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CALIFORNIA’S TRUCKEE RIVER
...A
Lesson in Patience (Part II)
By
Frank Pisciotta
Thy Rod & Staff Guide Service
www.cyberfly.com
(Ed. Note: TTFF Club member and
cracker-jack fly fishing guide,
Frank Pisciotta graciously gave
us permission to reprint this article that originally appeared in 2002 in
Northwest Flyfishing Magazine. Part one appeared in this newsletter
last month.)
MAJOR REAL/FALSE BUGS & TECHNIQUES
Simply, the Truckee’s
most prolific aquatic insect is the caddis…in all sizes, 20-6. The most
important are the spotted and green sedges (Hydropsyche
and Rhyacophilia, respectively).
Keep in mind, these “free-living”
tent-wings, in their nude, net-spinning and foraging, larval forms are very
seductive to opportunistic drift-feeders. They are available in
abundance, throughout the entire season and system. When emerging or
ovipositing they are the prime tactical imitations
to use for surface/film aficionados. Fish them in their preferred habitat,
mid-depth, rock and gravel–strewn riffles and deeper, sun-dappled
runs. For tugs amidst the bottom-water column, an olive or bright green
larva pattern in tandem with a Foster’s Legged Turkey Beadhead, #16 and 10, respectively, is a very
effective searching rig. Hug the bottom strata and dead-drift these items;
“high-sticking” or long-line indicator tactics are suggested
relative to the type of water you choose.
Be especially attentive to the emerging pupae. Avoid being too esoteric
and keep it simple. Think presentation, use soft-hackles, such as sized 14-16
Partridge and Green or Grouse and Peacock classics. Down and across is
a preferred method for those seemingly, surface feeders. Use a stouter tippet, the thumping grabs occur on the
ascending swing. If not successful, dead-drift a fraud, in the
meniscus, conceptually similar as a LaFontaine
emergent sparkle pupa, it may trigger the take.
Complementing the two caddis in creating the
most concentrated rise activity during hot summer months’ prime-time
dry fly period, is the Truckee’s third major hatch…the little
yellow stones (Isoperla and Isogenus).
NOTE: Which has been
sparse the last few years...why?...don't know. They
make their initial appearance at the same time, late June. The ovipositing female stones congregate over swift riffles
and glides, and are present as these moving waters spill into the heads of
pools. Flight mishaps do happen.
Along with the aforementioned, vulnerable, emerging caddis pupae
and/or egg-layers this activity commences in the evenings. Gradually your
gaze becomes transfixed by a building crescendo of splashes, swirls and kerplunks. What bug and/or life-stage are the trout
eating? No doubt, this is a serious rise-form recognition brainteaser.
It is also one of the rare times you have a chance of double-digit
hook-ups. Good pattern choices are generic stiff-hackled, palmered, down-wings and transition/emergers.
Glickman’s Yellow Stone fulfills the first
type fly and a Yellow Parachute Humpy, for the latter offering. These are
reasonable choices, #14-16, for the stones. The parachute tie is a
superb floater (admittedly, in this case, not the right shape...but it works)
and highly visible with its bright, white kip-tail post. Additionally
its thorax and abdomen rest IN the surface veneer, In my opinion, this
positioning leads to more solid
hook-ups.
For the caddis, twitch or skate,
generic, grayish-winged, in or on the surface, floaters under streamside
brush, slick tail outs of pools, quiet eddy water, quick riffles....OK
everywhere!!... and witness the chase, bulge and
smash of a caddis hunting brown. . NOTE: Ralph's E/C Caddis is now getting
the
recognition it rightfully deserves.
If you still get refusals from the perceived surface feeders, again, try
tossing, the plain soft-hackles. In addition to those already
mentioned, Partridge and Yellows and Partridge and Oranges
should be mainstays in your Truckee river
soft-hackle box. In addition to the Yellow sallies and numerous genus
of caddis, these are useful when you encountering the river’s
PMD’s, PED’s
and Sulfurs (for double-duty use…ruffle/splay-out the feathered collar
for a spinner silhouette). Golden
Stones (Calineuia) are present.
Throughout the watershed, the nymphal form, taking 2-3 years to mature, is always
available. Use your preferred, dark, rubber-legged patterns, in sizes 4-10,
tick them along the bottom of deep riffles or short-line, smack them
down…hard, for super-quick penetration, into the back eddied,
micro-pools created by boulders amidst white-water pockets.
A productive, dual-water-column rig is one of
these big, suggestive frauds on the point and a #14,
copper bead head, green
sparkle caddis pupa on a dropper tag-end off the mainline. Some of you may adjust and tie off the
bend of the big hook; that will work also, but be aware that you will have
BOTH flies near the bottom in lieu of smaller fly higher up in the
drift/water column.
Lead, whether hard or malleable
soft stuff (...don't get the stuff that melts & ruins shirts!... only the stuff that stays on & doesn't melt...I
won't name names...call if you want my
preference), is required to get deep, add it to the leader or incorporate it
at your bench. This is strictly “Load & Lob”, high-stick
prospecting, and when flows are high and turbulent, especially early spring, it may be your only viable option.
You will not see a lot of these Golden Stones
lumbering around as adults. They, like the similarly sparse Western Green
Drake adults and monstrous Flying Black Ants of June provide a chance tasty
morsel...da Big Bugs of June!
Late evening is a good time for the diving
stone egg-layers and Drake emergences.
