIDED TRUCKEE RIVER FLY FISHING. WELCOME TO GILLIGAN’S GUIDE SERVICE.

Guided Fly Fishing the Truckee River, Little Truckee River, Pyramid Lake Nevada, Truckee-Tahoe-Reno

A guided trip for beginners and experienced anglers includes instruction that builds a basic foundation necessary not only to catch fish but to understand the patterns in which fish feed and what they feed on particularly in the Truckee River throughout the changing seasons. A day with Gilligan’s Guide Service also includes honing the proper casting technique and fly presentation in order for an angler to have success on some of the most beautiful and difficult waters around Truckee, Tahoe, and Reno.

If you are new to fly fishing and do not have equipment, Gill will provide gear including waders, boots, and rods at no additional cost. Gilligan’s Guide service runs trips year round along the Truckee River, including float trips along the Nevada side, Little Truckee River, and Pyramid Lake Nevada.

TRUCKEE RIVER FLY FISHING – LATEST BLOG POSTS

Truckee River Fly Fishing Report March 11 2024

Truckee River Fly Fishing Report March 11 2024

Things are firing up for a good Spring on the Truckee River. We got lots of snow, sure you've heard, and now it's all gotta melt. High's could get into the 60's this weekend in Truckee. Yahoooo! Look for the river to come up. My favorite time to fish is Spring on the Truckee RIver. The bigger the water, the better. People always ask, what's your favorite time to fish the river Gill? Right now until about mid-June. I like brown trout. Now, don't look for the river to get that big or anything yet. That'll probably happen more in April. Right now, look for good nymphing all up and down the river. Skwalla's are out, blue wings, and lots of midges. Spring is also my favorite time to streamer fish, and it will be the best dry fly fishing we'll have too. If the water don't get that high. Just a fun time to fish. I'll have some clinics coming up in April. Don't forget to check these out too. Best rods on the planet, not kidding.  

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Truckee River Fly Fishing Report February 13 2024

Truckee River Fly Fishing Report February 13 2024

Interesting weather and fishing on the Truckee RIver. Pretty good storm cycle last week, and looks like it should continue starting this weekend for about another week. We're stacking the snow up on top, so that's really good news. Relatively warm for mid-February here in Hirschdale. We got less than a foot of snow on the ground and access is pretty easy all over. Flows are nice in California, and great out East on the lower Truckee River. Not too high, not too low. The dry fly fishing out East has been relatively good. It's mainly about timing. The streamer fishing and nymphing has been descent as well. Flows will probably pop up a bit next week, but they'll settle down fast. Who knows what the end of the month and March will bring weather wise. My opinion is it will be warm and wet. We'll see.      

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Truckee River Fly Fishing Report January 24 2024

Truckee River Fly Fishing Report January 24 2024

Mild weather in the Hirsch on the Truckee River. We've had precip most of the week, but the storms have been warm. It's snowing where it counts though. The kids had one good sledding week here at our house, that's it. Now we just have a few inches on the ground-El Niño. Honestly, I love when it snows up top and not down here. Less work for this old timer. The fishing this Winter has been good. Flows have been pretty stable and volume wise, perfect. We've made it past our 2 coldest months, so it's all gravy until Spring. The dry fly fishing out East on the lower river is starting to turn on. You'll get midges in the morning. When they cluster up the fish are on them. Later in the day the blue wings come out. Big fat size #16's. Most of the fish will be on the smaller side, but occasionally you'll get a big fish rising. Warm cloudy days are the best. Even on the sunny days you should get some fish looking up. Fun to head hunt. With the warmer Winter, I haven't spent all my time down on the Nevada side. The fishing is descent here on the Ca side too.        

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Truckee River Fly Fishing Report January 6 2024

Truckee River Fly Fishing Report January 6 2024

Winter has arrived on the Truckee River. Gonna be a cold week with snow and wind. Probably not the best for fishing. Maybe down on the Nevada side, but here in Hirschdale, we'll be in the single digits at night, and won't make it out of the 20's during the day. Too much ice in the guides for me. After this week, for now, it's looking like El Niño may kick in. That means bigger warmer storms, which is good for the fishing. Last week got a few days of solid streamer fishing in. It was warm and cloudy. So, I'll probably chill and build some rods this week. My Shopify store will be up soon. http://www.truckeespeedrods.com

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Truckee River Fly Fishing Report December 27 2023

Truckee River Fly Fishing Report December 27 2023

Mild is the word on the Truckee River. 63 degrees when I got off the river in Reno today. Crazy. That's like April weather.  Hopefully we end up getting some kind of Winter. Good for fishing though. I knew with El Nino we would have a mild Winter which bodes well for fishing, The whole darn river is fishing pretty well. Flows are perfect for Winter. I'd fish the frog water and maybe the riffles as the water warms up, on warmer days. Look for that dry fly fishing in the desert to start up in about 2-3 weeks. It gets super good down there on a cloudy day. So look, the skiing sucks, might as well come out and fish with me.

