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n nearly four years of living at the foot of the outfit. We had seen a few heads coming up, but just Truckee River, there were times when I craved like clockwork, about 20 minutes later, heads were smaller water, yet I did not want to give up a shot joined by more heads and the hatch/feed was on. My at a real prize like a photo-worthy fish measuring in son and I soon landed 15 trout from 14 to 21 inches. excess of 24 inches. Well, the Little Truckee filled that Every time a head rose, Barrett and I landed the fly niche with epic fishing, great hatches, and willing about three feet above the form, and we were on with rainbows and browns. another sizable fish. Wow, what a fishery—and we “Early summer is my favorite time to fish the LT,” were in the driving seat with 70 yards of rising trout said Mike Curtis at Bucking Trout Outfitters. “The ahead of us. two best hatches are the PMDs in mid-June and the Back to the summer fishing, when the green Green Drake hatch in late June. In a good year, con- drakes taper off, like any Western fishery, hoppers sider yourself lucky when these hatches overlap each other. Other hatches in the evening consist of caddis and little yellow sallies. Untapped. Untamed. Of course, midges are here, yearround.” I enjoyed one epic day early in the summer a couple years ago. I was fishing with my youngster, and we had caught a couple nice fish on the standard zebras and RS2s, but nothing out of the ordinary. We started early to beat any competition, and my boy was starting to lose his concentration. Mike was walking with a client on the ridge above us, and yelled out to ask how we were doing. I replied that it was so-so, got a couple on the dry now on a smaller Royal Wulff, and he said hold on another 30 minutes and the green drakes would start hatching. He said, “What is the biggest Royal Wulff you have? “I’ve got size 8s or 10s in the box,” I replied. “Switch out to one of those bigger patterns to be ready for the hatch,” suggested Curtis. I followed his advice, as of course, he is one of the most respected guides and a local out KREMMLINGCHAMBER.COM of Reno, so I cut and re-tied my
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Fall 2017 • High Country Angler
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