(HINT: once in a while, during overcast/drizzly days I've encountered
GD emergences at mid day).
Mid-day, bright sun activates the ants. It is
also a period to search fast riffles, either dead-drifted or twitched, with
#6-8 Stimulators, size 10 Green, Quigley Cripples (...as aforementioned:
overcast, drizzly days can spark emergences).
Inadvertent fall-downs of the leaf-clinging
stones, molting Drakes and crawling terrestrials beg for accurate, side-armed
casts under over hanging vegetation, which provides shade and protective
cover for a waiting trout.
Two versatile patterns that have reserved space in my Truckee
flybox are the Pullover and the Quigley Cripple.
The Pullover is a mayfly emerger and dun version
created by legendary (...a founder of our club, folks!) Tahoe City’s
resident solid-gold feather bearer (aka…Buz Buzsek Award winner), the
late Ned Long.
NOTE: TTFF John Roberts was a protege of Ned's and
he has tweaked it a bit to what he calls a PullUnder.
The Cripple was developed by Bob Quigley, the
resident guru tier when he fished both California’s Fall River and Hat
Creek in the mid-‘70’s. For me, both designs are excellent
“crossover” patterns for midges or caddis. At your vise, merely
adjust the size and coloration to mimic the specific bug that is
active. Throughout the watershed, both have proven effective for the
Western Green Drake (Drunella Grandis
and Doddsi), #8-10, March Browns (Rhithrogena), Pale Morning Duns (Ephemerella
Inermis and Infrequens)
#14-18 and Blue-winged
Olives (Baetis), #14-22.
As an aside, the Truckee
was a testing ground for the creations of respected fly-tying luminaries; Cal
Bird ( the Bird’s Nest)
and Jack Horner (originally the Horner Deer Hair, mutating to Humpy or Goofus Bug). Horner’s Corner is Jack’s
namesake pool below the seepage-stained sandstone cliff located at the apex
of the Truckee’s “Loop.
Truckee lunkers prefer their meal
big. Another native, the Paiute Sculpin
(Cottus Beldingi)
provides such a diet. The 1993 survey says this bottom forager
represents 97.5% of the rough fish population entailing Lahontan
Redsides (Richardsonis Egreius) and Speckled Dace (Rhinichthys
Osculus).
So,
your pet sculpin replica in size 2-6 is all you
need. Use a sink-tip or full sinker and spurt it over the stream-bed
with staccato strips or beside cut banks mimicking injured prey or in short
burst and pauses…hoping it gets waylaid.
Resident crawfish also inhabit the watershed and big trout relish them also.
GEAR
Ideally, on this water, a 9’-4 weight, medium-fast rod will suffice,
that is, until the winds blow; which is a serious factor when it arrives,
normally in the afternoons. Then a fast 6-weight has enough body to
“punch” line out.
A 5-weight is
an ideal compromise. A 9-footer is useful for
mending, reaching and “high-stick” nymphing.
Recently I started using a 9-1/2 footer for such…a local guide and rod
–maker (another TTFF member, Randy Johnson) is touting 7 wt
10’-12’ spey rods.
A 9’-5x
leader is all-purpose; merely adjust the length and diameter as the
tactical situation demands. There is no need for 7X here, rarely is 6X
required; the only exception being when knotting on minute, late-Summer/Fall
size 20-24 Baetis, Tricorythodes
and Psuedocloeons. Even with these small
bugs, a .006” tippet is sufficient, merely extend the base leader
36”-48”…to 12’-13’. Such a sturdy tippet
is required if you intend to quickly subdue the hot 16”+ trout
encountered in this river. Hey, I enjoy landing and releasing strong
fish (in survivable condition!) and prefer not breaking them-off at the
hook-up and the ensuing struggle.
Wading staffs and brogues with felt/studded
soles are strongly recommended.
This season I’m anxious to try rubber-bottom/studs, because
I’d like to avoid performing a Brian Butano
triple axle (...NOTE...Brian Butano actually saw
this article and admitted it was probably the only time he appeared in a
FlyFishing mag article),
as I have with the felt/studs; they have a tendency to skate on granite
boulders. Thus far I’ve been lucky.
Whichever you choose, these rocks are algae-laden and extremely slippery;
regardless of careful foot-probing and slow shuffling.
A lot of fly rodders
are unaccustomed to 56-68 degree water temperatures as the optimum range to
trigger a trout’s feeding metabolism; too high on both ends they
say. Well, these temps are needed to get the juices charged-up in Truckee’s stream-bred denizens. A
thermometer is an essential tool here.
Do not forget your rain-jacket, lip- balm and most important, sun
block-out…we have thin air up here. Over the years, I’ve
guided and
instructed a quite a few, end-of-day lobsters, who felt there was no need
for such a sissy lotion.
So…indeed, trophy trout (20”+) are
available throughout this river system
regardless of what section of the river you explore. They are not
easily duped. Those anglers who commit to being observant, patient and
flexible relative to techniques employed have the highest probability of
hooking (not necessarily landing!) sophisticated, mature fish.
The Truckee,
being a rambling freestoner, has its mix of
riffles, runs, pools and pocket-water; all basic techniques will produce. The
prizes are for the innovators at the vise or at stream-side. Most of
the time, attractor dries, suggestive
nymphs, simple emergers, standard streamers and bucktails will work.
SOMETIMES NOT.
(Thanks to Frank for letting us reprint his take on the Truckee
and giving us a Lesson in Patience. Ed.)
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