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Truckee River Fly Fishing Report December 19 2023

Truckee River Fly Fishing Report December 19 2023

Pretty El Niño'ish on the Truckee River. Warm and rain and not a lot of snow. Great for fishing, not great for the snowpack. It was 38 degrees last night, warm. Pretty much what you want for Winter fishing on the Truckee River though. Warm storms, high river. The Truckee fishes much like a steelhead river. When it gets big for a few days after rains, and then comes down, the fish are active. In times like these, fish the bigger stuff, spring type flies, streamers, worms, etc. She'll come back down in a few days, and then get the smaller Winter flies out again. This will be a repeatable pattern this year. Last year the Winter fishing pretty much sucked. The water was low and cold and everything was snow. This Winter has been much better. Flows are higher and it's been warmer.

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Truckee River Fly Fishing Report December 12 2023

Truckee River Fly Fishing Report December 12 2023

Rolling through Winter on the Truckee River. No snow yet. I think everyone's wondering when Winter will start. It's been cold, but lack of precip gets everyone a little on edge. I don't think anyone wants a repeat of last year, but we do need a snowpack. Flows are darn good though. Fishing is hit and miss like it usually is in Winter. Warmer overcast days are best, but there's usually a timeframe, window, that will trout will feed no matter how cold the air and water temp. Rememberer, look for and fish the frog water. Only work the rifles or top of runs after it warms up and fish move in to feed. I think El Niño will kick in eventually. For now enjoy not shoveling any snow.

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Truckee River Fly Fishing Report December 3 2023

Truckee River Fly Fishing Report December 3 2023

Bit warmer, and feeling much more like El Niño on the Truckee River We got out of the early morning teens, East winds stopped blowing, and kinda mild rainy'ish type weather. Good for Winter fly fishing on the Truckee River. Flows are big for this time of year. About 450 cfs here in Hirschdale, and around 550 cfs out East in Nevada on the lower river. Great fishing flows for sure. No snow to worry about anywhere on the river. We'll get our snow, but really feeling like we're gonna get more rain than snow this year. That lines up good for the fly fishing here.    

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Truckee River Fly Fishing Report November 27 2023

Truckee River Fly Fishing Report November 27 2023

Winter fly fishing on the Truckee River. Cold kinda all up and down the river. At least this week. Waiting for El Niño to kick in. Big warm storms and a big river, love the stuff. Right now she's cold. Look for slow walking pace water, 2-5 feet deep. You'll always get a feeding window sometime during the day, no matter how cold it is. No ice or anything like that, and in fact in will get almost into the 40's in the afternoon, just cold in the mornings. Flows are at 440, cfs here in Hirschdale. Those are big flows for this time of year. 550 out East on the lower Truckee River in Nevada. Benefits of a banger snow year. It was about 140 cfs this time last year. Good flies are small stuff. Anything small and dark. Eggs, worms, and stuff like that work great too. Streamers can work well through the frog water. Post spawn brown trout like a good protein source right now.

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Truckee River Fly Fishing Report November 14 2023

Truckee River Fly Fishing Report November 14 2023

Pretty balmy mid-November weather in Truckee. When's Winter gonna start? Hard to say. Have to admit it's kinda nice right now. We'll get the snow, it's coming. Ain't the best streamer weather. I love pounding them around this time of year. That streamer bite happens when the weather is nasty, not mid-60's and sunny. I'd focus my time on nymphing right now, Euro, or bobber. Look at fishing the frog water early. Bobber rigs are great for that, then, fish the rifles after the water warms up. Euro rigs are the best for that. Trout move, Summer and Winter. I did some bobber fishing the other day and crushed them. Forget how well it can work in the slow frog water than your flies need to be suspended. I guess you'll see me bobber fishing again some more, lol. Looks like most browns are in the process of spawning out East on the lower river, and are just about done up here on the CA side. I think the best streamer fishing happens post spawn, and again in the Spring on the Truckee River.  

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Truckee River Fly Fishing Report November 7 2023

Truckee River Fly Fishing Report November 7 2023

Little taste of Winter on the Truckee River. Finally done with the warm daytime temps. Good and bad right. It's nice to have the t-shirt on in November, but those big fish like the nasty weather. I expect this week to be pretty good. When you get the water temps to crash, the bigger fish like to eat. It's like they know Winter is coming. Should be a good streamer week. Most trouts will move into the slower water. If and when it warms up during the day, they can move into some faster water to feed. Midges, blue wings, etc. There's some fish that are still spread out, but that should change here this week. Flows are great from Boca on down through Nevada.      

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Truckee River Fly Fishing Report October 30 2023

Truckee River Fly Fishing Report October 30 2023

Welp, Indian summer is done. Cold here in the mountains on the the Truckee River. Good news though, this week will be warm and cloudy. That will be good for just about everything, anywhere on the river. It'll get us out of this stagnant, cold sunny pattern that we slipped in too. Have a dry fly rod, streamer rod, and nymph rod, because they will all be good this week. Flows are still right around 400 cubes here in the Hirsch, and around 500 out East on the Nevada side of the Truckee River. Kinda waiting on El Niño. If we do have a wet warm Winter, that's really good news for our fishing. The Truckee's good when she's pumping.    

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