Things have changed quite a bit on the Truckee over the last week. The colder weather has slowed the runoff, the flows have dropped and the water has cleared up nicely to a “steelhead green” along most sections of the river. The Glenshire area has dropped from 1,000 CFS on Monday to 700 CFS as of today. We have had a few reports of some fair fishing high in the system along 89 North, which was great to hear seeing as it went dry again last fall. Up here flows are only 250 CFS as of today and visibility is great. Access on the upper river is also good as they plowed the bike path along the river, but parking remains limited

Below the Boca confluence we’ve seen the greatest drop in flows, peaking at 2,100 CFS on Monday and today they’re sitting at 1,600. These kind of flows will still keep fish pushed along the edges and anglers should continue to focus on throwing attractor nymphs or streamers in soft water along the banks for the immediate future. 

Skwala nymphs, worms, and eggs are a great place to start but we have also been finding a few fish on smallish attractors such a blowtorches, duracells, and rainbow warriors. For streamers, we’ve been having one luck using a highsticking presentation with heavy jigged sculpins or crawdads, paired with a smaller nymph point fly.