The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

sammy and i were up in tahoe this weekend for a 30th b-day party for a friend, and while our friends sat around and drank all day saturday, we went to the truckee river for a day of fishing. although its been warm the past month, it is still very chilly up there (30's-low 40's) because of that there was no top water action. there is still snow all over the ground. there was a small hatch in mid-afternoon of some tiny gray colored buggs coming off the water (couldnt tell what they were exactly), but not even that created any action.

the water level is very very low, so we spent some time searching for holes that seemed deep enough to be fishable. we assumed the fish would be deep and not willing to move all that much becuase it was so cold still. i tied on a small caddis as an indicator and used a zebra nymph dropper for most of the day. the ONE bite i got was on that rig. sammy also got ONE bite on a similar rig. other than that we didnt see one fish the entire afternoon. with it snowing/raining lightly on and off we finally gave up after about 4 hours on the river. we fished the river between lake tahoe and the town of truckee. I have heard that the fishing up in the city of truckee can be very good, but with how cold it was we didnt see a reason to make the drive all the way up there.

ive never seen the truckee river before, and can see why it has soooo much potential. cant wait to head up there when its a little warmer.

highlight of the day was a close encounter with a sleepy black bear. i had heard they were coming out of hibernation earlier than normal this year, and we ended up with one crossing the road right in front of our car as we left the river. sadly the cameras were in the trunk at that point so no pics were taken. thats the second bear sammy and i have seen in the last year while fly fishing in the sierras.

The part of the Truckee that you were fishing is closed until the opening of the regular trout season.I suggest that you aquire a copy of the regs and READ them.The Truckee is only open for year round angling from Trout Creek to the Nev state line.You were fishing illegally above Trout Creek.

i was told by the san jose fly shop guys that the truckee is fishable year around, but you can only keep from the last weekend in april to the november. and since i have never had to keep a fish, i figured i was in the clear.

Iceman----We've been getting reports of people fishing on the Truckee River along highway 89. I do know that there have been a few calls into to Cal-Tip; you're fortunate that there was not a warden on patrol because it could have cost you $$$ and possible confiscation of your gear. I suggest that you talk to the personnel at the San Jose Fly shop. IMO, Disseminating inaccurate info that they provided to you does not reflect well on the shop or the staff. When in doubt, the reg book should be readily available for their and their clients' reference.

The section of river from the inflow of Trout Creek, east of the town of Truckee, upstream to Lake Tahoe does not open until the last Sauturday of April. From Trout Creek, downstream to the state line it is open now to ZERO take, no bait...with convoluted regualtions realtive to flies or/and artificials only...best to check the reg book.


Frank R. Pisciotta

Reading the regs it is a little hard to tell exactly what is fishable and what isn't... anything below Trout Creek is open for 0 limit fishing, but the regs don't mention any other sections, like from the lake to Trout Creek... anything unnamed would be closed and subject to the regular season, but I'd wish they'd actually spell that out instead of having it be subject to different restrictions because it isn't mentioned.

It is a bit annoying that the regs talk about rivers in general by placenames that you would only know about if you were a local. I even called DFG to ask specifically about one bit of river and they would not tell me if it was open or not... they just would tell me what page I could find the info on... they don't want to tell someone the wrong info.

It seems possible that the section you were fishing may, indeed, have been closed... depending on which side of Trout Creek you were on.

Luckily you avoided a fine and avoided catching any off-limits fish.

C'est la vie.

B-

well i feel horrible. my brother and i are always making sure we are legal when we fish. the call i made to the fly shop was just a double check on our way up there, and the representative made it clear i shouldnt worry if i was fishing catch and release ANYWHERE on the truckee. and since this was my first time up there i trusted we were okay. i guess ill give them a call today and chat just to make sure everyone there is aware of the information i was given.

Now, if your next post is about Hat Creek the McCloud or Fall River, you will be in REAL trouble!

haha yeah i know. honestly we are faithful fishermen and would never knowingly fish illegally. i felt i did plenty of research and was confidant that we were in the clear. ive always trusted the information i get from my local flyshop, so im a little bummed ive gotten conflicting information. hell, we've even spent 100 bucks each for an out-of-state license on the east coast for three days of fishing in an area where we knew there would never be another person or warden to check if we were legal or not. but we did it cuz we like to follow the rules.

if anyone has any other SOLID information on the different parts of the truckee feel free to post it. i'd love to hear it. thanks for all the replies.

It sure seems like you made a good faith effort to play by the rules. I will admit that I've taken the word from one shop or another at various times without looking up the info myself. Always makes sense to ask the shop in that area though... San Jose is a long way from Truckee and most of the river is actually open... just not the part you ended up fishing. It's the details that will get ya!

B-

iceman wrote:
haha yeah i know...i felt i did plenty of research and was confidant that we were in the clear...but we did it cuz we like to follow the rules.

if anyone has any other SOLID information on the different parts of the truckee feel free to post it. i'd love to hear it. thanks for all the replies.

Iceman,

You want solid information, then don't listen to Maverick and the rest of the squadron in the fly shops, follow the orders of your CAG...and in this instance, CAG is the regulations.

Pick up a copy of the regulation booklet...it's free at any license agent's location.

Check the species (trout) special regs in section 7.50(b)(196); that's the one that says you can fish the Truckee from Trout Creek to the State Line between Nov. 16th and the last Saturday in April as long as you don't kill anything. It also says to check the District specific regs for the rest of the Truckee (that would be the section from the lake to Trout Creek). The District (Sierra) regs in section 7.00(b)(7) indicate that all water not mentioned in (1-6) and in the special species regs is open from the last Saturday in April to November 15th. (this is consistent with info that you've gotten here already)

Have fun,

Paul

well i learned a good lesson, and hopefully anyone who reads this also does.

is turn yourselves in, beg stupidity, pay the fine, and hope you don't get any jail time.



Paul