We are seeing skyrocketing flow charts this morning and the river will certainly become unfishable in the coming days. This sucks for fishing this week, but is great for the overall health of the fishery, cleaning the river bottom of silt and debris, and hopefully creating better spawning habitat for the rainbows just a few weeks before they begin their spawn. I suppose unfishable is a relative term, while you could fish, it will be extra tough.

If you decide to head out regardless of the conditions this week (and I’d applaud you for doing so) be sure to focus on fishing any soft eddies, tail outs, or anywhere out of the main current in the river. Stick with grabby bugs such as stoneflies, worms, eggs, crawdads and streamers. Use a lot of weight to slow down your drift and use heavy tippet such as 2x - 3x to give your flies a half a chance of coming back when you find that freshly placed snag on the bottom of the river. Oftentimes this is when you have a shot at some of the biggest fish in the river, as they can often get displaced from their typical lies and are forced to move to slower water. So, if you must fish, and believe me I know the feeling, then that would be your best game plan on the Truckee river.