This storm has done very little to change the conditions on the river, both here on the California side as well as the Nevada side. The flows came up just a tad along most of the Truckee, but we have already seen this begin to taper off.

As predicted in last week’s report the water temps came up a few degrees, but likely will drop again after this storm pushes through and we look at nights in the teens next week. This may slow the fish down a bit and really make evenings the best time to find fish. The water clarity has decreased just a bit, which is probably the biggest positive out of this storm.

The decreased clarity will often make the fish react more positively to the larger bugs, such as worms, stones and eggs, whereas the previous weeks were all about little black stuff in sizes 18-20. You can certainly keep these flies in rotation, especially later in the week as temps drop and clarity increases. But if I were going out today, I would put my trust in the worm. These high calorie meals are always a great choice during the leaner months of the winter, especially after a weather event, and especially if that weather event was rain instead of snow.

The streamer and dry fly bite on the lower river has been on a day-to-day basis and if you time it right then it can be epic. But we would recommend being adaptive if it isn’t happening and switch over to the bobber if you need to feel that tug.