Little Truckee River, Truckee River

Browntown, California

by Matt

It’s no secret that the Truckee River grows some of the largest river-dwelling trout in the state of California. The Truckee River is full of variable size fish, ranging from as small as 4” to as large +30”, with the real possibility of a fish-of-a-lifetime. I’ve fantasized about coming into contact with one of these massive fish for a very long time and recently made my dream a reality after releasing one of the most memorable browns I’ve ever caught.

My original plan this trip was to learn how to fish the Little Truckee River whereas it is one of the few well-known streams that I have yet to pull a fish out. The Little Truckee is defined as a technical river with its match the hatch and quality over quantity type fishing. The flows on the Little Truckee were at a solid 97CFS which appeared to be above average for this time of the year. Decent flows, good weather, what could wrong?

Fishing pressure.

Notorious for being one of the most overfished streams in the Truckee area, the Little Truckee sees a huge amount of pressure all year around. The easy accessibility, skinny water, and distance between Stampede and Boca make it ideal for a quick “wet my line for a few hours” trip.

I covered a fair bit of water in the upper lot however became discouraged when I could not find fish where they were suppose to be and found other anglers holed up in the most productive spots. Rather than waste anymore time being frustrated and not fishing I left to fish the Big Truckee River. By the time I had return to the parking lot many more people started showing up.

The Truckee River was flowing at around 500CFS below Boca and 530CFS near Floriston. I covered water and was well rewarded for my efforts. I hooked a lot of fish including three huge fish, a large rainbow and two browns that broke me off. Each of these fish bent my hook slightly which made me switch to a streamer pattern. I had three follows and got one really good grab that I held on to for dear life. Luckily I was able to land it and behold my first streamer eater brown from the Truckee River.

Ellis Lake, Little Truckee River, Truckee River

The Deer Creek Tradition

by Matt
Fish On Deer Creek

Every year during the trout opener I visit where it all began. Years ago when I first picked up a fly rod, there was a time when I went troutless for four months. Despite catching a lot of warm-water species, I struggled to hook the species that created the outdoor sport of fly fishing. I’ll never forget the first time I hooked my first trout, a beautiful four inch dink on a 6WT rod.

Tehama County Gem

Deer Creek is a special place. Many anglers that I’ve mention Deer Creek to have told me that this creek is where they first learned how to fly fish. With countless numbers of small rainbows that will literally eat anything you throw at them, this creek is one of the best streams in Northern California where you can learn how to fly fish. It’s not uncommon to leave the creek with over fifty fish caught and released within a day, all on dries!

Deer Creek Tranquility

This year the creek is running a little higher than usual. As a matter of fact, the current flows are the highest I’ve seen the creek in over four years! More water means more happy fish.
Nymphing Deer Creek is typically the best tactic until the water warms up in late May. No need for an indicator here, tight-line that shiz because it’s way more fun than watching a bobber all day.

Big Fish for Deer Creek

My dries were not working this opener. After a fishing a few spots where I knew fish were, I switched to a nymph rig and finally caught them. This was interesting because the water is fairly shallow making it easy to pick off bugs on top, however they weren’t making the effort to rise. The water wasn’t terribly cold but it just goes to show how important it is when trying to figure out what’s working. Bugs were flying around everywhere. I saw march browns, green drakes, caddis, midges, and even a salmon fly.

Big Mac Bug

Tight-line nymphing produced the most fish. The good ole copper john plus pheasant tail dropper did the trick.

Truckee & Little Truckee
I spent some time on the Truckee and Little Truckee this week as well… and got my butt kicked. Skunked like a punk, not even a single bump all day. I saw some very nice browns where I was fishing and although I didn’t catch them, it was cool to see a Truckee River brown in real-life. I’ll get them next time.

Truckee River Grand Canyon

Ellis Lake
The spring crappie bite is on at Ellis Lake. Every other cast is producing a nice pan-sized crappie on a strip-strike. After catching a few on the main lake, I fished the northern lake where I ran into a gear angler who told me, “Someone caught a 20” five pound crappie at Ellis Lake the other day.” I call BS on that. When I got home I checked to find that the world record for a black crappie is five pounds. Either Ellis Lake is growing some monster mutant fish or someone is spreading fishing stories. The biggest crappie I’ve hooked there have been the typical mama 14”ers

Fun fact: Bluegills fight harder than crappie.

Have a Crappie Day!

 

1 2