Bluelining Tahoe

[ALarge]

I'm speaking at a convention in Reno in a couple weeks and had the idea to take the few days following to head into the Sierras around Lake Tahoe and backpack around for a few days. I'll meet a buddy from San Francisco while i'm up there, but neither of us know the area aside from the wintertime ski slopes. 

I was curious if anyone had any suggestions of cool fishy hikes to do or places to camp in the area. I'm particularly keen on checking off my first cutthroat. 

Any suggestions welcome, thanks! 

[Gregg DiSalvo]

Desolation wilderness on the Tahoe Rim Trail has countless lakes that for the most part hold fish.  In terms of streams, I am not so sure.  

Gregg

[Gregg DiSalvo]

http://www.davessierrafishing.com/mapshtml2/desolation.html  This is helpful. I'd imagine some of the feeder streams do hold fish.

On Monday, August 7, 2017 at 10:15:28 AM UTC-4, ALarge wrote:

[Yambag Nelson]

I've never fished it, but I have driven by the Truckee while going skiing and it looked like a nice river.  Its supposed to be pretty decent although isn't a backcountry destination.

[Andrew LaVigne]

I lived in Reno for for a short stretch about 10 years back, never did anything super back-country, but Yambag is right, the Truckee is a nice river. 

Flows normally are a challenge this time of year, but thanks to the amazing snowpack from this past winter, should be good right now. It's predominately rainbows and browns (some very large), but they do stock Lahontan Cutthroats in there. I had success basically anywhere from the Nevada line to the city parks in Reno, and upstream in CA should be better. The Little Truckee tailwater is also an option, nice high-mountain meadow stream.  

If you were there after Oct 1, I would send you to Pyramid Lake. Just an insane experience, basically surf fishing for trout.

Otherwise, the Carson and the Walker rivers are up that way - never fished either, but may fit the bill for you. 

[Andrew LaVigne]

relevant to this region: 

http://www.moldychum.com/monster-lahontan-cutthroat-begin-historic-truckee-migration/

[ALarge]

Fantastic info, all around. I think i'll split time fishing the Truckee and hiking to some remote alpine lakes in Desolation Wilderneess to catch the almost total solar eclipse on Monday morning. Which begs the fish psychology question- How do you think fish will react to a solar eclipse. Strong bite? No bite? I suppose I'll endeavor to find out. Pics could be epic. 

[Kevin]

Here's another good resource: http://stevenojai.tripod.com/sierratahoe.htm

The Truckee can be absolutely superb. A good idea might be to fish small streams during the day and hit the Truckee during the evenings - you might encounter some of the most epic caddis hatches of your life, and you'll definitely have the opportunity to catch larger trout than you'll encounter on nearly any other river in California. The Little Truckee can be pretty technical but is also a great stream to visit. 

Another unique experience can be found at Independence Lake, which the Nature Conservancy acquired to protect pure Lahontan Cutthroats: https://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/nevada/placesweprotect/independence-lake.xml

About how much time will you have available? I fished the area most of my life before moving to DC.  

[Alex Large]

Thanks for the resources, Kevin. I'm literally 100% free to roam the region from Sunrise on Sunday the 20th until Sunrise on Wednesday on the 23rd. 

So far i've booked car camping reservations for Sunday night at Boyington Mill Campground on the Little Truckee under Stampede Reservoir, Monday night at Fallen Leaf Campground (assuming i don't stay camped out at Susie Lake in Desolation Wilderness for the solar eclipse), and Tuesday at Goose Meadows Campground in Tahoe NF on the Truckee river. 

There's a good chance I'll end up staying in the backcountry any of these nights, but now I've at least got backup plans with fire rings. 

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[Ashley Frohwein]

I just got back from Reno, and fished the Truckee in Reno for 4 days. In short, it's pretty good but I wasn't blown away. The Little Truckee is supposed to be much better. The Reno Fly Shop guys are a great resource.

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[Ashley Frohwein]

But if you do fish the Truckee in Reno, and would like to get away from all the people and small fish, head to the trophy section. It's also higher gradient, so the water is faster moving and more oxygenated, which is critical this time of year and with low flows. Try to stay on the water until around sundown to catch the evening hatches. But if you're just after cuttie, regardless of size, there are tons of small to medium sized ones in the non-trophy sections.

I found that fly selection wasn't that critical. Drift is critical though, even for the smaller fish.