Today we got to fish a stretch of the Truckee River in Reno that was new to all of us.  I got to the river at one of the parks here in town around 1:30 and Rich and Dan joined me a few hours later.  The fishing was pretty slow at first, with a few fished hooked and even fewer landed.  I was using an Indi-Caddis with a #16 orange Psycho Prince dropper.  The water I was fishing was a long flat with a maximum depth of about three feet, it was pretty boring water to fish with no obvious holding places.  I soon worked my way up to some deeper pocket water and things picked up immediately.  Most of the fish were concentrated against the far bank in a deeper slot that required some deep wading to reach.  I was getting lots of grabs, mostly from 8-12” fish, but I only landed a few.  I tossed my rig behind a submerged boulder and my Indi-Caddis went under immediately.  I figured I had snagged on the rock, but set anyway and was tight to a fish.  He wallowed at the surface for a moment and I saw that he was a fatty, then he tore off downstream, breaking water every ten feet or so.  He got about forty feet down from me then stopped and started shaking his head and thrashing at the surface, which usually results in a break-off, but the little Psycho Prince held tight.  I slowly worked him up the far bank and guided him into my net.  He was a beautiful plump cutt-bow of about 17” (pictured below).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                      Chunker

 

 

I was very happy to land this fish, since for the last week or so I have been unable to land any big ones.  I have hooked plenty, but they have all been getting away.  Shortly after that Rich and Dan showed up and we spread out along a nice stretch of pocket water.  Dan set himself up on a good spot where two riffly slots came together and immediately began hooking fish.  He landed about six fish on a Bird’s Nest he ties himself, including a pretty 14 incher (pictured below).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                   Death-grip Dan

 

 

I switched to a two-nymph rig under an indicator and drifted a fast, deep slot against the far bank.  On my second drift the indicator went under and I set up on a monster rainbow of at least 24”.  He came to the surface and slapped his fat tail before ripping downstream and breaking me off.  I re-rigged, continued drifting the slot, and promptly caught a strong 15” rainbow.  A few casts later I hooked up with another big ‘bow that swam right toward me when hooked.  He got to within six feet or so, then took off downstream.  He put up quite a fight, but I finally netted him (pictured below and at top of page).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                        Big Fish of the day

 

 

 

It took a red/yellow rubberleg Jumbo John that was the top fly of my rig.  It was a nice fish and a great reward for sniffing out some new water.  Water temps are holding at 60º now, and bug activity is steadily increasing.  Any day now I expect a good hatch with rising fish...hopefully.