Sunday morning dawned cold and windy, with a dusting of snow from Saturday night’s little storm that blew through the Sierras this weekend.  The forecast indicated that the day was supposed to warm up to about 45º, so I decided to go ahead and go fishing.  The flows have come back down and the water has cleared up, I guess the cold temperatures the storm brought slowed the start of the run off, lucky me!  Last year’s meager snow pack meant that there was no appreciable run off in the spring, but this year the snow pack in the Sierras is above “normal” and there should be some significant run off this spring.  Doug and I got to the River at about 11:30, the air temps were still in the mid thirties and the water was a chilly 40º, so I figured we would be in for a slow start.  Doug’s first action was on a grimy old shoe, probably lost by one of the countless drunk tubers that float the river in the summer.  There are an inordinate number of various types of footwear and clothing present along the banks and in the water of the Truckee, and many are hooked and landed by my friends and I.  About 45 minutes into the day Doug caught a nice beautifully colored 17.5” rainbow on his Skwala stone nymph.  Later we moved up to the the Secret Big Fish Hole to try our luck with the bruisers that stack up in the main slot, Dan pulled a nice 18” rainbow out of there last week on a pheasant tail nymph that he tied with feathers from a bird that Rich shot back east.  After about 20 drifts through the slot I hooked up on a fish.  At first I thought I was snagged on a branch, there was resistance but no movement.  I started swinging it towards me on a tight line, when the fish started to move.  It started out slowly, as if it were waking from  a long nap, but soon began to pick up steam.  It eventually took off on a long, grinding run downstream that forced me to negotiate some tricky river bottom in order to follow it.  Two runs and about 10 minutes later I beached the beautiful 20” brown pictured below and at the top of the page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                

                                         Fatty brown

 

 

This fish provided the best fight I’ve had in the last 6 months, and was beautifully colored and very healthy.  He took a Burk’s Hunchback March Brown nymph  that was the bottom fly of my three nymph rig.  I have been fishing three nymphs a lot lately, and have been pleased with the results.  Later we headed down to the park where Doug and I met to fish the two spots there where we’ve been catching fish recently.  Within my first couple of drifts through the honey hole I latched on to a strong cuttbow on a golden stone nymph.  The fish had recently spawned and was a little beat up, but it taped out at 19” and was in healthy condition (pictured below).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                    

                                        Spawned out cuttbow

 

 

We took fin clippings from the fish so Doug could give them to the Department of Wildlife, he has been collecting samples for them for DNA analysis.  After the release of the fish, Doug was set to try his luck in the hole when the same jackass from last week showed up and launched a tennis ball into the drift for his dog before we had a chance to say anything.  Disgusted, we moved upstream where I hooked and lost a chunky rainbow in the 18-20” range, again on the golden stone.  The wind picked up and it got considerably colder, so we called it a day and left.  I might fish for a few hours on Wednesday, but the forecast is calling for warmer temperatures which will probably bring up the flows.  Rich is heading to Pyramid Lake this weekend to fish with a friend of his, I might go fish with them early Saturday morning.  Recent reports indicate that the fishing is picking up out there, and should really turn on any day now.