Receding Water
The next coming weeks are about to get really good for the local water ways as runoff finally is beginning to subside and the bugs are beginning to pop. While the North Shore rivers have been fishing well and has been the best option, some of the southern rivers are close to fishable and the flows are trending downwards.
Carson River:
East Fork: The flows have been dropping every night and the general trend leads us to believe that the river will be fishable in the next two weeks. Currently the river is bouncing between 1,000 and 1,200 CFS which is a touch too high, but once it gets to about 600 CFS it becomes a really fun flow to fish. While tough to cross, using big rods with streamers, large stone flys, and San Juan worms should all become effective in the higher flows. The ideal flows are between 300 and 450 CFS which might not happen until the first week or two of August, but when it does the water will be cold and the fish should be chowing.
West Fork: The West fork of the Carson currently looks like something out of a movie and we wish it fished like that too. Unfortunately due to the management and “put and take” style of fishing that is allowed here, the river doesn’t have a huge population of trout at the easy access spots, so explore more and look for the small wild trout off the beaten path. The county and state are planning on stocking the bridges in the next couple weeks, so it should start fishing better soon.
Truckee River:
The Truckee currently has both pristine flows and water temperature, so if you have the whole day to check out one of the bigger rivers in the area, this is where I would go. The whole river should now be fishable (watch the temperature in Nevada) but the water is flowing cold and with reasonable flows all the way through the canyon. Hatches are Caddis (spotted sedges), PMDs (pinkish and orange colored), golden stoneflies, and the occasional green drake. This river will probably fish better for you with good drifts and nymph rigs, but evening dries and dry dropper rigs will produce as well.
Little Truckee River:
The Little Truckee recently went through a temperature shock where the water masters cut the flows out of the bottom of the dam and only the spillway was providing water to the river which was over 70 degrees and lethal to trout. They have since bumped the flows and we are keeping an eye on it, but also giving it a little bit of a break for the fish and bugs to readjust after the sudden temperature change. If you are up in the area, I recommend trying the main stem of the Truckee for now.
East Walker River:
They have cut the flows in half this week, which is still 600 CFS and still a bit too high to make the trip down there worth it, but its a good sign for the next couple weeks as we hope that the flows come down to about 350. 600 CFS is probably fishable in some of the slower moving areas of the river with a sink tip and large heavy streamer, but I personally won’t make that drive until the river is below 400 CFS.
Stillwater Options:
Most popular lakes in the area are fishing as well as they’re going to as surface temps are still cool and the big fish are cruising. I have seen some nice fish caught out of Caples, Silver, Indian Creek, and Union Valley in the last few weeks.
For the boat guys, the Kokanee are going strong and the Mac bite is picking up out of Tahoe.
Hot Lakes:
Sawmill Lake - BOOK NOW! Open and fishing hot!
Fallen Leaf - Fishing well especially near the inlet
Prosser Reservoir - Fishes well from shore or boat for trout and small mouth bass.
Lake Baron - Thawed with plenty of holdover trout
Bridgeport Reservoir - Chance at a nice brown trout from shore
Caple’s Lake- Thawed out, chance at a big fish!
Tahoe - Not a numbers game but when we fish Tahoe we are looking for that fish of a lifetime
