High Sierra Trout
More Winter Angling
Saturday Dan and I went fishing at a few spots on the Truckee River here in Reno. It was another beautiful winter day here in the Eastern Sierras, with temperatures in the mid fifties. I got to the river before Dan, and was surprised to see two other guys fly fishing in my favorite spot. I hit this stretch regularly all summer and saw only one other fly fisher here. Since they were in my preferred drift, I had to fish another spot just downstream. I rigged up with a stonefly nymph on top and a Prince dropper. About five minutes into my fishing I hooked up on a spunky little rainbow (pictured below).
Spunky little guy
The fish wasn’t very big, but he hammered the Prince and jumped a few times, providing good sport. A few minutes later two more dudes showed up and began to set up their rods. They headed downstream to some marginal water that I don’t usually fish, but since the other spots were occupied they didn’t have much of a choice. I kept drifting my flies in the one good drift my spot afforded, all the while keeping an eye on the guys upstream so I could move up if they left. A few casts later I caught another scrappy rainbow, again on the Prince (pictured below).
Scrappy little bow
This fish behaved exactly like the first, hammering the Prince and putting up a good fight. I crossed the river to cover the drift from a different angle, but caught nothing else. One of the guys upstream hooked and landed a decent sized whitefish, then one of them left. I moved up to fish the water he had vacated, and caught another small rainbow on my first cast (pictured below).
Little guy #3
A few casts later I hooked and then lost a fish that was a little bigger, the fish all hit real hard, the warm weather must really be waking them up. Dan showed up and we decided to head to some less crowded water at a park closer to downtown. The next spot was empty, except for some kids throwing rocks into the river. I waded out to fish a favorite drift on the far side of the river, on my third cast I felt a faint pluck. I wasn’t sure if it was a fish or not, so I didn’t set the hook very hard. Immediately a big, beautifully colored brown rocketed out of the water about three feet in the air. This fish was in the 22-24” range, but the fly pulled out when he re-entered the water. A little ways upstream I hooked a fat rainbow that immediately took off downstream on a long run. I did my best to follow him, and ended up beaching him 50 yards downstream after a long fight (pictured below and at top of page).
Winter fatty
We didn’t hook any more fish after that, so I left to go to work. Dan’s waders were leaking terribly, so he quit as well. Sunday morning I picked up Rich and we headed up the canyon to a spot that produced a bunch of fish for us last fall. There was a lot of mushy snow, making the 15 minute hike downstream a real chore. We finally got to the hole and rigged up with stoneflies and Prince nymphs. About 10 minutes into our fishing I hooked a nice rainbow, this fish wasn’t that big, but he put up a great fight, jumping two or three times (pictured below).
Pretty rainbow
We fished hard for another 45 minutes or so, but failed to pound up any more fish, so we hiked out and headed back to town in order to hit the Big Fish Hole. After only about three casts I caught a nice 15” rainbow on the stonefly. This fish fought hard, all of the fish I have been catching have fought surprisingly well considering that the water is only about 40ºF. I had left my camera in the car, so I didn’t get a photo of this fish, but it was beautifully colored and very plump. We fished for another hour or so, but didn’t catch anything else, so we called it a day. There are a series of storms lined up for later in the week, so I’ll probably ski next weekend instead of fishing.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
