The big storm last week raised the flows and lowered the temps on the river, but how does this affect the fishing? Well, not as much as you’d think. The fish still have to eat, and the bugs still have to hatch. We even saw a few dry fly eats this week as the midges really seemed to kick into gear along the entire river, plus, we even saw a few small Skwala adults begin to show. While we may still be a few weeks out from really seeing these early season stones pop, we did see a few fish take these off the top. We love this hatch and look forward to it every year, and from what we can tell it’s looking to be off to a good start as we’ve seen quite a few nymphs in the system, and now a few adults.

The Baetis where still around a bit this week, especially out east from Reno to Mustang Ranch, and these predictable bugs can make for some consistent fishing in the coming months. We have been spending quite a bit of time fishing around Reno and finding some great quality fish, some of which appear to be getting their spawn colors. In another few weeks we will begin to see the lower elevation rainbows begin their yearly dance, at which point anglers should begin to keep an eye out for redds or spawning activity and avoid targeting these vulnerable fish. This would also be a good time to switch gears and focus more on the CA side where the rainbows spawn a bit later due to cooler water temps, until then however, the lower river will be firing!