First Place Newspaper Feature 2008
Exceptionally Good Trout Fishing Is Right in Your Backyard
from the Reno Gazette-Journal
By Zack Thomas
Come October, most local anglers turn their attention to Pyramid Lake, which opened to fishing on Oct. 1, or to hunting, or to sitting on their duffs watching football and baseball.
They're missing out, though, on exceptionally good trout fishing right in their backyards. October and November, say local experts, are among the best months of the year to fish the Truckee River from the California state line to Lockwood.
"This is prime time," said Steve Robinson, fishing manager at the Orvis store in the Summit Sierra mall. "Fly fishermen wait all year for the fall turn-on."
But it's not just fly casters that can get in the action. "Conventional fishing gets extremely good with large minnow-imitating plugs and nightcrawlers," said Dave Piccinini of Mark Fore & Strike.
Why Fish the Fall?
Like most of us, trout instinctively start eating more as the days get shorter and the nights cooler. "They're just taking the old hint from nature that summer's over, winter's coming, and it's time to fatten up," said Chris Healy of the Nevada Department of Wildlife.
Lighter use of the river also contributes to good fall fishing. "You've got less rafters, swimmers, people throwing sticks for their dogs," said Robinson. "The fish start to feel more comfortable. They come out from where they've been hiding all summer."
Those same rafters, swimmers and dogs knock prey items loose from the riverbed so trout only have to wait for the current to deliver their next meal. "Now, they've got to look a little more for prey without all the activity churning it up," said Robinson.
Fall fishing on the Truckee also tends to yield larger fish. NDOW stocks the river heavily throughout spring and summer with 7-to-11-inch rainbow and cutthroat trout. By fall, the "stockers" that have eluded anglers and predators may put on as much as four inches — and grow tougher, bulkier and smarter after a few months in the wild.
In addition to larger stocked trout, fall offers improved odds of catching one of the big, wild rainbow and German brown trout for which the Truckee is known. Large browns are especially aggressive just before and after their spawn, usually in October. "They're on the bite right in town," said Robinson. "They're chompin'."
The Truckee is home to more trophies than most anglers think. Based on electro-fishing surveys, Healy said, "The river is in very good shape as far as big-fish population goes." Piccinini said a number of anglers have brought photos to the store this year of trout over six pounds caught from the Truckee.
Where and When
Anglers can find good fall fishing on almost any part of the Truckee upstream from Derby Dam, and numerous streamside parks in Verdi, Reno and Sparks make good jumping-off points. Fishing is generally better a few hundred yards upstream or downstream than right at access points.
For a bit more solitude, anglers can access the river from several roadside parking areas along Old Highway 40 near Verdi by taking exit 5 off Interstate 80, and along Mogul Rd. by taking exit 7.
Some of the best fishing, though, is actually in town. "In my experience, especially in fall and winter," said Piccinini, "the fishing through downtown Reno is as good as or better than anywhere on the river."
With fall, the trout spread out into a variety of types of water. They can still be found in the deep channels and holes they favor during summer, but also lurking in pockets of slow water behind boulders and foraging in riffles as shallow as one or two feet.
They also feed more actively during the daylight hours than they do during summer. "That's one neat thing about fall and winter fishing; through the middle of the day is actually better than early or late," said Piccinini.
Lures and Bait
For conventional anglers interested in catching large numbers of smaller fish — rather than small numbers of bigger fish — spinners are a very good bet. Piccinini recommends Panther Martins in #4 and #6 sizes. His favorite colors are "gold salamander," and black with yellow spots.
Nightcrawlers also take plenty of trout. They should be fished with one or more splitshot sinkers 12 to 18 inches up the line from the hook — enough weight to keep the bait near the bottom but not so much that it doesn't move with the current.
For catching trophy-size trout, Piccinini favors minnow-imitating lures like Rapala Original Floaters in 11- and 13-centimeter sizes. Subdued colors like "brown trout" and black-and-gold are most effective. Crawfish-imitating lures like Rebels are deadly on large fish too, as are live crawfish, which can be trapped in the river for bait.
Lures and baits should be cast upstream and "worked" back down through likely pieces of water. Many anglers, said Piccinini, retrieve their lures back upstream. But trout turn their noses up at what appears to be a crawfish or minnow swimming inexplicably against the current.
Nymphs and Streamers
Fly anglers intent on tangling with large, wild fish should likewise use larger offerings — streamers to imitate minnows, crawfish patterns and, until early November, October caddis patterns.
The October caddis is an unusually large, orange-hued caddisfly that hatches along the Truckee roughly from late September through late October. Size 6 or 8 flies imitating its larval and pupa stages are among Robinson's favorite fall patterns.
Midges hatch along the Truckee year-round, and tiny nymphs imitating their larval and pupa stages are particularly effective in late fall and winter, when the trout have few other insects to eat. Even big fish eat midges when nothing else is available, said Robinson.
Mayfly nymph patterns like Pheasant Tails in sizes 12 to 16, especially with a bit of flash added, are likewise effective throughout the year. They're best, though, in early fall, before water temperatures dip to the mid-50s.
Nymphs are most easily fished with a strike indicator and one or more BB-size splitshot. Robinson likes to use a 4X leader with one fly tied to the end, and a second fly on a 14-inch, 5X dropper tied to the hook-bend of the first.
Streamers, on the other hand, should be cast upstream and across the current and then stripped back to impart the erratic action of a struggling minnow. Large streamers don't catch a lot of fish, but they offer patient fly casters their best chance at a trophy.
Tough Old River
With interstate traffic speeding past in places, blown-out dams marred with graffiti and discarded beer cans glinting on the bottom, the Nevada section of the Truckee bears little outward resemblance to the west's more famous trout rivers, although it holds as many big trout as any of them.
It's a tough old river with plenty of lumps and scars from diversion and flood control projects, water's-edge development and just plain hard use. And yet it has its own gritty, reticent beauty of which the lumps and scars are very much a part.
That beauty is at its peak in fall, when the river quiets down and the cottonwoods and willows seem to glow from within and the first frosts glitter along the banks in the chilly mornings. Being quietly afoot in the river then is as good a reason to fish it this fall as the trophy trout lurking beneath the surface.