Fishin' the Truckee

I’m going to ‘fess up, right here and right now. Although I lived most of my adult life here – in fact, both my daughters were born in the Silver State – I didn’t grow up in Nevada. And although I was raised in the West, I was still taught in school (7^th grade geography with Mr. Gornick, for those of you keeping score) that water either flowed east to the Atlantic or west to the Pacific, depending upon which side of the Great Divide it landed on. And unless you came up through one of the local school systems, I’ll bet that’s pretty close to what you learned too. Well, prepare to have your mind blown. Photo at left: Pixabay.

The Truckee River begins up at the northwest corner of Lake Tahoe and flows out of the Tahoe Basin over to the Truckee area and then east into Nevada and down the eastern slope into Reno. After a quick stop to play some slots and a few hands of blackjack in the Biggest Little City, it heads on into the interior until it finally ends up in Pyramid Lake. All in all, it’s a trip of just over a hundred miles or so. And nary an ocean in sight. The water just ends up staying here in the middle of Nevada. Cool, right?

Nature studies aside, I’m like a lot of other folks in these parts, and when I see a stretch of water like the Truckee River, I’ve got two questions: “Can I run it?” and “Can I fish it?” The answer to both of these, as they apply locally, is “Yes!” We’ll set aside the river running for now and leave the rafts and kayaks in storage until it gets a little hotter and instead take a quick look at what the fishing is like on the 40 miles of Nevada Department of Wildlife waters between the state line and the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation. NDOW reports that this stretch of the Truckee sees somewhere between 60,000 and 100,000 angler days each year, people tossing a line in hopes of catching trout – Rainbows, Browns or Cutthroat – or mountain whitefish (yikes), or even a largemouth bass as you get down a ways from the mountains. Photo at right: Pixaby, Michael Webb.

If you want to try your hand at angling, you won’t have any trouble getting all the gear you need. We just happen to have plenty of local businesses that will be more than happy to help you out. If you can’t bear to stray from the I-90 corridor, you’ve got Cabela’s in Verdi and Scheels in Truckee, both with monster-sized retail spaces to meet your fishing needs. Centrally located in Reno proper, you can choose from Big 5, the Sportsman’s Warehouse or Mark Fore & Strike, or even the Sierra Trading Post. The Reno Fly Shop is downtown right near the river itself, and if you feel like making the trip to the south end of town, the Summit mall has an Orvis outlet. I’ve been to all of them at one time or another over the years, depending on what I was in the mood for, so feel free to check them out on your own to find the best fit for you and your level of experience. Photo at left: Wikimedia Commons, Mike Cline.

There you are, now go forth and have at it. I’m looking forward to some entertaining fish tales and, in particular, if you are fishing the Truckee and you happen to catch a Pyramid Lake Cutthroat, be sure to take a picture and send it to me. This particular species is considered to have been extinct since the 1930s, but don’t let that stop you from spinning a good story.