Just took a very short trip of 4hrs or so, to fish the Truckee east of Reno. The section east of Reno is basically from around the Lockwood exit down to the Painted Rock exit along hwy 80. The river here has a decent bwo hatch that goes from late Feb to April. You can see one floating below--they are the classic bluish grey color and are about size #16.

Weather was amazing. 60 degrees and almost no wind.

In the past, Rubber Legs patterns would catch a lot of fish but today it was almost all on the Frenchie. The fish seemed to be keying in on the bwo's. 

The rainbows fought very hard. The browns I caught were a little sluggish in comparison, but they got airborne! 

Reno is an incredible city for fishing. It is not great fishing like in Montana, but the access is incredible and the fishing is good. So many options within an hour or two drive and you have the miles & miles of the Truckee + Pyramid. I was disappointed in my first trip to Montana at all the access restrictions/private land. The poor Madison almost seemed like it was in the process of being privatized within 20 years with all the homes/cabins along the river.

Lost a solid brown that was I am guessing about 18", maybe pushing 20." It was right at the moment I was about to stretch out the net when he turned upwards and twisted a little to spit the hook out. My rig went flying backwards into the trees behind. 

There were 3 young mustangs running and playing along the river. Not sure how many of the horses roaming around the hills east of Reno are horses that were dumped and not truly wild, but these guys were probably born wild & free. 

Been a long time since I fished this river, one of my favorites with a lot of fond memories. When I lived in Southern California, there isn't a lot of options for trout fishing in rivers unless you drive to the Kern or the Owens system. I think it is one of the best rivers for winter trout fishing in the US. It was the most crowded I have ever seen it, counting roughly 50 cars parked along Chalk Bluff. 

I started out at 5 Bridges and fished upstream. This is the start of the wild trout & catch n release section. It is almost all brown trout and they are on the smaller side but they fight very good for their size. Average size is about 10". I did catch a nice 16" fish on the second day I fished but I wasn't filming that day. It felt like a 20" fish at first after catching so many 8-11" fish. The fish were all in great shape and healthy looking.

Although it is wintertime, Bishop doesn't get that cold and there are plenty of days in the 60s. They days I fished were in the middle and upper 60s. There is a surprising divide between the weather in Bishop and the freeze just up the mountain driving up another couple thousand feet to Mammoth (about 1/2 hr north of Bishop). 

The morning bite was slow and it seemed the fish liked midge patterns. Later in the day the bwo's started to come out at around 11am and the fish went on a feeding frenzy and frenchies did very well. It was just how I remembered it from the past. 

The fish tend to concentrate in the buckets of deeper water. I came across one that was loaded with trout and it was one after the other. They were feeding on something emerging but I couldn't see it. Maybe a mix of bwos and caddis. It was a fish on every cast for an extended period of time at one spot--that hasn't happened to me in many years since fishing Alaska. A cow watched me for a little bit and moved on, but I think he was impressed.

I finally fished the Owens River Gorge, after many years of wanting to do it. Just wanted to give a warning--don't do this alone like I foolishly did. If something happens to you such as breaking an ankle in the winter, you will be stuck overnight down there and most likely freeze to death. Other dangers are rocks falling and killing you. At least in the winter the rattlesnakes are hibernating. 

It is quite the hike down and once down there and there only a few places in/out. I had to make sure I made it to my exit point upstream where I could hike out before dark. It is slow going down there. It felt like an adventure, almost like Indian Jones and the Petra scenes. 

Didn't catch a lot of fish, but enough to keep me entertained. Hard to believe anything lives down in this chasm in the desert. Fish were small, but I did come across a strange spot (not in the video) where I could look down into a large pool where I saw 6 or 7 large 20" or so fish. They somehow spotted me and spooked under a rock and never reemerged. I was very high above them and was surprised they spotted me. Maybe spawning fish from Pleasant Valley Reservoir? 

I blew quite a few chances at some spotted fish by some clumsy casts or missed stikes. Could have been a better day. Fish were very spooky, and despite the difficulty of getting into the canyon, it appeared to have had some fishing pressure recently (footprints). There is a foot  trail here and there believe it or not, but this was in the first half of where I fished from the access point.