Last week we saw a slight increase in flows along the Glenshire section of the Truckee as Donner Lake begins to get lowered for the winter. Donner Creek is currently adding another 50 CFS to this upper stretch of the river, increasing the flows to around 150 CFS at the Glenshire Bridge. At these flows, we should see fishing get a bit better with the additional holding water available to the trout. The flows down in the canyon (from the Boca confluence to the Nevada state line) remain roughly the same, with only a slight increase. Flows in the canyon are currently hanging around 450 CFS at Farad. We have seen the temperatures continue to drop at the Farad gauging station see it get down to 45 degrees this morning. 

While we would expect to see this cold water push the fish back into the slower runs across the board, that hasn’t been the case quite yet. We are still finding a good number of fish in the medium speed water with and riffles of medium depth. We are even still finding a few at the tops of the run. While these are often the smaller fish, this water is still very much worth putting a few casts through because you’ll still find a few large fired up fish sitting in faster water. 

All that said, we are starting to shift our focus on the slower tail outs, edges, and drop-offs that we look for in the colder months of the year. The fish have mostly been interested in the junk flies this week. Stoneflies, eggs and worms have been doing most of the heavy lifting for us, but it’s always wise to add a smaller BWO or midge imitation below your big fly to up your odds a bit. The best bite has been and will continue to be midday through the afternoon, as the water temperature rises and both the bugs and fish act in unison to become a bit more active with the sun.