There have been a fair number of changes in conditions on the river this week as the flows out of Boca are cut down from 500 to 200 CFS causing the Farad area to drop down around 800. While we would say these flows are just about perfect, this drop combined with the hot days as of late, have caused the water temps rise down here. As of yesterday, we saw the temps peak at 65 Degrees around 6:00pm. With a consistent 1 degree rise each day at the Farad gauging station and the days only getting hotter, it wouldn’t surprise us to see water exceed 68 degrees down here by the end of the week. However, please keep in mind this will be at around 6:00pm, still giving you most of the day to fish. While the fishing on the Truckee is best first thing in the morning right now, if your only opportunity to fish is in the middle of the day, we strongly encourage you to bring a thermometer with you and keep an eye on temps. Anything upstream from the Boca confluence saw even warmer temps this week due to much of its water is coming off of the top of Lake Tahoe. One of our guides recorded 71-degree water temps at 7:00pm. Like we mentioned, the days are expected to get warmer, and so too will the water. If fishing along Highway 89 South, here in town, around Glenshire Drive, or at Horner’s Corner (freeway bend), please bring a thermometer with you and call it when temps near 68 degrees.

With the fish now mostly nosed up in the fast water, using tightline nymphing techniques to get your flies down quickly will be the most effective, while also providing excellent strike detection. Given the various hatches happening all at once, using heavily weighted attractor nymphs will be a great way to cover bases. If it gets down to the strike zone, imitates food and is drag-free, then it will probably work!

The dry fly bite has appeared to taper off a bit more this week with fewer hatches significant enough to interest fish to rise. We are still seeing PMD’s, Yellow Sallies and Caddis with enough regularity to get the occasional riser. Your best shots on top would be mid-morning through early afternoon. We are seeing some very nice fish caught on streamers as well this week, and it can prove to be the most consistent way to find the larger fish in the river, as long as you don’t mind only getting a couple of grabs a day. Large articulated flies, fished on a fast-sinking line, are a good way to move the biggest fish out of any run and those tugs are addicting!