So far September has started off with a bang with numerous big browns showing up. Big Truckee River browns are not often caught on smaller offerings such as baetis or midges, they are typically tempted by well presented large flies such as crawdads, stoneflies or of course, baitfish.

While streamer fishing hasn’t quite kicked into gear just yet, you can still move some meat eaters if you’re fishing in the right conditions and your presentation is good. Even with no overcast days in the forecast, you can always have a good shot moving fish on streamers during the evening hours. For those looking for better numbers, high stick or indicator nymphing will remain king on the Truckee and will be effective throughout the day. Dead drifting stones, crawdads, worms, BWO’s, or midges is the best way to find out what lies in any given hole.

Dry fly fishing has been surprisingly good this week with consistent hatches of BWO’s and midges, and while we are mostly seeing fish reacting to them along the upper stretches of the river, there is a realistic possibility of running into these same emergences down in the canyon, and we recommend having some of these adults in your box for the rare opportunity to catch some Truckee fish on top. The October caddis are right around the corner, and while they aren’t the most consistent of hatches on this river, we’re hopeful to see a fair number of them this year due to the very stable conditions. These will make for a great alternative dry fly to the hopper for your dry dropper in the coming weeks, particularly in the evenings when they are most active.

This year has been a good one for the nocturnal stones and we’ve seen a few adults kicking around with a good amount of shucks on the rocks. Though these bugs hatch at night as their name implies, the nymphs are a significant food source as of late, and size 4-6 stonefly patterns in brown or black have been putting a fair number of fish in the net.

With conditions expected to only get better, this fall is going to be one for the books, so don’t miss out!