So I was in Tahoe this past week at my timeshare and got out to do a little fishing. Checked out the Little Truckee but didn't fish it, flows are still way too high for my liking, over 600cfs. Fished the Big Truckee for a couple hours one afternoon and only caught a couple small ones on a caddis pattern. Flows are still high on the Big T but are coming down. Another week or 2 and both Truckee Rivers will be in prime shape. I got out a map and did a little exploring. Went to a nice small creek I have never fished before and struck gold! I talked to a few guys later in town about this creek and I have been sworn to secrecy on it's location. I will not give it up, only thing I will say is that it's within an hour driving from the Truckee area. Caught 4 rainbows that were around 14 inches and this bruiser pictured here. This fish was just shy of 23 inches. Got a quick video too before a quick release. I about dropped a load when I hooked this guy on such a small creek....took me a while to regain my composure and continue fishing.
Well done, thats great you are not giving the location, small creeks cant handle much pressure. Even if people try and guess which creek it is give nothing up. I have kept a small steelhead river in Washington a secret for close to 20 years a friend and I discovered it by going over Topo maps. We fish it every FEB, March and April when the big Natives Steelhead come in. An average trip will usually yield between 3 to 12 Native Steelhead that average about 11- 13 pounds. I have caught 2 that were 20 plus pounds and the friend I fish with has caught 3 over 25lbs one was close to 30lbs. I will cry the day this stream gets discovered.
Wow, that's a jurassic brown trout. Very nice, especially for the fact that you found the place on a topo map. Brown trout never cease to amaze me, they seem to defy every conclusion you make about them. This obvious meat eater fell for a #20 black midge? Crazy fish.
Small fly, big fish! Proves one side of the controversy that big fish will be caught on small flies. I am not sure the Wyoming and Montana anglers believe that --> Rumor has it they only have big flies in their boxes. It came home to me when I caught two 16 inch fish on # 20 zebra midges in Aspen after pummeling the Roar Fork with a # 12 rubber legged stone fly imitation the fly shop swore by.
Any thoughts, or is there no controversy among Californians on this point?
Maybe it depends on location but here in California, large fish are caught on tiny flies all the time, no controversy there. Last fall my buddy hooked into, but didn't land, a brown that was easily pushing 30" on a size 20 midge. The same fly I landed the above fish on. This was a lake fish that was probably used to eating other fish that had come into the stream to spawn. He actually hooked the same fish twice in 2 days.
Small fly, big fish! Proves one side of the controversy that big fish will be caught on small flies. I am not sure the Wyoming and Montana anglers believe that --> Rumor has it they only have big flies in their boxes. It came home to me when I caught two 16 inch fish on # 20 zebra midges in Aspen after pummeling the Roar Fork with a # 12 rubber legged stone fly imitation the fly shop swore by.
Any thoughts, or is there no controversy among Californians on this point?
I see it one of two ways...
1) They aren't telling you their secrets... I bet they only keep the rubberlegs in there for the tourists, haha.
2) They have no idea about our secrets... small flys = big fish. This has held true for me on many occassions.
Big fish will chase a big meal. I don't think they seek to chase small midge, but when they come straight into their feeding lane and it takes little to no effort to eat it, then calories are calories.
I catch a lot of good fish on midge patterns but then again I do fish a lot of midge patterns.
