Last week I was able to hit up the Truckee River. This is a great piece of water, I wish I had more of an opportunity to visit.
Knowing my fishing time is limited this summer, I wanted to make sure I was there bright and early. Leaving the house at 2am put me riverside just before the sun came up. I strung up my switch rod with barely enough light to see.
Carefully, I waded out and fished a long riffle just off Hwy 80. After about 15 minutes, I landed my first fish on a size 10 Prince Nymph. These flies are hot. I tie mine with a soft hackle up front in various sizes, some with beads and others without. For some reason, the fish have been excited to see them all year. If I remember correctly, I was fishing a soft hackle of some sort as my second fly on a 10ft intermediate sinking poly leader.
It was still before 7am, and I thought this was going to be a good day. I continued down stream and explored some spots I haven't been before. A few hours later, I headed back to the truck for a water refill.
After a big old drink, I scrambled down some rocks and scurried along a hillside filled with boulders the size of car tires. It was slow going. Eventually I found a spot and after a few swings, I caught my second fish. This guy was small and aggressive.
It was time to move on, I loaded up and went down the highway to the next exit and hit some spots that looked good on satellite maps. By now, the wind was whipping at least 20mph. The day was getting warmer and I decided to put on a heavier sink tip and bigger fly. I was trying to get lower in the water column to where I thought the fish were holding. A few hours went be with nothing to show for it.
I found a nice spot with deep water. I decided to put on 12ft of T10 and a 4 inch bunny leech. My switch rod didn't handle the tip and the heavy water logged fly as well as the spey. But I kept at it. Eventually, I had a nice fight with a rather large fish that lasted a whole 15 seconds before he came off. After spending another 1/2 hour trying to get him or one of his friends, I gave up and moved on.
I went back upriver to explore some more new locations. There was some white water pouring into a deep pool. This looked like a good place for fish. Unfortunately, I couldn't get anyone to bite. It was rather difficult casting. No wading whatsoever available and with trees right behind you, it was impossible to form any sort of d-loop to get the fly very far. Moving downstream yielded more wading possibilities, and the water looked excellent. However, no one was interested.
I moved upstream to a place I've been before and it was more of the same. I caught a few smaller fish, but nothing to write home about. It was getting late in the day and I needed more water. After climbing back up to the vehicle, I decided to go elsewhere instead of going back down to the river. I drove somewhere off Glenshire Blvd for my last hooray of the day.
The wind never did calm down. It was still swirling almost non-stop. Combine that with a long day and I started getting sloppy. I formed an upstream d-loop, instead of a downstream and when launching the cast forward, the fly nailed me in the forearm.
It stung. A red hot shooting pain told me the fly was in my arm deeply. After an inspection, I was right. The fly was embedded into the underside of my forearm- all the way to the hook bend. It was deep and very painful. I tried to pull it out, but my skin just stretched. I knew I had to yank it. And although the fly had no barb, the spot where the barb once existed was rather large and made for tough removal. I held my breath and yanked it out. The blood started flowing and I stood there wondering what sort of negative side effects I was going to have. I raised my arm above my head and put pressure on the hole until the blood clotted. The area was discolored and I wasn't sure if it was a big deal or not. I decided to keep fishing and take my chances. (No lasting effects. Some bruising and a couple of holes are it)
I caught a few more fish that evening in various pools/riffles. But I couldn't stop thinking about that hook and it made me apprehensive on every cast.
Just before nightfall I returned to the car and went home. I took a shower and was in bed a little over 24 hours from when I first left.
