Today was my turn to freeze my ass off and catch some trout.  I hung around the house until the internet told me that the temperature in Truckee was above freezing, then I headed up the canyon to Boca Reservoir.  The lake was completely frozen over so I had to go with plan B,  the Little Truckee. The road accessing the river wasn’t plowed, so I had a blast four wheeling through the snow on my way to fish.  There were lots of people out today hiking, riding snow mobiles, and riding inner tubes towed behind pickups.  The parking lot near my favorite spot had one truck in it, but luckily for me the guy had gone downstream and left my favorite water for me.  This pool is one of the best pools I’ve ever seen in terms of numbers of big fish (pictured below).  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                   Tough water

 

 

The water is very slow, very clear and only about three feet deep.  When the sun is overhead you can usually spot 15-30 fish all over sixteen inches scattered throughout the pool.  The trouble is that the fish are super spooky and very selective as a result of being pounded all summer long.  Today I was only able to spot four fish due to the low angle of the sun.  I started fishing around 1:30 and the water temperature was an acceptable 40º.  I spooked a couple of fish slogging down the steep bank to the water, but they didn’t move far and I could still see them finning in the slow current.  I rigged up with a small parachute dry and a tiny baetis nymph dropper, my first few casts spooked the trout even more, and they were gone.  Soon after I saw a nice fish rise a little upstream from me, so I tied on a size 20 Trico with 7X tippet.  The fish rose again as I was tying on the fly, followed by an even bigger fish on the opposite bank.  Repeated drifts resulted in no takes from either fish, so I switched flies to a size 18 AK’s parachute Callibaetis quill, a fly that has caught a lot of fish for me this year. On the third drift a spunky 14” rainbow hammered the fly, he fought a little sluggishly and I soon had him to the bank.  The fish flopped out of my hand before I could get a photo, taking my fly with him.  I tied on a size 22 baetis emerger and resumed casting to the big brown rising near a rock on the far side.  It took a few tries, but when I got the drift right he slammed the fly.  He jumped a few times before throwing the hook, so I got a good look at his plump, buttery 16-18” body.  I rested the pool until another fish started rising in the middle of the run, on the second drift he calmly slurped down the emerger, then exploded when he felt the hook.  This fish was a little smaller, about 13”, but he fought much harder (pictured below).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                               The elusive snow trout

 

All the commotion caused by fighting that fish pretty much spooked the pool, but I was able to hook two more fish on a size 22 baetis nymph.  One of these fish was a huge brown in the 24” range. When he felt the hook he came to the surface and slapped his tail before tearing off upstream, breaking me off in the process.  When I left the house this morning I was planning on casting woolly buggers from the shore of the lake, so I didn’t bring my waders.  After kneeling in the snow for two hours I had gotten pretty wet and cold, so I decided to call it a day.  Today was a beautiful winter day and I had a great time hooking and landing some spooky trout in difficult conditions.  My season pass blackout ends on New Year’s Day, so I plan to ring in the New Year by skiing in the morning and chasing trout in the afternoon, a perfect day in the High Sierra.  The place where I ski, Northstar, is located about 20 minutes from the Little Truckee (pictured below).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                               Little Truckee with Northstar in the background

 

 

 

Lots of people make fun of Northstar because it lacks steep terrain, but to me its proximity to winter dry fly fishing makes it one of the best in the country!  A major storm is brewing for the end of the week, weather forecasters are calling for a dump of several feet starting Thursday night.  I plan to ski powder on Friday and Saturday, then fish the Trinity for steelhead on Sunday and Monday.  Hopefully the storm won’t blow out the river!